With all of the turkey meat used up in our Thanksgiving sandwiches and Thanksgiving turkey pie, I was left with a rather ginormous turkey carcass. I used to think making stock was complicated or there was some kind of mystery to it but it couldn’t be easier and once you’ve made your first batch of stock you’ll likely become a stock convert. There’s something strangely gratifying about taking a bunch of bones destined for the trashcan and turning them into a rich savory and nutritious liquid that’ll add so much depth and flavor to other dishes.

Here’s all you need to know:

1. Put meat bones in pot, add vegetables of choice (usually a peeled carrot, a stick of celery and a peeled and quartered onion), cover with water, simmer gently for as long as you like.
2. Strain, cool, remove fat from top if necessary. Season. Enjoy alone or in other dishes. 

And speaking of stock, is it stock? Broth? Bone broth? What’s the difference between broth and stock? Here’s the skinny thanks to the guys at Epicurious:
Broth – water simmered with vegetables, aromatics and meat for 45-2 hours. Results in a light, flavorful liquid, perfect for the base of a soup.
Stock – water simmered with vegetables, aromatics and bones (may be roasted, may still have meat on them) for 4-6 hours. Used to deglaze pans or as a base for a rich sauce or gravy.
Bone broth – somewhat of a hybrid of broth and stock. Water simmered with roasted bones (may still have meat attached) for a long time, up to 24 hours to extract the collagen, gelatin and nutritious minerals.

One final word about making stock – don’t think you can throw any old crap into the pot and boil away. Garbage in = Garbage out. So peel your carrots and onions, don’t use rotting vegetables and simmer it gently!
[Edited: there are also schools of thought that the peel on the vegetables adds to the flavor – try it both ways and see which you prefer!]

Here’s how I made turkey stock from our Thanksgiving turkey:

We had a 17lb turkey so that was a pretty big carcass, I didn’t want my stock to taste of the residual stuffing still inside the bird so I used just the legs (meat still attached), wings and breastbone. With a chicken, smaller turkey or non-stuffed turkey I would have just put the whole thing in the pot. I added a couple of carrots (peeled and cut in half), two celery sticks, a peeled and quartered onion, added enough water to cover the bones, popped on a little parchment paper lid (to prevent my stock from escaping) and left the whole thing on a low heat overnight.

Waking up to the rich scent of the broth made me want to eat soup for breakfast! Here’s what was waiting for me in the pot after around 10 hours of simmering on a low heat:

To strain the stock I find it’s easier to fish out as much of the solids/bones/vegetables as possible (otherwise your sieve gets stuck). You’ll see all of the stuff I removed (with tongs) on the left and what was left in the pot on the right. Some people would use the meat but I feel like it’s had all of the flavor and goodness cooked out of it at this point so it usually goes to the dogs.

Cheesecloth-lined sieve used to strain the stock, just ladle it in. As your cheesecloth or sieve starts to collect all of the little bone fragments and other stuff you might want to use a spoon to gently push them aside to let your golden stock filter through.

The stock went into the fridge to cool for a couple of hour and when it came out it was the consistency of wobbly jell-o (you can reduce it down further to make intense stock for soup dumplings but that’s another blog post for another day). You can see the little layer of yellow fat on the top which easily scrapes off with a spoon.

And that’s it! I ended up with about 6 cups of intensely rich turkey stock. 2 cups went in the freezer for future use and I used the remaining 4 cups to make a loosely-Asian-inspired soup (adding reserved shredded turkey meat, cooked ramen noodles, beansprouts, soy sauce, ponzu) served with more beansprouts, lime wedges and hot sauce on the side.

Tips for making stock:
– If roasting a chicken, buy a few extra wings or even a couple of legs to add to the pot with the chicken carcass for a richer stock
– Don’t boil your stock on a high heat, simmer it gently. At higher temperatures more volatile aroma and flavour compounds will be released, leaving a flatter-tasting stock
– You can add any aromatics to your stock – garlic, lemongrass, lemons, ginger, bay leaves, juniper, thyme or other herbs depending on what you plan to do with it.
– A fatty bird like a duck will likely give you quite a fatty stock. When you remove the thick layer of yellow fat from your cooled stock don’t throw it away! Roast a few peeled potatoes in it (you can also keep the fat in the freezer if you don’t have any potatoes on hand)
– Freeze your stock in recipe-appropriate portions, I usually have baggies of 1, 2 and 3 cups of stock in the freezer so I can grab the right size and not have to defrost too much.
– When freezing, lay your baggies flat until frozen, you can then store them upright and they don’t take up too much room. You can also snap off a piece of frozen stock if you don’t want the whole bag
– Consider skipping the final seasoning when freezing stock (just label it “unseasoned”), if you’re using it at a later date with other salty ingredients (bacon, parmesan etc) then you don’t have to worry about having an over-salted final dish.
– Use your flavorful stock for soups, sauces, stews, risottos and more.