Overnight Stock
Your house will smell amazing.
by Erin Henderson
I first learned of this ingenious recipe from Michael Ruhlman, an American food writer and recipe creator. It’s brilliant in its execution, flavour, and complete ease. And let’s face it, when you’re stuffed full of sugar plums post-Christmas dinner, there is very little energy left to begin a laborious stock.
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You can use whatever aromatics you have lying around – carrots, celery, and onion are the popular choices, and you will be just fine with that holy trinity. I also love adding leek, fennel, and garlic to my stock. Same goes for fresh herbs; you’ll probably have some sage you won’t know what to do with post-holiday, rosemary is also terrific, and parsley adds a brightness, as well.
Really, you can’t go wrong, unless your oven stops working overnight. But otherwise, you will wake up to a house that smells as cozy and comforting as a long winter’s day, and a good few litres of deeply delicious stock to get your through the next month’s soups and stews and braises.
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Overnight Stock
Makes: about 2-3 litres
Chef level: easy
Ingredients:
- 1 turkey carcass, ideally including the neck and wings
- 1 large onion peeled, root intact, and sliced in half
- 1 large carrot, scrubbed clean and sliced in half lengthwise
- 4 large celery ribs, leaves are fine too, cleaned and sliced lengthwise
- 5 cloves garlic peeled and lightly smashed
- 1 Tbsp whole black peppercorn
- 3 large bay leaves lightly crushed
- 5 fresh thyme springs
- 10 fresh parsley sprigs
- 1 fresh rosemary sprig
- ½ Tbsp kosher salt
- 2 or 3 dried Arbol chilies, optional
How to Make It:
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°F
- Place the turkey bones (hopefully with a bit of meat still attached), vegetables, and spices into a large stock pot, covering well with water – roughly 5 litres or so.
- Bring all to a boil on the stove top over high heat.
- Once it boils, remove from heat, cover with a heavy lid and place in the oven.
- Go to bed.
- When you wake up, and the house smells magnificent, remove from the oven, strain through a fine sieve, and store the stock in the fridge for a week or freeze for up to three.
