I know you are all busy making your Thanksgiving grocery list, and checking it twice; be SURE you have the ingredients for this soup on the list, too! You have to make this with your turkey carcass, have to, have to, have to!  This is the best turkey soup I have ever tasted, and I made no changes to the recipe I found in The 150 Best American Recipes cookbook!

Yummm… Homey, rustic, Northwoods-y, which, with a little imagination, might just transport you to a log cabin in the snow, fire blazing, a quilt over your feet, and a good book on your knee. The soup has wild rice, mushrooms and turmeric, yes, turmeric, which compliment the strong flavor of turkey to make a soup that, according to The 150 Best American Recipes is “neither exotic nor bland“.  It’s my favorite after-Thanksgiving treat. I can’t imagine making any other turkey soup. It’s just the thing for an-after-Thanksgiving restoration—before the Christmas craziness commences.

BTW, I like this soup so much I can’t just make it once a year. When it’s not Thanksgiving, I start with a whole chicken which I boil or roast. I remove 4 cups of the meat from the chicken, and then proceed as below.

Wild Rice and Turkey Soup

For the Stock (the day before)

• 1 turkey carcass—remove 4 cups of meat from the carcass, and set aside for the soup
• 2 celery ribs, coarsely chopped
• 1 large carrot, coarsely chopped
• 1 small onion, coarsely chopped

1. Put turkey carcass in a large pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes, remove any foam from the top.
2. Add the celery, carrot, and onion—peels and all. Simmer for at least 90 minutes—I cooked mine for about 3 hours.
3. Strain broth into a large 4-5 quart bowl, discarding carcass and all veggies.
4. You will need 3½-4½ quarts of stock for this soup.
5. If at all possible, refrigerate stock overnight and then remove all the hardened fat from the top of the broth. The next day, continue with the directions below.

For the Soup

• 1½ cups wild rice, rinsed—the book specifies hand-harvested, but I couldn’t find that written on the package I bought from Trader Joe’s
• ½ cup long grain white rice
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups sliced celery
• 2 cups sliced carrots
• 1 diced onion
• ½ cup sliced green onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• 3 cups sliced mushrooms—8 oz. pkg sliced)
• 4 cups diced cooked turkey
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Bring 3½ quarts of stock to a boil.
2. Stir in rinsed wild rice and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet; add celery, carrots, onion, and green onions and sauté for 5 minutes.
4. Stir in dill, bay leaves and turmeric, then turn off heat, and set aside.
5. Add white rice and sautéed veggies to the stock and simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Stir sliced mushrooms and diced turkey into hot soup, and simmer for an additional 10 minutes, or until mushrooms are cooked.
7. Add more broth if the soup gets too thick for your tastes—I added an extra 4 cups.
8. Season to taste with salt (I used 2 tsp. Kosher salt) and pepper.

This makes a lot of soup! The recipe says the soup freezes well for several months, and if you do reheat it, it will have thickened and you may need to add more broth or water when reheating.

You’re going to love this, I just know it!  Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today!