This is a great reason to stay home the day after Thanksgiving.
Day One
- Turkey carcass (I don’t do a very thorough job of cleaning the meat off. I usually leave the wings on as well as some of the dark meat on the back. Usually most of the white meat and drumsticks have been removed)
- Turkey neck, if you have it
- 2-3 large onions, peeled and quartered
- 4-5 stalks of celery, washed and cut into 3-4 pieces each. Leaves are a plus.
- About 8 grinds of pepper
- Kosher salt to taste
Day Two
- 4 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
- Salt, pepper, and garlic powder
- 14 ounces noodles or pasta
Put the carcass and the neck in a large stock pot and add enough water to almost cover it.
Add onions, celery, pepper, and salt.
Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the bones come apart and the broth is a nice yellowish color, usually 3-4 hours.
Remove the soup from the heat and allow it to cool. At this point I usually put the pot outside.
When the soup is cool enough to handle, remove the big pieces of bone, meat and vegetables. Discard neck, vegetables, bones and any meat that doesn’t look appetizing. A lot of the meat will be gristly or dried out. Set the nice tender meat aside. It might not look like much, but you don’t need much.
Strain the soup.
Thinly slice the reserved meat against the grain so that you get very small pieces of turkey. Add meat back into the broth.
Put the soup in a cold place (outside or in the fridge) for at least 8 hours.
Skim the fat from the top.
Add sliced carrots to the broth and bring it to a rolling boil. Allow it to boil for about 5 minutes.
Taste the soup for seasoning. It will need a fair amount of salt and some pepper. I also usually add a few shakes of garlic powder.
Add noodles. Usually a little less than a pound is good depending on the amount of broth and the size of the noodles.
The soup is ready to eat when the pasta is tender.
Rehfwitz Recipes 