Nanie’S Turkey Soup - turkey carcass

Method

• After all (or most) the meat is cut off the turkey bones, put them in a stock pot. (I use the skin too.) Cover with water. Add onion, celery and carrots. (I put in half of the veggies now and add the rest later.)
• Turn the heat on high and let it boil for about 2 hours, or until the remaining scraps of meat are falling off the bones. Remove from heat, let cool for a bit.
• Use a strainer or cheesecloth to remove all the meat and vegetables from the broth. Set broth aside. Sift through the turkey bones and take out all the use-able meat. Discard the bones. I usually have a lot of meat that I can pull off the bones. (See notes below for more details.)
• Put the meat back in broth. Add the rest of the uncooked vegetables and the rice. Season to taste. Bring back to a boil. Cook until vegetables are soft and rice is cooked, usually about 1 hour. Turn off the heat, let cool and enjoy.
• NOTES:
• 1-Straining through a cheesecloth will make a clearer broth. My sister uses the cheesecloth method, and she discards the vegetables with the bones.
• 2-I use a pasta pot for the meat and leave the vegetables in the broth. I do not mind if the broth is a little cloudy and I like a lot of vegetables in my soup. Using a pasta insert allows me to pull the meat out of the pot and then sift through it easily. A strainer works just as well.
• 3-Make sure to wash your hands very well and cool the meat before trying to pick the bones out. This step is messy but necessary.
• 4-There are tiny bones in the legs and wings, make sure to get them all, also remove any skin. I discard any meat fragments that look too dark to me also. This is hard to describe because I go by look and feel. I just put meat back in the soup that I would like to eat.
• 5-The result is a meaty homemade soup, with no bones.
• 6-I season after the meat is taken off the bones because I use the skin and it was seasoned for roasting. This way I taste the broth before I add more seasoning.