Thanksgiving, two weeks after the fact

I never got around to posting pictures of our modest Thanksgiving. Here it is, two weeks after the fact, and a reader was asking about it, so here goes.

The menu this year was simple: Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, green beans, wild rice stuffing, bread stuffing, biscuits, and dinner rolls.

Naturally much of this spread is made the day before. Here I'm working on "half-time spoon rolls." Letting the dough rise:

Second rising:

Baked and brushed with melted butter:

Bread stuffing starts with a loaf of fresh bread. Other ingredients: Homegrown sage, homemade turkey stock, homegrown onion, homemade butter. I'm sensing a theme here, aren't you?

The bread stuffing is for Don and Older Daughter. Oddly it's while making bread stuffing each year when I piercingly miss Younger Daughter the most. She used to love snitching uncooked bread stuffing.

Older Daughter doesn't like onions, but Don does, so I always divide the pan.

My particular indulgence (which no one else likes) is wild rice stuffing. It's my once-a-year treat.

Since I had so much homemade butter, I slathered it on the turkey before baking.

Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without a dog that just "happens" to park itself in the middle of the kitchen floor. Y'know, in case something falls.

After the turkey went into the oven, we had a chance to talk with Younger Daughter at her European duty station. It was late in the evening for her, and she had already had a "Friendsgiving" celebration earlier in the day.

Turkey, finished.

Older Daughter likes to make fancy folds in the napkins while setting the table.

At last we all sat down for our feast.

A few days after Thanksgiving, I finally got around to canning turkey stock. I had frozen random chicken and turkey carcasses for the last two or three years, so I pulled them all out of the freezer and chucked them in my biggest stock pot. I let them simmer all night long.

I added a splash of apple cider vinegar to help draw the nutrients out of the bones. By morning, it was a rick broth indeed.

I started straining the broth by putting everything through a colander over another stock pot.

Lots of meat bits left on the bone, so I separated some for Mr. Darcy.

Believe me, I went through those scraps with a fine-tooth comb. I didn't want him swallowing any bone shards.

I wasn't sure how many jars I'd need, so I washed a lot. My canner holds 18 pints at a time, so I washed not quite double that.

I started filling canning jars with hot turkey stock...

...but then realized there was just a bit too much fat in the stock. Instead, I put the stock outside to chill overnight to let the fat rise to the surface. The next morning, I skimmed it off.

Filling the jars.

First batch out of the canner. I always pressure-can my turkey stock for 75 minutes (pints), the same as I would for meat. That's because, even though the stock is liquid, there are lots of tiny meat bits in it. I don't want to take chances.

Second batch.

Beautiful golden stock, enough to last us a couple of years at least.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was equally blessed.

Canning turkey stock

The morning after Thanksgiving was foggy and full of hoarfrost.

I saw a solitary male quail acting as sentinel over his flock.

It was a good day to do some canning. On Thanksgiving night, Don deboned the turkey carcass and put it in our largest stock pot, then filled it about 3/4 full of water. I added a splash of vinegar (which was an excellent reader suggestion -- it draws nutrients out of the bones) and let it simmer all night and most of the next day.

I rough-strained the stock through a colander and started filling jars. My canner holds 18 pint jars at a time, and I knew I had at least two batches' worth.

Scalding and draining the Tattler lids.

Lids on.

First batch in the canner.

Because my stock has meat scraps in it, I pressure-can it for 75 minutes (for pints) at 13 lbs, which is the correct pressure for our elevation (not quite up the pressure in this photo).

First batch out of the canner. It was too late in the evening to start a second batch, so I added some more water to the pot with the carcass and let it simmer all night again.

The next day I canned up another batch.

Altogether I ended up with 29 pints of hearty turkey stock for future recipes. Not bad for something that might otherwise be called garbage.

I hope everyone did something similarly useful with their turkey carcass?

Canning chicken stock

Since we've been so screamingly busy of late, cooking proper meals has been a rare thing. When I cook, it has to be something easy. Orange roast chicken is an easy meal to make, so earlier this week (at least this one time) my family got fed something good and hearty. For once.

I was about halfway through deboning the carcass when I decided that, pressed for time or not, I wanted to can some chicken stock.

So I put the carcass and all other scraps into a stock pot...

...and filled it with water.

Thanks to some reader suggestions, I also added about a quarter-cup of vinegar in order to draw out the marrow and additional nutrients from the carcass.

I brought the whole thing to a rolling boil...

...then turned it down to the lowest-possible barely-on level and let it quietly simmer all night long.

My intention was to can the broth the next day but, well, we got busy. Really busy. All day long and all the following night, the broth stayed at a low simmer. It got to the point where I was either going to have to discard the entire thing, or somehow find the time to can it. I really wanted the stock, so I found the time.

The following morning I got up at 4 am and prepared to can the stock... which, at this point, was very hearty.

I set a colander over another pot...

...and drained the larger stock pot.

This is all the bones and meat scraps...

...and this is the chicken stock.

I washed some canning jars and started filling.

I wasn't sure how much broth I'd get, but I ended up with fifteen pints, which pleased me.

Counting out Tattler lids, most of which still had labels from other canning projects.

What kinds of other projects? Well, I was reusing lids from canning garlic, pinto beans, raspberry jam, pizza sauce, turkey stock, turkey gravy, and a few labels that only had dates (presumably because the contents were easily identified, such as corn or green beans).

I keep a basket in the kitchen into which I put all canning-related lids, rings, gaskets, etc. Once in awhile I'll put everything into their proper storage spaces, but more often I just fish what I need out of this basket.

I scalded the lids and gaskets and prepared to cap the jars, just as a shaft of early-dawn sunlight inched into the kitchen.

Lids and gaskets on.

Rings on.

Into the canner.

Because the stock is meat-based, I played it safe and pressure-canned it as I would all meats, 90 minutes at 13 pounds (for our elevation). Last November we had a lively discussion about whether poultry stock needs to be canned that long, but I decided to stick with the full 90 minutes because I only coarsely-strain the stock and it still has bits of meat floating around. Better safe than sorry.

Actually, since these are pints I could have canned them for 75 rather than 90 minutes. But I'd been up since 4 am and clearly wasn't thinking straight. An extra fifteen minutes in the canner won't hurt.

Before the rest of the family was awake, the jars were out of the canner and cooling.

Hey, sometimes getting up at 4 am has its advantages.