Turkey Stock Part One

Mark writes-

I flipped the opaque plastic container over into our largest silver pot, already on the stove vegetables sizzling oranges, yellows and greens. I took a step back. Before me a jiggly, brown, gelatinous square sitting on stilts of bone like a house on a colorful vegetable bayou.

"I am wishing I had flipped it in the other way around, John."

"It would probably look a lot cooler."

I decided to save it and plunged my fingers into the pot, hooking gingerly into the squishy, bony underworld that I was determined to get a better look at. Flipping the mass over was easy enough, revealing a dark scene of dead turkey swamp. Moist, picked over turkey meat falling off bones like moss off of scraggly trees on a jiggly earth cube. We marveled at the scene dripping slowly out from between our slimy fingers. (see picture)

Into the pot with you!

So much for the 22 pound beast that Croke had sitting freshly plucked in a five gallon pickle bucket full of brine a few days prior. Thanksgiving had come and gone, we now had a smaller bucket full of turkey parts (in the pot, see above), a bag of organs, and a neck sitting wrapped in plastic by itself, red and fleshy in the fridge.

Put em in there and crank that dial. Crank it nice and low.

chef john notes: using a crock pot for stock is awesome. set it low and let it simmer overnight... a mirepoix (mihr-PWAH)is "fancy" french term for diced carrot, celery and onion sauteed in butter or other fat with herbs and spices. for turkey or other fowl I like bay leaf, fresh thyme, parsley stems and peppercorns. add a splash of white wine to enhance the flavors. gobble. gobble!