Field & Stream Recipe: Wild Turkey Carcass Soup

•The wild turkey is a bird that keeps on giving. And after the roast turkey dinner, after the hot open-face turkey sandwiches, when all that remains is the noble bird’s spent carcass, it offers its final gift: turkey soup. This is a post-holiday staple in many households, and the broth extracted from the deeply flavored wild bird is particularly satisfying. Let this recipe be a loose guideline. For the final product you can toss in almost anything that suits your mood: leeks, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, potatoes, escarole, summer squash, even young fiddlehead ferns. –JACK LARSON

WILD TURKEY SOUP

1 meaty wild turkey carcass, including legs and wings, hacked into large pieces

•2 medium-size onions, 1 quartered and 1 finely chopped

•5 carrots, 2 coarsely chopped and 3 cut in ¼-inch slices

•5 stalks celery, cut like the carrots

•3 cloves garlic, smashed

•6 sprigs parsley

•2 bay leaves

•pinch thyme

•½ teaspoon peppercorns

•1 teaspoon salt

•1 cup cooked white rice

[1] Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place the turkey pieces on a cookie sheet and roast for 30 minutes.

[2] Remove the carcass from the oven and put it in a large stockpot. Add the quartered onion, coarsely chopped carrots and celery, garlic, parsley, bay leaves, thyme, peppercorns, salt, and water to cover. Turn the burner to high and bring to a boil, skimming off scum as it accumulates. Reduce the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, until the carcass falls apart, 3 hours or more.

[3] Take the pot from the heat and strain the contents through a colander, reserving the liquid in a large bowl. Once the solids have cooled down enough to touch, remove the turkey parts and discard the rest.

[4] Pull of whatever meat you can and discard the bones, cartilage, and skin. Chop the remaining meat coarsely.

[5] Return the stock to the pot. Add the turkey meat along with the sliced carrots, celery, and onion and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender, 45 minutes to an hour.

[6] Add cooked rice, season to taste, and serve.