We raised turkeys this year for the first time. We had been talking about raising meat birds for some time, and had planned on starting with chickens, but the opportunity to raise Broad Breasted White turkeys came along, and we just jumped in.
Raising these turkeys has been a wonderful experience, and one we plan on repeating next year. These birds were personable, and so fun to visit with every day. It was eye opening and emotional for me to raise and butcher my own meat, but I am so glad I did. Find out more about our journey raising turkeys here.
Now I want to talk broth! I use broth in practically everything I make. I buy so much chicken broth at the grocery store, I would be scared to add up my total cost! Therefore, making my own broth has been top on my list of homesteading chores. I have made a lot of broth over the years, and this is my favorite way to do it, so I thought I'd share it with you.
First of all, you need a carcass. I used my turkeys, but I have also made broth with chicken carcasses in exactly the same way, you would just get less broth from a chicken. For the last few years I have given up of the idea of roasting a whole turkey for Thanksgiving. I have found much more delicious ways of cooking my turkey that don't involve taking up my oven for an entire day. For this reason, we didn't keep any turkeys whole. To break down the turkey I removed the wings first, then both legs at the joints. I then cut the breast meat off the bone, and seal each type of meat in separate vacuum sealed bags.
We eat a lot of ground turkey, so I cut off any remaining large chunks of meat to add to the grinding pile. I am then left with a carcass, neck still attached. If you buy a turkey for Thanksgiving and want to use the carcass for broth, just add the neck, I use the rest of the giblets separately. Time to start the broth!
A turkey carcass is big! I used my giant canning pot to make the broth, since it is about the only thing I could fit the carcass in. It is a 21.5 quart granite ware stock pot, and it gets used for a lot of projects around here. To the pot I add a whole onion, quartered and skin on, two carrots cut in half, two celery stocks cut in half with tops still on, 4-6 cloves of garlic (I just smash them and toss them in with skin on,) about a tablespoon of peppercorns, and a couple of good sized bay leaves. I then fill the pot with water to the top.
I have found that the best broth comes from as long of a low simmer as possible. My favorite way to do this is to simmer the broth overnight. I get it boiling as I am cleaning up dinner, because it takes a long time to boil, and then turn it to low, cover the pot, and let it go all night. I learned to put something heavy on the lid, because the carcass can shift overnight, and bump the lid off. In the morning I strain the broth through a fine mesh colander into jugs, and let it cool.
Look at that beautiful color! This is the difference when you simmer all night!
When the broth is cool enough, I pour it into freezer bags measured in two and four cup measurements. I push out as much air as possible and dry the outside of the bag. I then put bags in boxes to go in the freezer, the quart size freezer bags hold two cups of broth perfectly, and fit well standing up in a soda box. Gallon size freezer bags hold four cups well and lay flat.
From five turkey carcasses I was able to put up fifteen gallons of broth! This felt like a huge accomplishment. I am so happy to be able to grab broth whenever I need it. If I know I will be using broth the next day, I will put a bag inside of a Tupperware in the fridge. Someday I would love a pressure-canner to be able to free up some freezer time, but for now this method works well.
I hope this provides some inspiration to make your own broth, you wont regret it! It is definitely the best broth I have ever had!
Comments
Post a Comment