Christmas Turkey Bone Broth and Soups

So many people are not fans of leftovers, of any kind. They would probably throw the skin and bones from the turkey away, after picking off most of the meat.

Big Mistake!

You can use it to make wonderful, healthy bone broth to use as a base for future soups.

Today, my bone-picking resulted in the following, from left to right, top row: scraps to mix with the dogs dry food, in the toasting pan: 1/2c white vinegar, bones, cartilage, skin and 3-4 quarts of fresh cold water. Left to right, bottom row: 8oz. of little pieces of meat for soup, dressing, gravy, 9oz. white and dark meat for future turkey salad or turkey tetrazzini.

Put the skin, bones, water and vinegar, in the roasting pan, over low-medium heat. This should just barely bubble the entire time, not vigorously simmer. I keep this very plain -no seasonings, onion or garlic. Those are bad for dogs and cats. I often add a little bone broth to their dry food. Today I added carrot peelings, some outer cabbage leaves, chopped up, and a little bit of celery, all animal-friendly vegetables 😉 Gently stir everything around the pan and slow cook it, covered, for 3 hours.

While this is slowly cooking, prep your vegetables for a big pot of soup. Today I used the vegetables shown, chopped, sliced or minced them and simmered them on low heat for about 45 minutes before chilling them overnight, until the bone broth is ready. Today I simmered the vegetables with the following seasonings and NO starches (pasta, rice or potatoes) for someone who is on a low-carb diet:

4T butter

1t fresh ground black pepper

1/2T poultry seasoning

1/2T roasted garlic & herb seasoning

1T dried parsley

1T Better Than Bouillon - chicken

After 3 hours, remove the roasting pan from the heat and it let come to room temperature. Scoop out all the solids then strain through a colander, large strainer, then a smaller mesh strainer. Finally pour it through a clean four sack type dishtowel lining a colander.

Chill the liquid overnight.

After it's thoroughly chilled, scrape off all fat. This can be used like you would use butter, to brown vegetables or meat. You can also melt it and add a little to your dog or cat's dry food. The more 'jelled' the broth is, the more collagen it contains. Collagen is excellent for healthy skin, hair and connective tissue. The addition of the vinegar in the simmering process is what draws the collagen from the skin, bones and cartilage.

This bone broth turned out very well gelled, so I wanted to make as much soup from this batch as possible. For each of these pots of soup, I used half bone broth and half water with seasonings to make a strong or milder flavored broth. One pot with herbs and poultry seasoning, the other more plain.

Soup is a year-round thing! Have fun with it! . .Lin