Favorite Leftover Turkey Dishes (and what to do with the bones on Thanksgiving Day)
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Thanksgiving Turkey |
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Mennonite-style leftover Turkey & Noodles |
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Leftover Turkey Enchiladas |
Click for make-ahead dishes.
After platters of skin, white meat and dark meat were carved from the turkey, the rest of the carcass was broken down so that the bones, along with the neck and gizzards, could fit into a 6 quart Instant Pot and an 8 quart slow cooker to be transformed into broth (See below).
The pan drippings from both pans were poured into large 4-cup gravy separators, removing several spoonfuls to flavor the wild rice dressing. A cup of water was added to deglaze each pan, the pans were warmed over a low burner flame, and a spoon used to scrape all the precious browned bits and fond off of each pan. This liquid suspension was added to the drippings in the gravy separators. After removing from the top layer the required amount of turkey fat for the gravy (Recipe in link), the remaining fat was separated from the meat juices, placed in a jar and stored in the freezer.
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Wild Rice Dressing |
After singing the our Thanksgiving prayer, we feasted on:
Chinese Szechuan peppercorn spiced roast turkey and skin (link to recipe)
Wild rice dressing with prosciutto, peas, winter mushrooms and hazelnuts
Country mashed potatoes with scallions
Party potatoes mashed with cream cheese and sour cream
Cider baked sweet potatoes
Green bean casserole
Spinach salad with hard boiled egg and bean sprouts
Maple-cinnamon glazed butternut squash and roasted brussels sprouts with pecans and cranberries
Dinner rolls from Loafers Bread (honey white, honey whole wheat, challah, Laurel Mountain herb)
Chilled shrimp platters x 2
Charcuterie, hickory smoked cheddar, Montchevre fig and almond cheeseball, homemade bacon-cheddar coated cheeseballs, crackers, apple dip
Crudité with jalapeno-ranch dressing
Salsa & tortilla chips
And a table full of desserts including Aunt Eloisa's famous carrot cake, pumpkin pie, buckeyes, chocolate peanut butter pie, turkey cupcakes, brown butter Bourbon spice cookies and 3.5 gallons of vanilla ice cream from Any Given Sundae with homemade hot chocolate topping.
Making Turkey Stock
After adding enough water to cover the majority of the bones, the Instant Pot and slow cooker were left to transform their contents into a rich broth. The Instant Pot stock/soup program cooks for 1 h at high pressure before switching to keep warm for a natural pressure release. The meat on the bones is still very tasty with a good texture, and can be separated from the bones and used in the soup.![]() |
Meat pulled off the bones after the 1 h Instant Pot stock program |
Before retiring for the evening, the broth from both cookers was strained from the bones, combined, and set outside overnight to cool as the outside temperature was well below 40°F. I call this the grade A stock. It is rich in flavor, aroma, and joint-friendly glucosamines. The stock cools into a nice gel, from which it is very easy to scrape off the fat the next day.
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The Grade A stock made from roasted turkey bones has a silky mouthfeel and rich color and flavor |
Day after Turkey Noodle Soup
Mennonite Chicken Turkey and Noodles
Chicken pieces on the bone are cooked in small amount of water, and this quick broth in turn used to cook the egg noodles, after which the deboned chicken is re-introduced. To plate up a bowl, you first put down a generous amount of mashed potatoes and a pat or two of butter. Then, in an innovation claimed by both of their grandsons, hot corn is spooned onto the mashed potatoes, before the whole thing is covered with a hot ladle of chicken, noodles and broth, and seasoned with salt and pepper. The broth kind of melts into the potatoes with little bursts of butter, punctuated by crisp, sweet kernels of corn peculiar to the way our family plates this comforting Mennonite/Amish dish.
During the week after Thanksgiving weekend, we found ourselves with three pounds of uncooked potatoes, a dwindling amount of leftover turkey, and about a cup of leftover gravy.
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Leftover turkey chopped, potatoes mashed, and other ingredients gathered |
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Layering the Mennonite style leftover turkey and noodles over buttered mashed potatoes. |
The following leftover turkey dishes were made in years past, and are equally delicious.
Turkey Pot Pie inspired by Jacques Pepin
Jacques uses leftover poached chicken, poached vegetables and poaching broth in his Chicken Pot Pie. For my roast turkey pot pie, I like to use leftover roasted vegetables (turnips, potatoes, yams, mushrooms). These are amazing in a pot pie. More traditional vegetables such as peas, carrots and pearl onions are also delicious.
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Turkey, peas, celery, mushrooms with roasted carrots and turnips |
Bake on a cookie sheet to catch any overflow at 400°F for 20-30 min. If the filling is still cold and not bubbling out, reduce heat to 375°F and bake for another 15-20 min.
Turkey Enchiladas
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Red turkey enchiladas |
Keep the Turkey fat!
Just as I sometimes make pancakes in bacon grease, keeping a jar of poultry fat in the freezer makes it easy to add delicious schmaltz to warm up your day. Freezing the fat keeps it from becoming rancid, but it remains soft enough to scoop out directly from the freezer. I have yet to try it spread onto toast, but it makes a great base for frying up some eggs or breakfast potatoes, or melted and drizzled onto a dish of beans with a bit of crackling skin. Roast poultry fat or ham fat can also be substituted for lard or butter in making pie crust for savory dishes, but are probably too salty for dessert crusts.
https://www.love2chow.com/2019/12/favorite-leftover-turkey-dishes-and.html
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