Once you’ve eaten your fill of turkey don’t throw the carcass away, it can be put to good use and boiled up to make a tasty stock for soups, gravy and risotto. If you don’t have time to make the stock straightaway, freeze the bones until you can make use of them, or once you’ve made the stock freeze it in 300ml or 600ml portions. Leftover roasting juices have a concentrated rich flavour so make sure they’re added to the stock too if you haven’t used them for gravy already. Just skim off any fat from the surface of the juices before adding to the stock.
Ingredients
- 1 turkey carcass, broken in half or quarters
- 2 carrots, halved
- 1 onion, quartered
- 1 leek, cut into chunks
- 1 celery stalk, cut into chunks
- 4 black peppercorns
- 1tsp salt
- 1 bay leaf
Method
Place the turkey carcass in a large saucepan. Add the carrots, onion, leek, celery, peppercorns, salt and bay leaf. Add 2 litres cold water and slowly bring to the boil.
Simmer gently, uncovered, for 1 hr. Strain and allow to cool. Chill for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 2 months.
Top tip for making Turkey stock
You can add 4 halved mushrooms and a few parsley stalks or fresh thyme sprigs to the stock if you have any that need using up.
