It’s Thanksgiving week. You’ve printed your recipes, your turkey is thawing (at least, I hope it is), and your groceries have been purchased. You’ve thought of what you need to buy for the mashed potatoes and gravy and veggie sides. You’ve considered what you will have on hand for the toddlers (if you have them), who may not like the options or may not be willing to wait through the cooking of them. You’ve decided on pies and rolls and beverages. You’ve probably even given thought to what your family will be wearing come Thursday (family pictures, anyone?)
But have you considered…organs? Bones?
I don’t know about you, but the only time I ever came in contact with organ meats, growing up, was on Thanksgiving. We rarely (if ever) bought whole chickens, opting instead for neat, frozen bags of chicken breasts. And even on Thanksgiving, when a whole bird graced our countertop, just waiting to be prepped and baked, the only part of me that came “in contact” with the organ meats was my eyes…not even them, if I could help it. I remember watching in horrified fascination as my dad stuck his hand almost elbow deep in raw turkey and pulled the slimy looking innards out with his hand, to throw them away before cooking the bird. After that, I just avoided the kitchen until I could smell the welcome scents of a turkey that was looking a bit more like one I wanted to eat.
Fast forward about 20 years (yikes, that’s a downer) and here I am, a woman totally converted to the benefits of organ meats. I have diced liver in my freezer, right this very moment, ready to be swallowed with some water or orange juice (have I actually swallowed any with water or orange juice? not yet, but that’s not the point). I add organ meats to meatballs. Meatloaf. I pour desiccated liver capsules into applesauce and feed it to my kids. Basically, I’m a big fan of organ meats. They provide lots of bioavailable nutrients (meaning, nutrients that are easily absorbed by the body). Plus, it’s just another way I can practice resourcefulness and frugality during a time when finances are tight. I’m paying for the bird…I don’t want to throw any parts of it away!
That’s my “crunchy mom” side. My “human mom” side is still like….ew. That’s why the liver squares sit in my freezer, yet un-swallowed. It’s one thing to KNOW that these meats are wholesome and nutritious and another thing entirely to actually EAT them.
But this, my friends, is where Thanksgiving saves the day.
Here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to stick your arm down in that bird and pull out those organs. It’s gonna be a bit slimy and weird. That’s ok. Think happy thoughts. Then, instead of chucking these odd-shaped blobs into the trash…place them in a small, oven safe dish. Add a bit of butter to keep them from sticking. Roast them in the oven with the turkey for about an hour…it’s pretty forgiving, since you’ll be blending them up.
Immediately from the oven, pour a bit of broth (best) or water (ok) into the pan and use a spoon or spatula to scrape up all the yummy brown bits on the bottom of the dish. At this point, you can remove the neck (it’s the long, thin one). You CAN pull meat off it to add to your gravy before tossing, or you can just throw it away. You’ve already made it further than most people when it comes to using these pieces, so feel proud of yourself, no matter what you choose. Then, pour the contents of the pan into a food processor.
At this point, you’re trying to basically liquify them. You’ll need to add a bit of broth. Let the food processor turn those organ meats into a gray-ish brown sludge. It will look like something you don’t want to eat, but trust me.
Add it to your gravy.
It will make it velvety thick and you won’t even taste it.
As much as I wanted to want to eat the organ meats, the very thought disgusted me, so believe me when I say, I tried our very first giblet gravy with great hesitation. I was shocked. I’m not even a huge fan of gravy, but it was delicious. I ate a ton of it on Thanksgiving, and then we ate a ton of it for the next few days. And since we bought a huge turkey and it was only my husband and I and three small children, we had even more leftover. So I froze it in a muffin tin and then bagged up the little pucks once they were solid. We took a few out when we needed gravy here or there, throughout the year, but I also added them to meatballs and meatloaf. Never would guess.
Now, if you’re the kind of person of loves actual recipes and not measurements like “a little bit of this” and “about this much”, then please allow this post to be your incentive to Google “giblet gravy”. I’d link a recipe here, but I don’t really want to endorse one I haven’t tried. Plus, there are so many variations. Want to roast them? Boil them? Not blend them at all and just have it chunky? (I don’t think that’s what you want but you never know, I guess) There are all kinds of recipes to fit all kinds of cooks and kitchens, so find one that works for you.
Bottom line? Don’t throw those giblets out.
Now we can move on to bones. This one is even less work and, dare I say, easier to stomach. Here’s what you’re going to do. Save the bones. That’s it. As that turkey becomes Thanksgiving and then next-day sandwiches and then maybe some kind of casserole on Saturday, save the bones. Then, once all the meat is gone and you’re left with a carcass, place it in an instant pot or a crockpot or a stock pot.
It’s like a choose your own adventure.
You CAN get fancy and add onion and garlic and carrots and aromatics, OR you can just toss those bones in, add filtered water until they are covered, and then go back to shopping Black Friday Deals or Small Business Saturday Deals or Cyber Monday Deals…or just lounging some more, which I recommend.
If you chose an Instant Pot, set it on manual for 4 hours.
If you chose crockpot, cook for 12 hours.
If you chose stock pot, I would cook for a min. of 12 hours, but up to 48.
Then, just strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth and you have bone broth. Really yummy bone broth. Bone broth that is perfect for making gravy…would have been really handy a few days ago, huh?
You can drink broth plain, or make a soup, or make more gravy, or use it in the place of water when preparing rice.
Tl;Dr; celebrate Thanksgiving by being thankful for ALL of that beautiful turkey, including the organ meats and bones.