Turkey Stock Recipe

Don't throw away an excellent part of that turkey - use those bones to make nice stock for many future meals without preservatives and too much salt.  It's easy - the carcase cooks with little attention, drain and can it - it only takes 20 minutes to process strained stock.
Broth is made using the meat while stock uses the bones (or veggie scraps), which gives off a richer flavor due to the gelatin released during cooking.  We like this combination of seasonings.  
The two jars on the front right are Brown Stock, and the rest are Regular Stock.
Home Canned Turkey Stock
15-20# Turkey carcass, broken up
2 1/2 Quarts Drippings and Juice From Bird and Pan (and Giblets if desired)
3 1/2 quarts cold water or enough added to drippings to make 6 quarts total
1 teaspoon Rosemary
1/2 Teaspoon Sage
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 tablespoon Dried Parsley
2 large Bay Leaves
4 whole Black Peppercorn
1 1/2 tablespoons Minced Dry Onion
1 teaspoon Minced Dry Garlic
4 medium carrot -- diced
4 stalks celery -- diced
1 1/2 medium onion -- diced
1/2 cup White Wine (optional)

Let roasted turkey set 1/2 hour; remove meat from bones.  Remove as much meat as you can, as it will not be good after long cooking.

For Brown Stock:
Place bones and skin back on the pan and roast at 275° for 2 hours. After removing the bones and skin from the pan, and starting step 2, place the vegetables on the same roaster pan with a small amount of drippings and roast 1/2 hour at 400°. Add vegetables to the stockpot with the carcass when they are roasted. Deglaze pan with wine, add to pot.

For Regular, quicker stock: Go straight to Step 2.


Step 2: Place the bones and skin and juices and drippings and water in a large stockpot. Bring the carcass to a boil and add the remaining ingredients, putting the seasonings in a tea ball, cheesecloth or coffee filter tied with string. Reduce heat and cook stock and carcass 3 hours total. Giblet broth may be added as well. Reducing the heat prevents the calcium from leaching from the bones and giving it an undesirable color (it doesn’t hurt it otherwise).

After 3 hours, strain, removing any additional meat and discarding bones, skin and vegetables. The meat and vegetables remaining after 3 hours of cooking have given their all. 

Cool your broth in 2 or 3 containers to get the temperature down quickly, if you plan to can or freeze it the next day. It should be jellied after being cooled overnight. Remove excess fat, but I don’t mind leaving a little for flavor if it’s hard to remove. Chicken fat or Schmaltz will not be hard like beef fat.

Can broth at 10# pressure for 20 minutes for pints or half pints with 1” headspace.   More information HERE.  This can also be frozen in freezer bags - lay them flat in a pan in the freezer so they don't leak.




14 comments:

  1. One of the things I look forward to after Thanksgiving is making stock. Yum!

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  2. New fan here by way of Homestead Revival. I would love for you to come share at my Farm Girl Blog Fest: http://fresh-eggs-daily.blogspot.com/2012/11/farm-girl-blog-fest-7.html
    And while you're visiting, enter to win an Egg Selter too!
    Lisa
    Fresh Eggs Daily

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  3. DO NOT give the turkey or chicken
    carcass to your dogs. They can get stuck in their throat and die.

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    Replies
    1. We were suggesting the cooked-out meat...not the carcass or bones. They are too small and fine for dogs.
      Thanks for the reminder for folks who might not realize that.

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  4. If you add onion to your recipe, please don't give it to the dogs! Onion is deadly for our fuzzy, for-footed friends.
    Other than that, this is a wonderful post!! I'll be bookmarking this one. Thank you!

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  5. the bones can be ground into meal and baked into doggy snacks....

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  6. Thanks for the helpful recipe! I wonder if you would mind me putting a link to this page from my blog when I post about my end result...?

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  7. Joni
    Feel free to put a link to the page, hope you are as pleased with it as we are. I never throw out bones from any kind of poultry.
    It all makes great stock and look at all the money you will save on store bought broth.

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  8. I absolutely love this site. I'm so grateful that I found it or that it found me! I love to can. It's just my husband and I now so I can in a lot in pints. When I have what I call all of my big girl pans out I am at my most happiest! I save money, I know what is in my food, but most of all I find joy while canning.

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    Replies
    1. We're always glad to hear from other canners...it's a great hobby that, as you say, saves money and you know what is in your food...the same reasons we still can.
      It's wonderful to look at all those full jars...what a sense of accomplishment!

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  9. My folks never canned meat, but now my 90 yr old dad and I can it all. Turkey, chicken, beef and pork. Love buying cheap and preserving it for later. My dau gets 2 turkeys every Thanksgiving from where she works, so usually we have at least 25 lbs of free meat, and lots of broth to can. This last Christmas we bought nearly 50 lbs of ham for 75 cents a lb. We put it in the freezer and are just now getting around to canning it. I think half pints will be perfect. A suggestion for making a place in your home for storing your bounty, IF you have a small spare room, put aluminum foil over the windows, then block them with dark heavy drapery or blankets. You can even use cardboard to block out the heat coming through, behind the aluminum foil. I would place shelving away from any outside walls. Good Luck!

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    Replies
    1. Good ideas for storage! Isn't it great to have that meat ready to use without thawing? We like half pints...no waste & you can always use more than one.

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  10. Was searching all over internet for this recipe, thankss much:)

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    Replies
    1. Glad it's what you were looking for...it's nothing like the weak tasteless stuff you can buy.

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