Get Stuffed

What to do with Thanksgiving Leftovers

There are a plethora of ways to use up leftovers, of course! These are two I managed this year, with the remains of the Friendsgiving feast that had come home with me. I smoked and roasted a turkey this year, and had carved it before taking it over to the friends’ home where we gathered to enjoy our meal and fellowship. I was also asked to bring rolls. I made more than I thought we’d need as these meals can vary wildly in attendance.

Which left me with a bit of leftover turkey meat, a carcass of the same, and about 8-9 dinner rolls. The obvious first thing was to pick over the bones, pulling aside any meat I could, and then break that down before putting it in the pot for stock. For this stock, I added a couple of gallons of water to the stockpot, along with some fresh herbs. Add enough water to fully submerge your carcass. Which ones will vary depending on what’s handy for you, but this time I put in: a stalk of lemon grass, lime leaves (5-6), bay leaves (3-4), then sprigs of thyme, rosemary, and basil. I also added a palmful of salt. This simmered, covered, for about six hours before I took it off the heat - you’ll get the clearest stock if you never let it fully reach a boil.

There had been no leftover dressing (stuffing? Can we call it that if it’s never going into a bird?) so I opted to make more from my stale rolls, and the fresh stock.

Dressing aka Savory Bread Pudding

• 8 c cubed or crumbled bread

• 1 c stock

• 1/2 c bacon cut fine

• 1 med. onion, diced fine

• 1 stalk celery, diced fine

• 2 eggs

• 1 tbsp herbes provence

• 1 tsp sage (rubbed fine)

• salt and pepper

The first thing I should say about this recipe it that it’s very flexible. You can add more or less for any measurement. If your bread is very dry, you may want more stock. If you are using up celery, you could add more. If you have more bread, and so forth.

Preheat oven to 350F

Toss together in a large bowl the bread, herbs, and salt. Set aside.

Fry the bacon until it begins to crisp up, then add the onion and celery, continue frying until bacon is crisp and vegetables are translucent. Pour this, fat and all, over the bread and stir well.

Beat the eggs well, then pour over the bread, mixing it to more-or-less evenly coat it. Ladle over stock, mixing, until bread is evenly moist. When this is done, put mixture into a buttered baking dish (I used a 4 quart round casserole, but any pan will do) and level it out.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, until top is browned and crunchy at the edges.

Serve alongside turkey soup made with some of the stock.

To make the soup, I’m not even going to presume upon giving you a recipe. I strain the stock after it has cooked many hours, to remove the bones and herbs. In a separate soup pot (any pot with a heavy bottom will do) I fried off some more bacon, draining the fat before adding in a couple of onions, chopped, celery stalks (the rest of it, which was four or five) also chopped, and once they were fried translucent, I added about 3-4 quarts of stock to this. Then I cut up and tossed in, while bring the soup to the boil, carrots, turnips, and radishes. I was preparing for this soup to possibly be frozen, and anything starchy (rice, pasta, potatoes) was not going to freeze and thaw successfully. You can always cook those separately and add them in later if you choose.

Once the soup came just to a boil, I reduced it to a simmer. I tasted it, adjusted the salt, and let it simmer for about an hour. I chopped up all the leftover turkey meat, and added this to the pot. I decided the solid-to-broth ratio didn’t suit me, so I added about another quart of stock. I let it simmer about another hour. You could actually do this much faster if you were in a hurry, but I was not, and doing other things. Mine made about 8 quarts of soup. A good deal of it got eaten during the annual Leftover Supper.

Not pictured, the baguettes of garlic bread that had already been put on the dining table.

As you might guess from the toes in the photo, the kitchen is the hangout spot at my house!

Finally, once it was cooled, I put the rest of the turkey stock into containers, labeled, and put them in the big freezer. These will become soups, gravies, and much more during the coming months. Had I let them chill completely, you could have seen that they were gelatinous - a long slow simmer breaks down the connective tissues and you wind up with a rich unctuous stock that is nothing like the watery stuff you get at the store (not even the stuff that calls itself bone broth. All that, and virtually free! I make stock from all the roast bones in this house, chicken, beef, pork, and turkey alike. If I manage to get venison, well, that will end up in the pot too! Nothing to waste if I can help it.