Coming Up Aces

Over the past few years, I’ve had my dad save all the turkey carcasses he makes for different holidays, and I always make a stock out of them. He tosses them into the freezer, and they’re good to go whenever they’re needed. Making stock is a low-effort task with a high reward outcome.

 Today I have the Christmas turkey and the bones from a rotisserie chicken to work with. Using the root vegetables I have on hand, leftover from the Holidays, I made this Birdie Stock.

Recipe

1 Turkey carcass

1 Chicken carcass

2 Onions – cut in half

3 Stocks of Celery with or without leaves – cut into thirds

1 Whole head of Garlic – cut in half

2 Large Carrots – cut into thirds

½ A bulb of Fennel – diced 

4 Red Radishes – cut in half 

2 Dried Bay leaves

1 tsp of dried Thyme

1 tsp of dried Rosemary

½ tsp of Black Pepper 

6 Litres of Water

In a large stockpot, I threw in the birds, pre-cut vegetables, some lovely savoury dried herbs that I had on hand (would it have been better with fresh? Probably, but we use what we have.), added six litres of water, and let it come to a boil with the lid on before simmering for four hours on low with the lid off, skimming the surface of any foam that came to the top. When it was a lovely deep amber colour, it was done. I turned off the heat and strained it once it was cool enough to handle, throwing out the solids and packaging up the stock in air-tight containers. 

The stock is good in the fridge up to four days, and safe in the freezer up to 6 months.

*Note* It does take longer for the stock to come to a boil if the bird carcasses are frozen when added to the pot.