What to do with a left-over turkey

Not my turkey

OK, so Thanksgiving dinner is over, your turkey no longer looks at ALL like that pretty picture over there → and you now have the massive task of taking care of its remains.   What to do, what to do…

It’s a big job, but not insurmountable – just do it one thing at a time.  And don’t throw anything away – get the most for your turkey dollar.  Just a few ideas:

First things first.  If you are like me, you actually carve just about as much turkey as your guests will consume (plus a little extra for piggy seconds).  So the first task is to finish carving the turkey up.  I neatly slice what I can, then pick off the remaining big pieces with my (clean) fingers. 

Of this, I split the turkey slices and large pieces into 2 or 3 portions; I package and freeze two of them, and put the remainder in the refrigerator for a second (and third) turkey dinner tomorrow.  Hopefully, you have lots of leftover side dishes to go along with all of this when the time comes.  You can have a standard turkey dinner, you can chop and mix some of it with gravy and have hot turkey sandwiches, etc.  There's another idea down at the end of this piece. 

The smaller pieces I chop and make a turkey salad for sandwiches:

Turkey Salad
1 or 2 cups of chopped turkey
1 gob mayo ( a couple of TB maybe)
1 or 2 tsp mustard
Chopped celery
Chopped onion (green is great, but regular old yellow onion is also good)
Pepper

Mix this all together in a bowl. Vary the amount of mayo until it looks right, and not too dry. This is a simple mixture, but it's great on soft white bread with crispy iceberg lettuce, or on left-over dinner rolls.  You can add a chopped hard-boiled egg if you've got one handy.

Now, you’ve still got some-kind of large turkey carcass sitting there.  Make stock!  Throw him into a large pot with all of his bones you've got hanging about, cover him with fresh cold water, add a few pieces of onion, celery and peeled carrot (leave these in larger pieces so you can easily discard them later).  Add a clove or two of smashed garlic and season with some other herbs and peppers.  I use salt-free mixes or just pick things out of the garden if I have any (thyme, rosemary, etc).  Heat to a boil, skim off as much foam as you can and then reduce to a simmer (covered) for several hours. 

While this is simmering, clean up your mess and your kitchen.  Wash the dishes.  Watch the game.  Whatever.  At the end of the evening, if it is cold outside, I put the hot pot on a wire rack to cool outside overnight, then finish the cooking the next day (if necessary), because there probably isn’t room in the refrigerator for it at this point.

After four or five hours of simmering, you've got some great stock to make soup, or use for anything you need turkey stock for.  I set some aside for soup and put the remainder (after it cools of course) into 1 pint freezer sacks; you can put 1 or 2 cups in each sack (premeasure it exactly so you know how many to take out to thaw when you need it) and lay them FLAT on a cookie sheet or a plate in the freezer to freeze flat.  Write the ID and date on the sack before you pour in the broth. Once they freeze and hold their shape, you can take them off the cookie sheet or plate and store them neatly upright.

Of course, before you do all of that, you'll want to remove the bones and pieces into a large colander which you've set over a large bowl; after it has a chance to drain for a little while, pour that broth back into the rest. Then strain it all before you package and freeze it.  If it is fatty, let the fat separate and skim as much of it off as you can.

Now… You’ve got a nice large bowl of bits and pieces – and some of that stuff in there looks pretty nasty, eh?  So get yourself a small knife, and wash your hands up real sanitary-like, we’re going to pick through all of that simmered refuse and dig out ALL of the little pieces of meat and put them into a smaller bowl.  This is the part of the job that takes the longest time, but it’s not too bad once you’re busy at it.  It goes pretty fast.  But don’t hurry – there’s probably a pound or two of meat you can put back into the soup pot in there, hiding.  Pick through the bits and pieces, separating the stuff you don’t want from the little bits of meat.  The larger chunks can be chopped with the knife while you work. 

Once you get this all done, you have been tossing the bones and gristle and other little nasties into the trash sack nearby while you work (haven't you?), and what you have left is a bowl of little bits of turkey meat that are great for making turkey soup.  A ten-pound bird will net you about 2/3 of a pound of meat bits – but you may get a pound or two from a larger turkey.  I take this “soup meat” and split it into smaller portions – and freeze what I won’t use right then.

Kinda like my soup

Turkey Soup
1/3 pound soup meat (as above)
1 carrot, peeled and chopped or sliced thin
1 stalk celery, chopped or sliced
1/3 onion, chopped
1 chunk cabbage, sliced and chopped
1 handful of peas
2½ cups turkey stock
Herbs, salt and pepper for seasoning
Small handful shell macaroni or pipettes, etc.

Add a small bit of oil to a pot, toss in the vegetables and sauté for a few minutes on medium heat.  I don't use large chunks like that photo up there -- but you can do them however you want to; it's YOUR soup. When about halfway cooked, dump in the stock and the turkey.  Season as desired with an herb mixture.  Add some chopped fresh parsley.  Pepper is good…

Bring to a boil, then simmer for about ten minutes.  Add the pasta and cook about 10 minutes more on low heat, just a little past "simmer."  Have a small glass of wine while you do this, or play with your dog.  When it is finished, adjust your seasonings (I almost always add a bit more as turkey soup tends to be a bit bland) and after it cools, put it in the fridge or freeze it for later dinners when you’re tired or cold.  This makes about a quart of finished soup, mas o menos.

This concludes our small exercise in making the fullest use of a Thanksgiving turkey.  I like a little variety, so I’m going to toss one more recipe out there for some of those leftover turkey slices/large pieces.  A friend of my Mom gave her this recipe and it is a fun way to use up some of the leftover turkey.  I couldn’t find Polly-Anne’s exact recipe in my Mom’s recipe box, so I looked online until I found one that looked most like it.  This came out about identical to the way I remember Polly-Anne's “Turkey Taco Ole.”  Allrecipes.com calls this Southwestern Turkey Casserole.  Whatever you call it, it’s pretty darned tasty.  It’s a southwestern-style turkey-tortilla version of lasagna!

• 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
• 7oz can diced green chilies, drained
• 1 cup sour cream
• 10 oz diced or chunked leftover turkey
• 16 corn tortillas, cut into strips
• 8 oz shredded mild cheddar

 Heat oven to 350.

1. Grease a 13x9“ baking pan.
2. Make the required number of tortillas, or use store-bought if you have to.  Cut them into strips.
3. In a large bowl, combine the condensed soup, the turkey, the sour cream and the chilies.
4. Arrange half the tortilla strips evenly in the bottom of the pan. 
5. Spread half the soup/turkey mixture over the tortillas. Top with half the cheese.  (Instead of shredded, I used ultra-thin slices of Sargento mild cheddar and it worked great). 
6. Repeat the three layers (tortillas, turkey mix, cheese) ending with the cheese. 
7. Place in the oven for about 40 minutes.  Cheese should be browned and bubbly.  Upon removal from the oven, let it set-up for a few minutes before serving.

I halved this recipe and made it in an 8x8 baking pan.  I use only the Cream of Chicken soup when I do this, 1 can.  Use lower-salt soup if you can find it – canned soup has a huge amount of sodium in it. [Please note; you CAN make home-made condensed soup, using your own stock.  I made this recipe recently with a smoky home-made turkey stock and it was very, very good. I cannot serve my family foods that are high in sodium, and this was my reason for not using the canned soup.  Not to mention the great flavor!]


This is not at all spicy.  You could hot it up by adding a tsp or two of dried red pepper flakes to the turkey/soup mixture, or use a can of jalapeños instead of the green chilies. This is one of those dishes that tastes even better the 2nd day.



My Grandma said...

“The best thing I ever have in my kitchen is a friend who likes my cooking.” 
          Lulabelle Pruitt