turkey stock

Ingredients

• Carcass from one roast turkey, torn apart into large chunks of meat and bone
• 2 onions, quartered
• 3 celery ribs, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 10-15 garlic cloves, smashed with skin on
• 1/2 cup (ish) sherry (enough to cover bottom of a sheet pan)
• 2 bay leaves
• handful of fresh herbs such as parsley, thyme, sage, etc
• 1 tsp of peppercorns
• 1 tbsp kosher salt to start, then more as needed

Preheat oven to 400. Scatter turkey bones, carrots, and garlic cloves on a sheet tray and drizzle them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast until deeply browned all over, flipping them over once. This usually takes between 45 minutes and an hour.

 

Once the bones are browned (but not burnt), transfer them to the stock pot. Pour the sherry on the empty, hot sheet pan and use a metal spatula to scrape all the crisped up turkey bits sticking to the pan. Pour the wine and turkey bits into the pot. Turn the stove on and let the wine reduce for a few minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the pot, and enough water to barely cover everything. Bring to a vigorous boil for a minute and skim off any foam that accumulates. Reduce heat to medium low, partially cover, and let simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Check on the stock every hour or so, tasting and adjusting seasoning as needed, and adding more water it it’s reduced too much.

 

Strain and let cool to room temp before storing in the fridge. It should last in the fridge for a week.

 

Notes

• Don’t put dried arbol chilies in the stock! I added only a few and it came out too spicy. A tragic mistake :'(.
• Stocks comes out better when the bones still have a little meat on them.
• If you spatchcock the turkey, the wing tips and spine can be removed ahead of time. These parts make great additions to the stock pot.
• This method works great for chicken stock too. The only difference is that it makes a lot less, since a chicken carcass is smaller than a turkey.

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