Friday, November 25, 2005
Soup
I made delicious turkey soup without trying. I put the carcass in the crockpot, along with a couple wing and thigh pieces still heavy with meat, added water and leftover drippings (about half the total from the turkey) about 2/3 or so up, and cooked for six hours.
Then I picked out bones, which brings me to a question: When cooking down a bird carcass, is there an easy or preferred way to get the bones, even the small ones, out once most of the meat and meat-like substances have departed the bones? I used a pasta spoon and a fork to scoop up meat and pick bones and intact hunks of skin or fat out. I got everything large, but there remain little pieces of bone. Which is annoying more than a problem, since they have cooked to the point of softness. Still, it seems like there ought to be a better, more thorough way.
Anyway, I added a couple cups more water, about five sliced up carrots, and just under a cup of brown rice, then cooked another eight hours. This morning it was soup. I just had a bowl, and it was fantastic, bordering on too salty. Apparently the secret ingredient is the beef boullion cubes used on the turkey along with the spices. Those contain stuff like MSG. Last time I did this, it was bordering on bland, despite spicing it and using drippings. This time I used nothing. In the back of my mind I had the idea if it was bland I would spice it and cook just a little longer after it was otherwise done, since the problem before seemed to be that the flavor of the spices cooked away after so long. No need this time.