Low-Fat Turkey Stock Recipe

In a large soup pot over medium heat, place turkey carcass (take the remains of the turkey after it's been carved and break it into pieces so it will fit in your pot; cover with water by at least an inch). Add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and red pepper (optional) to the soup pot. Cover pot and very slowly bring to a simmer; reduce heat to low and skim off any scum on surface. NOTE: Scum is the filmy layer of extraneous or impure matter that forms on or rises to the surface of a liquid or body of water. Cover pot and let slowly simmer approximately 3 to 4 hours. After cooking, let cool. Put pot in the fridge for a few hours to allow fat to congeal on top of the liquid. Remove the congeal fat, return stock to stove and bring to a boil. Once the gelatin has liquefied, strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve into another pot and remove meat from bones then discard turkey bones and vegetables (since your have cooked the mixture for a long time, there is no nutritional value left). Place strained stock into shallow containers and refrigerate immediately. Refrigerate soup stock overnight and skim any congealed fat from the surface in the morning. NOTE: The juice will gel up after being refrigerate, but will dissolve when stock is reheated later. This is because of the natural gelatin in the turkey bones. The stock will last for about a week in the fridge. You can freeze the stock and it should maintain taste and quality for about three months. You now have the most wonderful low-fat turkey stock to use in making a delicious turkey soup or to freeze for later use. How to keep homemade turkey stock from getting cloudy: 1. Skimming the scum that comes to the surface during the first 30 minutes of simmering and not letting it boil seems to help prevent clouding. The rule is: Skim early and skim often. 2. Always simmer your stock and do not let it boil. Not boiling also leads to a richer tasting stock. Furious bubbling breaks up particles and causes clouding also. Simmer for approximately 3 hours total. I also think that simmering the stock too long contributes to making it cloudy. 3. Refrigerate stock overnight or until all the fat raises to the top. Then remove the fat. 4. There is also the old egg white trick (I've never tried it). Add unbeaten egg whites to the stock and let it simmer slowly, so that the cloudy particles stick to the egg and you can strain it out.