Vegetable, Turkey and Game Stock

Turkey stock

For turkey stock, use your turkey carcass (this is a wild turkey Josh got in Duncan, OK) and add a variety of vegetables to a large pot of water to simmer. Here I added carrots, onions, peppers, squashes.

Vegetable stock can serve as the basis for other stocks and as the liquid for any recipe that requires water such as soup or stews, and also as a substitute for butter or cream in recipes such as mashed potatoes. The first recipe is very basic, and is not as flavorful as the second, which incorporates common Old World ingredients.

Game stock is used mainly in sauces.

A purely traditional vegetable stock from the New World might consist of the following:

6 quarts water
3 (or more) large onions, chopped (or 7-8 chopped bunches of spring onions)
½ cup sage
1-2 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup chopped peppers (red, green, orange, yellow)
1 cup chopped roasted chilies of your choice
1-2 T black pepper
2 T sea salt

In large pot (I use a spaghetti pot with a colander inside for easy straining).
Bring ingredients to a boil, then simmer for one hour, adding water if needed.
Strain before adding liquid to soup, stew, etc.
If you have small pieces in the liquid, use a pointed sieve.

2. Old World vegetable stock. Start with ingredients in #1, but also add Old World ingredients:

3-4 celery stalks (including leaves), chopped
3-4 large carrots, chopped
1 leek including washed stems

1 Bouquet garni:
1 Bay leaf
2 parsley stalks
1 thyme stalk

Tie with cooking twine and drop the bunch into the pot
Bring ingredients to a boil and simmer for 2 hours.
Strain before adding liquid to soup, stew, etc.
If you have small pieces in the liquid, use a pointed sieve.

Turkey Stock:

Ingredients chosen from above
Leftover turkey carcass (and giblets if you did not eat them already)
Bring to a boil and simmer for 4 hours
Continually skim impurities off the top
After simmering, remove and discard the carcass, strain out the vegetables and run the liquid through a sieve to remove particles.

*The carcass will start to collapse after a few hours; just continue to stir it all together

Game Stock (use a large pot) :

6 pounds of game bones (elk, deer, bison)
Ingredients from vegetable stocks in addition to:
½ cup tomato paste
1 [additional] large tomato
1.5 cup red wine (the alcohol completely burns off—this is for flavor)
1 T crushed juniper berries
Some recipes call for one bar of bittersweet chocolate to add more flavor


Heat oven to 425 degrees

Place bones in roasting pan
Cook until bones become colored
Add the vegetables and make sure the tomato paste lightly covers the bones
Cook/roast until everything is dark brown
Place all ingredients into large cooking/sauce pan (I use a spaghetti pot)
Add 6 quarts of turkey stock
Add the red wine

Simmer for 8-10 hours and consistently skim off the fat
When done, remove the large pieces and strain out the small particles