Thursday, December 1, 2011

The End Of The Gobbler. Rosie Makes Turkey Consomme.

No part of our turkey is unused.
We cut all the meat off the turkey
and stored it in Tupperware in the fridge.
 Makes it much easier for someone
 (I'm looking at all three Hawthornelets.)
to make their own sandwich.
No more slugging out a huge turkey on a platter
 and having hack marks in it.
 And now I'm making a turkey stock,
 which I will magically clarify,
 producing a rich, golden turkey consomme.
I covered the carcass with water
and set it over medium-low heat.
Coarse chop an onion, couple of carrots, celery stalk.
 Don't bother to peel.
Throw the onion peel in too.
I'm using fresh bay leaves - 4 or 5.
If you're using dry, use 1 or 2.
Dried is stronger than fresh.
Small handful of peppercorns.
Fresh parsley and thyme.
Throw it in, stems and all.
When the broth comes to a simmer,
 turn it down and barely simmer
and let all those flavors do their thing for about 5 -6 hours.
I strained everything in the colander ...
... and here's my lovely turkey stock.
And my house smells warm and comfy.

Let the stock cool, then cover with plastic wrap,
 letting the wrap touch the surface.
 Refrigerate overnight.
The reason for the plastic touching the surface,
 is because any fat in your broth will come to the surface and congeal.
 If I have a particularly fatty bird,
I'll have at least 1/4 - 1/2 inch of fat layer.
 When you carefully peel the plastic off,
the layer of fat will adhere to the plastic
and come off in one piece.
At least that's my theory.
And it works.
I just didn't get any fat off this bird
 so I can't show you my plan in action.
 But trust me.
 It works.
If you like, you can take a break at this point
and wait a couple of days like I did
 before turning the stock into glistening consomme.
This is the before turkey broth.
You'll notice it's a bit cloudy and there's particulate matter in there.
 I want to clarify my broth.
6 egg whites
1 cup cold turkey stock
Whisk the eggs until frothy, then whisk in the cold turkey stock.
Whisky, whisky.
Bring the rest of the turkey stock to a simmer.

Pour one cup hot stock into egg white mixture.
Then pour the egg white mixture into the turkey stock over moderate heat.

Whisk slowly to keep the egg whites
in constant but gentle motion.
 Bring just to a simmer and immediately stop whisking.
The egg whites have attached to the bits of matter
 that cloud the stock and have risen to the surface.
 Now they must coagulate firmly enough
 so that when you strain the stock,
the egg whites hold together,
letting the clear liquid drip through.
Set your pan to the side of the heat
 so the stock barely bubbles in that area.
 Let it barely bubble for 5 minutes.
I've pulled back a bit of the froth
 so you can see the the action underneath.
 Little bits are rising up to the surface
 and are caught by the egg whites.
You want a bare simmer.
After the first five minutes of barely bubbling,
rotate the pan 1/4 turn and barely bubble for another 5 minutes.
 Repeat two more times.
I carefully scooped up some of the foam with a ladle.
Then I ladled the rich, crystal clear consomme
 through several layers of cheesecloth.
I ended up with two quarts
 which I'll label and freeze.
 And here's Rosie Tip #465:
 Don't be cheap and save the cheesecloth.
Throw the cheesecloth out.
 I made the mistake one time of throwing the cheesecloth
 into the laundry bag of dirty kitchen towels
 and ended up washing it.
Used it a few weeks down the road to make chicken consomme
and I ended up with a lovely Bounce-scented liquid.


Before: cloudy broth.
 
 
  After: clear consomme.
I hope you'll try making your own homemade stocks.
Once you make your own and taste it,
 it's hard to go back to canned.
No comparison.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Oooooooooooh.

I was trying to clarify stock last night. My frustration might have just been waaaay to few egg whites per quart of liquid (my sources said 2 egg whites per quart. It didn't work out so well). It worked better with my beef stock than my chicken... the beef stock is clear with noticable bits that made it thru the cheesecloth (I usually use a thin tea towel rather than cheesecloth - never have luck with cheesecloth) but the chicken is still a cloudy mess.

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Mrs. VJW, I don't think you had enough egg whites. I used 6 whites for 2 quarts. And never boil. Just barely simmer. Did you do the rotating bit?

Unknown said...

I think it was just not enough egg whites. I now have wonderfully clear veal and beef stocks. Turkey is next....

Rosie Hawthorne said...

Mrs. VJW, whoot!
Be sure to season with salt. I've found that salt makes a difference in clarity. Don't understand why, but it does.

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