Slate: screw the turkey leftovers

http://www.slate.com/id/2178387

But-but-but I made a delicious turkey sandwich today with brie, fig preserves, cracked pepper, and olive oil.

They might be onto something with avoiding Turkey Pho, tho.

The author lost me at "(Perhaps the only exception is turkey stock made from your carcass—for the truly ambitious.)"

David Hammond wrote:The author lost me at "(Perhaps the only exception is turkey stock made from your carcass—for the truly ambitious.)"

Yes, those ambitious enough to figure out how to heat up a big pot of water.

Or even lazier - after stripping the carcass Thanksgiving night, I threw it all (aromatics from the cavity included) in the crock-pot on low overnight. Easiest stock I ever made...That being said, although we look forward to Turkey Tetrazzini every year just as much as Thanksgiving, I do get the gist of the article - some of the leftover recipes I've seen are truly horrifying, and are not improvements over turkey soup or leftover sandwiches. For example (sent by my mother, of all people):

"World’s Best Leftover Thanksgiving casserole" (or Scary Strata)

6 eggs, beaten
2 cups of milk; OR 2 cups of leftover gravy or a combination totalling 2 cups
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of dry mustard
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup dry sherry
½ tsp beefer upper (B-V’s or kitchen bouquet)
½ cup frozen spinach or leftover veggies
10 slices of slightly stale bread (or leftover stuffing or dressing)
2 cups grated cheese - whatever’s leftover from your cheese recommended: sharp cheddar or brie
2-4 cps of diced leftover turkey

Mix the first 7 ingredients until completely blended. Set aside. Grease a 13X9 casserole dish. Line bottom of dish with half of the bread or stuffing. Layer turkey, spinach and cheese over this, and top with remaining bread or stuffing. Pour egg mixture over evenly, cover, and refrigerate for four hours or overnight (less if you use leftover stuffing.)

Bring to room temperature and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour (until it's bubbling hot). Let stand another 15 minutes before serving.

Ruhlman has a good post on stock:

http://blog.ruhlman.com/ruhlmancom/2007 ... ng-th.html

Sheesh, could anything be easier? I picked my bird clean, hacked it apart, put it in a stockpot, stuck it in the oven at 180, and sat down to watch Burt Lancaster in The Train. Three hours later, I added vegetables. An hour after that, I strained the liquid out and set the covered pot on the back porch to cool. The next morning I skimmed the fat off and spent an hour cooking it down. Strain again into Bell jars. Stick on back porch to cool again. Total active time, maybe 40 minutes, now I have lots of frozen jars of fantastic stock.

just got done with my stock / soup.

They're always talking 'easy as duck soup'. Ain't much difference from 'easy as turkey soup.'

Geo

BTW, I asked a group of my fairly smart juniors (c. 21 yrs old) about the meaning/reference of 'easy as pie' and 'easy as duck soup'. While they'd *heard* the sayings, they hadn't a clue. Not a clue.