Thanksgiving Leftovers: Dave Jewell's Turkey Soup!

My dad always cooked the Thanksgiving turkey and on the Friday after Thanksgiving he would make his famous turkey soup!  We all loved the soup and the tradition.  As with everything he did, my dad made a very big deal out of his soup and always believe it was the best ever.

I’ve never made the soup before but decided I would give it a whirl this year.  My mom found the Fannie Farmer recipe that he roughly followed.  I modified it slightly — below is the recipe I used.

1.  Cut majority of leftover meat off the turkey carcass. Put carcass in stock pot and fill with water.
2.  Slice 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks (including leaves) and 1 onion and add to stock pot.  Crush 6 peppercorns and add to pot.
3.  Bring pot to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, for 3 hours.
4.  Remove the carcass and any bones that may have fallen off.
5.  Add rice, barley or noodles.  Increase heat until the grain of your choosing is fully cooked.
6.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Despite the carcass appearing not to have much meat on it, the soup was chock full of meat.  Feel free though to add additional leftover turkey to stock.

Soup can be enjoyed immediately or is even tastier a few hours later or the next day!  We had some for dinner on Friday, I had a bowl for lunch on Saturday, and I froze the remainder.  I think my dad would be very happy that I continued the turkey soup tradition!