Weekend Turkey Soup Stock

Roast bones in two large roasting pans in the oven at 275 degrees for 2 hours, turning occasionally.

Add vegetables and roast another 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. The secret to the rich color and taste of this soup is roasting the bones and vegetables that will comprise the stock. Add the contents of the roasting pans to a large stock pot or canning kettle.

Place roasting pans on top of the stove, add the wine, heat and deglaze the pans by simmering the wine and stirring with a wooden spoon to loosen meat and vegetables that have stuck to the pan. Some of this stuck-on-stuff will contain fat. We will get rid of it later, but we want to capture these flavors.

Pour wine into the stock pot. Add bay leaves, peppercorns, onion powder, and garlic powder. Place rosemary, sage, thyme, and dried parsley in a tea ball or cheesecloth, tied with a string, and add to stock pot. Add defatted drippings and just enough water to cover the bones, about 10 quarts. Cover and simmer on the lowest heat for at least 8 hours. I let it cook overnight.

Turn off the heat and skim fat off the top. Strain stock into another stock pot and discard all bones, meat and vegetables. The meat and vegetables will have given their flavor to the stock so are not good in the final soup.

Boil stock to cook down, occasionally skimming the foam from the top. You will get rid of most of the fat as you skim away the foam. Alternately, you may chill the stock, lift off the fat, and then cook down the stock, If it's winter and you live in a cold climate, like I do, you can just put the stock pot outside to chill. I put a rock on the lid so no critters can have dinner on me.

Stock is cooked down sufficiently when it reaches your own desired flavor intensity. You will reduce the stock by about one half to two thirds. At this stage you may choose to freeze or can the stock for later use, or continue to make turkey soup.