”I don’t know Cat. How do you make a turkey bounce?”
I am so glad you asked! After a few days of eating turkey leftovers, most of us will get bored of it and want to move on. So, what to do with all the leftover turkey? Don’t throw out! Why? Because you can make several meals well after Thanksgiving Day! I like to make turkey stock…
Remove most of the meat (and freeze in portions) and throw the remaining carcass and other bits into a stock pot, add seasonings, cover with water and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and let it sit for an hour or two until the meat starts to fall off the bone. Let the stock cool down enough to touch.
Strain the stock and place in freezer bags or containers. Don’t forget to mark down what it is and the date. There is nothing worse than looking through the freezer and finding “mystery” items and trying to remember what exactly it is that you made 6 months ago.
If you are using freezer bags, use a pan to help them keep their form while freezing and stack nicely in the freezer. This is also a good practice especially if you get a faulty freezer bag. The mess will be contained and not all over your freezer. After they have set, remove them from the pan and stack neatly.
Now for the remaining meat. Remove the larger pieces of bone and carefully go through the meat, using your fingers, to check for bone pieces and remove.
Mark your containers and freeze the leftover meat.
This can be used for casseroles and soups later on.
My $15 turkey above made 16 cups of stock and 4 cups of “extra” meat that I can use in several meals this winter…soups, casseroles, tarts…that will taste 10x better than store-bought.
Take the bones and bury them in your compost pile or garden bed.
See! Nothing goes to waste!