Saturday 22 November 2014

Christmas without Thermione! Turkey stock

OK, so for once Thermione doesn't feature.

I needed (well, wanted) to make some turkey stock for the gravy and this is what I did.

I bought a turkey leg - one that included the top bit as well, not just the drumstick part.  It was £4.49 which seems a lot for stock to make gravy but I got a lot more out of it than just gravy.

I also used some streaky bacon, a dash of old wine and some mixed vegetables (fresh soup mix veg) plus some seasonings - rosebary and bay - from the garden.

First I put the wine, the vegetables and the herbs in a roasting dish, topped them with the two parts of the turkey leg, grated over some pepper and then covered the turkey with the streaky bacon.
It then went into a medium oven to slow roast for a while - I think it was two and a half hours all in, maybe a bit more.  The meat was nearly falling off by the end.

As soon as it was all cool enough to handle, I took out the turkey and put the veg and stock into my pressure cooker (you could use an ordinary sauce pan for this bit), removed the bacon (which I crisped up and had crumb;ed over lentil soup), pulled all the meat off the bones and put all the leftovers into the pressure cooker too - skin, nasty bits - the lot.  Then I reboiled it under pressure for around half an hour.

Then I strained off all the bits which I discarded and let the stock bubble away for a while to reduce it down a bit before cooling and freezing.  I didn't add any salt (apart from what came off the bacon) because I will salt it the other end!

This made a lovely, jellied stock which should make a good accompaniment to the turkey on Christmas day when gravyfied.  I will boil up the giblets, etc, beforehand to add to it and there will be some left over to make soup at a later date.

As for the turkey, of which there was loads and loads, I gave half of it to my daughter for her cats who love it and the remaining half made a great turkey curry, some of which is in the freezer for meals later on.

So not bad value at all, was it?


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