Help with bone from turkey thigh, please
Since it's just me and the cat on Thanksgiving, I'm deboning a turkey thigh and will butterfly it, do a layer of stuffing, and then roll it and roast it. I did this last year and it turned out good.
Last year, however, I just tossed the bone, and this year I'd rather use the bone as part of my gravy. So should I put the bone (and what else? ) in the oven first, and then use it as the base for a stock on the stove? I realize I'm not going to get much from one silly thigh bone, but can I add carrot, celery & onion in the oven, and then puree them as part of the gravy?
Help!!!!
By Barbara76137
on Nov 21, 2011 05:49 PM
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I think you are thinking of roasting the bone and then making stock or broth? If it were me I'd put the bone in a little water to cover and I'd simmer; or I'd put the bone in a pressure cooker and cook. If you are simmering on top of the stove, it will take at least an hour or two to get a weak broth. In the PC, it will take perhaps 30 or 40 minutes.
To the liquid and bone, before you cook, you will add onion, carrot, celery and garlic if you have it. You can also put in a bay leaf, peppercorns, and a fresh or dried herb that you have on hand. When you are finished cooking the broth, you will strain it off and chill it overnight. The fat will congeal on top of the broth, and protect it until you use it. For gravy, you will need some of the broth, some butter, some flour and salt and pepper. Follow the directions for making white sauce, except you probably won't use as much flour, or you will use more broth. A whisk helps keep the gravy from going to lumps.
I suppose you could make the broth in the oven, but it seems pretty inefficient to do so. Or you could put everything in a slow cooker and cook all day. With one thigh bone, you won't want to use too much water.
Hope this helps.
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Ask your butcher if you can have some backbones and neckbones to round out your thigh bone. Roast the bones in a pan for 20 minutes, then toss in big hunks of onions, carrots and celery and roast for another 20 - 30 minutes. Put everything into a pot along with a few garlic cloves and peppercorn. Deglaze your roasting pan with a generous amount of dry white wine or dry sherry and add to your stock pot. Make gravy with your stock and decide by tasting whether you want to puree the veggies into the gravy. Either way will be good, I'm sure.
Even if you can't get additional bones, go ahead and follow the same process with just the thigh bone. But instead of using water to make your stock, use chicken broth instead.
Your stuffed turkey thigh sounds awesome!
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thanks, I think I'm on the right track! It is just such a small portion of food, and I'm trying to get the most out of it. I guess I'm just doing a "micro-Thanksgiving". I'll be having the turkey thigh with pureed sweet potatoes with chiles en adobo, some roasted veggies I made tonight, and probably a green salad with a balsamic dressing I still have to concoct this week.
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this was definitely non-traditional, but really delicious. I took a stalk of celery, one peeled carrot, a quarter of red onion and 2 garlic cloves. Quartered the celery & carrot and laid all that in a small Pyrex pan. Stuck the bone on top, drizzled evoo on top, s&p, about 3/4" chicken stock. Roasted uncovered for 35 minutes at 375, then when it was nicely browned, stuck all of it in a pot on the stove, added more chicken stock and then reduced a little more.
Once I got the finished turkey thigh out of the oven, I took those drippings and added to the pot, removed whatever meat off the bone, and used the immersion blender to puree the whole thing. it wasn't pretty but the flavor was amazing.
I did sprinkle a little fresh chopped flat leaf parsley on top, just for color
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So glad it worked out for you. Sounds like a great Thanksgiving dinner!
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I have very little interest on how something looks. Sure I'll dress stuff up from time to time but I learned from an Italian how to cook. Presentation for them is an afterthought. Most things were served family style so heaping piles of pasta, sausage, chicken, whatever were presentation enough.
Anyway, IMHO taste trumps all and if it tasted good, that's all that matters.
DT
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