Turkey Stock

Even though Thanksgiving was over a week and a half ago, up until yesterday, I still had the leftover turkey sitting in my fridge, waiting to either be eaten or thrown away. I finally pulled that sucker out, cut off any remaining meat, and then broke up the bones to make stock.

I love soup, but I have noticed that the canned stuff never tastes good enough. The carrots are mushy, the broth is missing flavor, there's not enough meat. I could go on. So after a quick Google search I found several recipes for homemade turkey broth.

Pull out your largest stock pot, break up those bones, and plan to spend a chilly afternoon at home. Next time you want soup, or need to use some broth, you'll be glad you did.

Turkey Stock
Source: various internet recipes

Ingredients
Turkey bones
2-3 carrots, roughly chopped
2 ribs celery, roughly chopped
1 large onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
3 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried sage
several springs of whatever fresh herbs you have (I think I used tyme)
2 tablespoons pepper
1-2 teaspoons salt

Directions
Place all ingredients in a large pot (at least 8 quarts, but the bigger the better). Fill the pot with water, covering the solids as much as possible.
Simmer for 4 hours, replacing any water as needed. (I simmered mine with the lid off to keep if from reaching a boil.)
Strain out the solids and chill the remaining broth. Freeze any broth you are not going to use immediately.

Now you have the base for homemade soup. Super easy!