Saturday, January 26, 2013

Makin' The Most Of It

Woo it was a busy week! It started Sunday when I took Baby Boy with me to get a Sunday paper and then to Target. We walked through the grocery section and they had Butterball frozen turkeys for $0.79/lb. I bought two: one to cook and shred, the other to grind up. I wanted to get the most bang for my buck so I decided to use the turkeys for meat, broth, and stock. On Monday I went to work on the first one. It was defrosted, cut up, boiled, shredded, and finally the bones were boiled. Here's how it was done.

1 turkey, skin removed and cut up
4 carrots, cut in quarters
4 stalks celery, cut in quarters
salt and pepper

Everything goes in a big pot, along with as much water as will fit while leaving room to simmer. I don't have any big pots (forgot them at Mom's) so I divided everything to do 2 batches.
Simmer for 1 hour, or until the meat is falling apart. Once it's done take out all the meat and let it cool.
Use a collander and cheesecloth to strain the liquid left in the pot. Ta da! You now have broth.
Cool the broth in the fridge, skim the fat off the top, then package and freeze it for later use. I put mine in quart sized freezer bags this time but last time I froze it in ice cube trays and put the cubes in a freezer bag later.
Next pick all the meat off the bones and shred it. You can use this for any dish that calls for shredded chicken or turkey.
Now put the bones in the pot with fresh water. Cover and simmer for 12-24 hours.
Once time's up strain the liquid and you have turkey stock. Cool it in the fridge, remove the fat that rises to the top, then package and freeze it. It took a few days since I was taking my time but I now have 2 gallon sized bags full of turkey meat, 12 quarts of broth, and 6 quarts of stock.


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