Making Stock of the Christmas Feast

Holiday feasts are the gifts that keep on giving – and I don’t mean the leftovers. You can do great things with the bones from your roast, whatever than might be, and the vegetables that didn’t get used. Yes, I’m thinking about soup.

Turkey stock

Let’s start with turkey. If you have a poultry carcass from the holiday table, you can cook it up in a nice big pot with two quarts of water. Cut the onion into quarters and put it in the pot together with a couple of carrots and a celery stalk. Add some peppercorns, a bay leaf, and a big pinch or two of dried thyme. If you have some leftover parsley sprigs or parsley stems, toss them in. Bring it to boil and then turn it down to simmer.

At this point, add a teaspoon of white wine vinegar to draw out the nutrients from the bones. Simmer it for two or three hours – not at a boil – and enjoy the aroma wafting through the kitchen. Allow it to cool and strain it through a fine sieve (or a soup strainer if you have one). If you’re not using it within the next few days, you can freeze it in pint containers. If you want to make the process even easier, put the carcass and aromatics in your slow cooker, fill with cold water, and set it at low. You’ll have your stock all ready the next day.

You now have the makings of everything from a quick dinner to a fantastic braise or stew. On the quick side, try soup made with the stock, some frozen meatballs, and your vegetable preference. For a little more bulk, add some grains – barley is my favorite – or some pasta or rice. Of course, there are braises and stews that are best with good stock as the base.

Chicken stock

If this works for you, here’s a tip from chef and cookbook author Samin Nosrat. Every time you roast a chicken or other poultry, put the carcass as well as the neck, wingtips, and other parts into a freezer bag and save them until you have at least five pounds of bones (she recommends seven pounds). In another bag, save the onion ends, along with the last sorry, rubbery celery, the carrot ends, and the parsley stems. When the bags are full or when you need your next big batch of stock, toss it into a big pot with seven or eight quarts of water and your choice of herbs and spices. You’ll not only be doing yourself a favor; you’ll also be reducing food waste.

Beef stock

If beef was on the menu and you have bones, Nosrat says you can use the same process, but you’ll need about six or seven pounds of bones plus some marrow bones to make a good stock. She suggests browning the bones in a 400-degree oven for about 45 minutes before tossing them in the stockpot with three tablespoons of tomato paste and the water.

Ham soup

Finally, if your holiday feast was ham, the route to a good soup is short. You can cut most of the meat from the bone and put it in the freezer until you’re ready. If you want it within the next few days, here’s a recipe for Senate bean soup that will make good use of that bone and provide a great meal (or meals). If beans aren’t to your liking, the New York Times’ Melissa Clark has her own leftover ham bone soup recipe. And here’s a winter comfort ham and potato soup.

Give yourself and your family an extra holiday gift with one of these soups or stews – a comforting and filling way to end the old year or begin the new. Happy Holidays from Farmboy.

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