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.

Rosie Makes Consomme. Again.

Last week, if you recall, I made a Black Bean Soup. It required chicken stock and, as I was out, I figured it was high time to whup up batches of both chicken stock and turkey stock.

I had several bags of carcasses and bones hanging out in the freezer, just waiting to be turned into delicious consomme.

Chicken stock on the right. Turkey stock on the left.

I coarse chopped onions, celery, carrots, and a head of garlic.

Salt, pepper, and bay leaves got added, and I kept it at a bare simmer all day long.

I strained out the veggies and broth through a cheesecloth. And don't worry. The veggies weren't wasted. Dixie got to eat the carrots and celery.

The cheese cloth really makes a big difference. Both pots above are of chicken stock. The one on the left I didn't strain through the cheese cloth and you can see all the particles. After using a bit of the chicken stock for the black bean soup, I covered both chicken and turkey stocks with plastic wrap touching the surface of the stock, and put both pots in the fridge, until I had time to make consomme. Now, I know I've made it before and blogged about it, but consomme bears repeating since there just may be some consomme virgins out there. Believe me, there's nothing quite like it.

A couple of days ago, I finally found time to actually make the consomme. I carefully pulled back the plastic wrap and most of the congealed fat came right of with the wrap.

I scooped up the rest of the fat particles with a fine mesh strainer.

The grande dame, Julia, says to use 4 egg whites per 5 cups of stock in the clarification process. As I had over a gallon each of turkey and chicken stock, that's quite a lot of whites. First I poured in 1 cup of cold stock to the egg whites. Brought the stock to a bare simmer, then added 1 cup of the hot stock into the egg mixture. Now be sure and stay tuned to see all the different ways I'm going to be using egg yolks.

When the stock is simmering, add in the egg white mixture. And bring the stock back up to barely simmering.

Set the pot off to the side and let it barely bubble in that area for 5 minutes. Turn the pan a quarter turn and let barely bubble again for 5 minutes. Repeat twice.

Next I scooped off the coagulated egg whites.

And carefully poured the broth through several layers of cheesecloth. This smells amazing.

And here's my liquid gold - crystal clear, sparkling consomme, with a depth of flavor and complexity that you'll never experience unless you make this yourself.

I ended up with 5 quarts of chicken stock and 5 quarts of turkey stock. And my freezer is pretty well stocked with fish stock, veal stock, and chicken and turkey consommes. I have only 1 quart of beef consomme left, so that's going to be next on my to-do list. First, I need some more bones.