D’Artagnan Thanksgiving Survival Guide: Day 6
How to Make Turkey Stock
The precious juices created and saved from the cooking of vegetables and meats, have long been used by cooks to enrich and enhance the flavor of food. In French cooking, these are fonds de cuisine - the foundations of cooking, and this practice of creating and using these juices is elevated to an art form of different fonds as stocks, reductions and sauces.
When making a poultry stock, these prized juices are created by cooking the bones of the bird together with a mirepoix - a specific combination of chopped aromatic vegetables, in a large stockpot of water. The initial cooking draws or extracts the flavor and juices from the ingredients, and additional hours of cooking slowly distills those juices and flavors into a rich stock. This all-important stock is what will give your gravy its telling character.
It is true that you can simply boil the neck and gizzard in lightly salted water and use the resulting liquid to make your gravy. However, it is only a little more work, and not that much more elaborate to make a good basic brown turkey stock. If you plan to butterfly or debone your turkey, you will have a wealth of good bones to add to the pot. If not, you can also make use of any fresh or frozen chicken bones and trimmings you may have saved for making chicken stock, as they will reflect the flavor of the turkey.
Rich Brown Stock
A basic brown turkey stock is made by first roasting or browning the bones before adding them to the stockpot, and mixing with a mirepoix, in a combination of 2 parts onion and carrots to 1 part celery, as an aromatic flavor base. When making a white stock, you start the stock with raw bones and a white mirepoix, replacing the carrots with parsnips to achieve a more pale color, and often adding leeks and mushrooms.
This simple brown stock is a wonderful, hearty base for delicious brown gravy. If you are starting Read more
