With Wikipedia to the rescue, it turns out that boiling, or the slightly cooler simmering, does not technically sterilize a turkey stock because, even though it kills every squirming little bug in 15 minutes or so, boiling fails to inactivate bacterial spores. Of course, those would be the same spores that infested the turkey you just ate, and all the produce that you could have eaten raw.
I suppose if I left that stock pot on the kitchen counter for a week or two, all manner of fauna could build homes and raise families inside, but a twice-simmered stock has got to be one of the least-infected things you put in your mouth over the holiday weekend. The point already mentioned about a hot pot spoiling other food in the refrigerator is another reason not to be too eager about immediate chilling.
Sorry about dwelling on recipes for bacterial soup here, but Thanksgiving is a matter of life or death, man!
Well, no apple this time so you can report on that. I’m curious what it adds to the stock, having never heard that as an ingredient. As to that, do you prefer any kind of apple? Howis it prepared, peeled, halfed, quartered , stemmed and seeded or chucked in whole?
Well, I use Mai Fun, which I think are technically Chinese noodles, but they’re really good.
You have to soften the noodles in warm water for about 10 minutes. I use the soup pan, set on low. After the 10 minutes are up, add the noodles to the stock.
Bring the stock to a boil, and make sure it’s seasoned to taste. Use soy sauce instead of salt. Add a few drops of sesame seed oil. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
At about 4 minutes in, add whatever vegetables you want. I usually just use a plentiful amount of scallions, chopped pretty thinly, and some mushrooms.
Pour into a large bowl with the meat* and then add whatever condiments you desire. Usually, that’s:
A few sprigs of basil
A lemon or lime wedge, squeezed for the juice.
A little bit of Hoisin sauce
Some Sriracha sauce if you like it spicy.
*I put the cooked meat (in this case, turkey) in the bowl unheated (that is, right from the fridge). Once the stock is poured in, the soup heats up the meat and meat cools down the soup enough that it’s ready to eat in about a minute.
Since I’m eating at a friend’s house for Christmas, I made my Christmas turkey yesterday and today is soup day.
Now, I know you’re supposed to “skim the scum”, but I’m wondering: where does the scum come from? I usually don’t have have ANY scum when I make turkey soup, but today was scum city in my soup pot. Anyone know what gives?
And I noticed that when I skimmed it, a lot of the herbs came out, too. I use dry herbs and they tend to float on the top, at least early on, so note to self: don’t add the herbs until after the scum skimming is done.
The scum is denatured proteins that are released as the muscle starts to tighten and cook. You’ll get more of them with a hard boil (although the hard boil sometimes breaks them up so you don’t see them as easily) and less with a soft simmer. You’ll get more with raw or lightly cooked meat and less with precooked meat, and more with lots of meat and less with little meat and more bones.
So if you don’t like skimming scum, keep the heat gentle so that you’re getting only 6-10 small bubbles per minute, instead of a hard rolling boil. (This also gets more collagen out and converts it to gelatin better, so it’s a superior method for two reasons.) You may have to skim once or twice, but usually less than with a boil.
WhyNot, you are obviously a soupmaster extraordinaire, and your advice is spot on, but I must ask, do you really calibrate your simmer so precisely? Inquiring mind wants to know!
Oh, are you kidding me?! That’s my rough estimate method! When I started getting serious about stock, I had two digital probe thermometers set up, one at 190 (set to go off if it went below) and one at 205 (set to go off if it went above). When either one alarmed, I’d adjust the heat. Eventually I learned the proper bubble count and put the thermometers away.
Is it really that important? Probably not. But you can bounce quarters off my stock, it’s so full of luscious gelatin.
I took the thanksgiving carcass out of the freezer yesterday and made stock. The whole house smells like turkey and I had turkey dreams last night. I’ll spend the next week or so using it in soups and stews. Used some to thin a squash soup last night and it imparted a very distinct turkey flavor to the soup. Strong turkey!
When I started getting serious about stock, I had two digital probe thermometers set up, one at 190 (set to go off if it went below) and one at 205 (set to go off if it went above). When either one alarmed, I’d adjust the heat. Eventually I learned the proper bubble count and put the thermometers away.