Turkey Paste, Stock and Mushroom/Marjoram Soup

[lillibet]

I'm closing up tabs and wanted to note that after Thanksgiving I made the best stock of my life, using this recipe. I used it to make the soup that's also on that page, using noodles instead of rice or barley, at Alice's request. The mushrooms and marjoram gave it a very different flavor than usual and it was a very hearty, wintery soup. I've used another quart of the stock for celeriac soup--that was pretty good, but not so much that I'd use the recipe again, so I'm not linking to it--and I've got three left that I'll hope to use in the coming weeks. Suggestions for good-with-turkey-stock soup are welcome.

Also worth noting--this year I was struck by the tips from Kitchen Surfing. I brined the turkey for the first time and have to say I didn't think that part was worth the hassle. It was not more moist than usual and a couple of people complained about the salt-level. I wasn't able to find lard on short notice (it occurred to me later that Savenor's was probably the answer) but Dave's Fresh Pasta carries jars of duck fat (you're welcome). Because the turkey cooked so much faster than expected (a 27 lb. turkey was done in 3 hours, 30 minutes at 400, 90 at 350--should have been 60, and then 250 for another hour) I didn't use up all the herbed duck fat. So suggestions for things-to-cook-in-herbed-duck-fat are also welcome--I know about hash browns.

Comments

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

FYI, If you don't mind rendering, and don't think fat in a deep freezer suffers from long freezing times, I accidentally collected too many piece of leaf lard that I haven't rendered. They've been in there a while though.

[tactical-grace.livejournal.com]

(You may already know this, but...) You can sometimes find lard in supermarkets that cater to a large Hispanic population. I've seen it in the local Market Basket (Westford).

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Good thought!

[outerjenise.livejournal.com]

I use that same stock recipe. So yummy! I used it as the base for cheddar turkey broccoli soup, and I have lots of stock frozen from Thanksgiving just waiting to be soup on a cold winter's day.

Lard: Pete & Jen's Backyard Birds sells excellent lard at their store in Concord, much better quality than what you get at Market Basket. You can also order it from Farmers to You (www.farmerstoyou.com), though they require a minimum order of $40.

Duck fat, duck fat... I just saw a recipe last week that called for duck fat. Dang, that's going to bug me until I remember it.

Brining is very tricky if you're using a frozen turkey because they are generally injected with a saline solution to prevent them from drying out. So that's salt on top of salt. Brining a fresh turkey, on the other hand, is maaaaaarvelous. Also, remember to rinse a brined turkey thoroughly, inside and out, before roasting. That will cut the salt content a lot.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

This was a fresh turkey and I did rinse it pretty thoroughly. It was good, but salty--especially the drippings--and the meat was no more moist than usual.

Thanks for the lard pointers!