Saving the flavor of Thanksgiving - Turkey Soup

I am sitting here waiting for the Pressure Canner to return to zero on the dial so that I can open it up and see the results of the last 90 minutes.

Pressure Canner dial

We cooked two turkeys for Thanksgiving, one for dinner and one for leftovers. I was watching Alton Brown on the Food Network and he said that the bigger the turkey the more dried out it may become during the cooking. (Bigger bird longer in the oven) So we picked up two sixteen pounders. My sister cooked one and I cooked the other. We had so many appetizers on Thursday by the time we sat down for dinner we didn't eat much turkey. I came home with the entire bird I cooked. After slicing the breast and picking off as much as I could to freeze I boiled the carcass to get ready for soup.

I was really excited about doing my first soup of the winter season. Yesterday before the rain I went to the garden to see what vegetables were ready to put into the soup. My carrots, leeks, and parsnips were looking great.

I put together the recipe and now I have the pleasure of opening the lid. I wish that all of you could smell the aromas of this soup.  It smells like a winter afternoon in front of a fireplace watching the snow fall, sipping on a cup of broth.


Inside the Pot




I was relieved to see once the pot was open that none of the jars had exploded or that any of the lids had popped off. Those types of things happen when you don't thoroughly remove all the air from the jar before tightening the lids or you don't get a tight seal. 

I removed the jars from the pot and I was pretty happy with the results. I know that I created a excellent soup if one of us has a cold and needs a quick remedy.  This recipe is the base for my husband infamous Chicken and Dumplings with a turkey twist. I know that he will be excited to know this year all he need to make is the dumplings.

This was an easy recipe for an intermediate canner who has some experience with the working of a pressure canner. I made the recipe in four quart jars which required a full ninety minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. Here is the recipe:

Turkey Soup

16 cups of chicken stock (I used turkey stock)
3 1/2 cups diced turkey
1 1/2 cups diced celery
1 1/2 cups slice carrots
1 cup onion, diced
Salt and Pepper
Chicken bouillon (optional - I omitted since my stock was very flavorful)

Mix all above incredients in a stock pot until soup is at a boil. Prepare jars and lids. Ladle hot soup into hot jars leaving 1" headspace. Make sure to remove all air bubbles from the jars. Wipe the rims and put on lids and rings. Tighten finger tight. Prepare pressure canner based on instructions. Place jars into canner and process 75 minutes at 11 lbs of pressure for pints and 90 minutes for quarts for a dial gauge canner and 10lbs for a weighted gauge. Make sure to maintain pressure the entire time. When complete make sure the pressure returns to zero before opening canner.