Jack's Turkey Soup

This past Christmas, MDS and I stopped at his Dad's for Christmas lunch. We were treated to this delicious homemade turkey soup. Although I have already posted my Mom's turkey frame soup, Jack's version was so good, I thought I would post this one too. Both turkey soups use homemade stock made by boiling the turkey frame for several hours. After that, you could add just about any vegetable and seasoning. But for this recipe, I followed Jack's ingredient list, including the use of rice instead of pasta.

You can use store-bought turkey stock, but using homemade turkey stock makes for the best soup. You will want to have about 12 cups of stock for this soup. If you have more, you can freeze some stock for later. If you have less, just reduce the amount of vegetables and rice. The nice thing about soup is that you really do not need to measure any of the ingredients. If you do not like an ingredient, don't add it. If there is something in this recipe that you really like, add more. As for the seasoning, this recipe calls for parsley, thyme, sage, bay leaves, oregano, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. You can use fresh or dried herbs. If you use dried herbs, use about one tablespoon. As for the vegetables, you can easily modify them as needed. I used fresh vegetables here, but you could use frozen vegetables for convenience. I never worry about adding too many ingredients because I actually prefer turkey soups like this one, which is more like a stew than a soup.

Jack's Turkey Soup 

• Turkey carcass 
• 2 cups cooked turkey meat, cubed
• 3 medium yellow onions 
• 3 or 4 carrots 
• 3 stalks of celery 
• 2 tomatoes (or a 16 oz can of diced tomatoes) 
• 2 to 4 potatoes 
• 1 cup uncooked white long grain rice (like Uncle Ben's) 
• 1 Tbsp. chopped parsley 
• 1 Tbsp. thyme 
• 1 tsp. sage
• 2 bay leaves 
• 1 Tbsp. oregano 
• 1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder 
• Salt 
• Pepper 

First, make the stock (1/2 hour prep and 4 hours cooking). After the turkey has cooled, remove all the usable turkey meat from the turkey carcass to save for making sandwiches later or for adding to the soup. Put the bones and skin into a large stock pot (if the carcass is too big for your pot, break the leftover bones to fit them all in) and cover with cold water by an inch. Add a yellow onion that has been quartered. Add 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 tablespoon ground pepper. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to bring the stock to a bare simmer. Skim the suface  to remove solids as needed. Cook for at least 4 hours, uncovered so stock will reduce (evaporate some away). At the point, the stock can be refrigerated or frozen for later use. Remove the large bones and skin from the stock pot with tongs. Pour broth through stainer lined with cheese cloth into another pot, and capture the turkey meat and bones in strainer. Discard all the bones. Reserve about 2 cups of turkey meat for the soup.

Then make the soup (45 min prep and 3 hours cooking). Wash and chop up the carrots, celery, tomatoes, onion, and potatoes. Add vegetables and turkey meat to pot with broth. Add 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice. Add seasonings: parsley, thyme, sage, garlic, bay leaves, salt, pepper. Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat down to a bare simmer. Cook uncovered for 3 hours to reduce a little and make vegetables tender. Remove the bay leaves. Enjoy!