Sunday, December 27, 2009

Holiday Turkey Noodle Soup

Turkey Noodle Soup
Every time I cook a turkey for special occasion, I always use the carcass to make a soup the next day. I'm sure every family has their own version of (leftover) Holiday Turkey Noodle Soup. Here is mine, which I've managed to perfect through the years. And to give you a sense of how long that is, I've been in charge of cooking the Thanksgiving turkey since I was Junior in high school (I'm now 32 years old).

As I'd mentioned before, I don't usually measure my ingredients when cooking, unless I'm baking of course. So here is my best attempt at measurements:

Thomas' Holiday Turkey Noodle Soup Recipe

Using your best tools (i.e. your hands) remove all of the meat, skin and fatty bits from the turkey carcass. Set aside the meat in a bowl and refrigerate (discard the skin and fat). Separate the wing, thigh, and leg bones from the rest of the carcass, and using kitchen scissors or a sharp cleaver, cut the back and breast bones into smaller (more manageable) pieces. Heat some olive oil in a large stock pot over moderate heat and add the bones. Brown the bones for 10 minutes, tossing occasionally. (This is important as it makes for a richer, more flavorful stock).

When the bones have browned, add 1 medium onion, 2 medium carrots and 2 celery stalks that have been cut into large pieces into the pot. I generally cook a turkey anywhere between 12 to 20 lbs. For a 10-12 lb turkey, add 10-12 cups of water (15 lbs - use 14 cups, 20 lbs - use 16 to 18 cups) to the pot. Alternatively, you can just add enough water to cover the bones by a couple of inches. Then add a few sprigs of thyme. Bring the water to a rapid boil and then lower the flame to simmer gently for 2 hours. Skim any scum and excess fat that floats to the surface. (I usually leave some fat as it adds flavor to the soup.)

After 2 hours, pour the stock through a fine sieve (catching any small bones and bits in the process) into another large pot. At this point, add 1/2 to 2/3 cup of dry white wine and bring the stock back to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Now add your diced veggies. I use about 1 cup of carrots, 1 cup of celery (leafy parts too), 1 cup of mushrooms, 1/2 cup of red peppers, 2 small zucchini, 1 cup of onions, 1 cup leafy greens like spinach, chard or kale. (Of course you can use whatever you like or have on hand.) Then add about 3 cups of diced turkey meat.

Bring the soup back to a boil and then gently simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the veggies are tender. Add salt (preferably kosher) to taste. Finish the soup by adding anywhere between 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar. (Adding a bit of sugar greatly enhances the flavor of this broth. You'll notice a distinct difference by tasting the broth before and after you add the sugar.)

In a separate pot, cook your pasta or egg noodles in salted boiling water according to the package directions. Drain and keep in a large bowl or plastic container. Unlike other recipes, I don't add my pasta directly into the soup pot, mainly because it becomes overcooked and absorbs most of the tasty broth over time. Instead, I store the pasta separately until I'm ready to serve. In individual bowls, I add a bit of pasta and then pour the hot soup on top. Garnish with some chopped fresh parsley or cilantro.

And there you have it. I hope some of you will give this recipe a try!

17 comments:

  1. Sounds delicious Thomas! I like the idea of making the pasta separate. That's the one thing that drives me crazy about putting pasta in soups...eventually it's overdone.

    I make a simple turkey soup...and I add herbed dumplings seasoned with thyme and rosemary and parsley. So delicious...and they thicken the soup just a little which is nice.

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  2. Yum. I don't host either Thanksgiving or Christmas so never get to make Turkey soup. My neighbor does though and I got to go over late yesterday afternoon and have some. Yum. This year I brought ham so got to bring back my ham bone. It was tossed in the freezer for now, but I'm guessing some nice bean soup will be made.

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  3. Michelle - I've never made a dumpling soup before (unless you count wontons as being dumplings). It sounds tasty though.

    Daphne - Ham bones are great! I love ham and spit pea soup, but I'm sure adding beans would be delicious as well.

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  4. Sounds delicious, and looks beautiful. I love your choice of pasta, it adds to the festive appeal of the soup.

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  5. Sounds like your making of turkey soup went much better than mine! I actually just finished writing a post on my blog about my turkey soup misadventure and then clicked over here to see if you had any new posts today! :) You definitely gave me a few pointers to consider next time I try making soup.

    (That's the advantage of really just starting out cooking. I get to learn from so many experienced people without having to go through quite as much trial-and-error mishaps of my own!)

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  6. My MIL always makes the Turkey Noodle soup, this year we have to wait till Feb for it, but that's ok. She also uses homemade noodles, which are so much better than anything else, but they take time to make. Although lately the girls and I make the noodles while she perfects the soup, with three of us working on the noodles it doesn't take nearly as long.

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  7. I have made a duck/chicken soup, mostly with liver and harts. I also like to add kohlrabi, but I have never tried to add mushrooms or zucchini. I just might try this next time.

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  8. I usually wait to make the turkey soup - freezing alot of the left over turkey meat for later use when we are not all growing heartily tired of turkey! Your recipe looks devine and I am going to snag it for later use. I don't have any specific recipe - I make soup that is different every time because I just use whatever is on hand and sounds good! However, I have been known to occassionally follow a recipe and will try to do that with this one.

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  9. There you go, trying to teach an old Gran new tricks. Now I'll have to go buy another turkey, so I can make your soup and add some sugar to the broth! As usual, it looks and sounds delicious. I think I'll go pack my suitcase. Just kidding, but you probably have a few hundred people wanting to move in with you by now!

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  10. Yummy, soup for cold days is best.
    Yup, straining the broth and add new veggies is how I make some of my soups.

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  11. This looks great!
    Next turkey I have the pleasure of cooking, this will be the soup I try with the leftovers!

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  12. How yummy! I just scored two fresh turkeys for $.29 a pound and am going to cook one tonight. I think I will save the carcass in the freezer until I cook the other bird, then make soup later (when I'm not so tired of turkey!)

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  13. The soup looks very tasty. I just picked up a fresh turkey today, 0.99 cents a pound. When ever it gets cooked I will have to try your recipe.

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  14. I will try your recipe with my next turkey, I love the bit about heating the bones in some oil first, and the touch of sugar at the end. Mmmmm.....

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  16. I'm going to try your method of browning the bones first with our Christmas turkey. Thanks for the tip!

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