A tradition in our family is my sister-in-love cooks the Thanksgiving turkey, and I take the carcass home for soup. I usually make mulligatawny since it’s my favorite.
When it was cooled, I decided to freeze some for later. I used freezer bags because they take up less room than bulky containers. I’ve done it this way successfully many times before. I made sure to get most of the air out of the bags so they’d take up less space.
I put one on a
small baking sheet so it would freeze flat and stuck it in the freezer. Then I
set the second on top of the first. It slid off, plopped on the ground, and opened.
Turkey soup EVERYWHERE!
Larry heard my
scream, followed by cursing, and came to investigate. While I used paper towels
to pick up the big pieces, he grabbed the dust pan and scooped up large
quantities of fluid and chunks. Between us, we finished off half a roll of
paper towels, but we got it all up, including pulling out the refrigerator. (I
hadn’t cleaned behind there for a while, so it needed mopping anyway.) Then I
washed the floor and used the steamer to assure it was clean and grease-free.
However, I
still had half a bag of soup plus more in the pot.
I was sick of
the smell by now, so I decided to freeze all of the rest. I got a new bag,
filled it, and double checked it to make sure it was sealed.
I wiped the
outside to be certain all the grease was gone since I suspected it might have been
the cause of the first mishap. I grabbed another small baking sheet so
this one also remained flat. When I set it down on the freezer shelf, the seal burst and the bag
vomited all over the inside of the freezer!
We spent the
next hour removing and scrubbing the contents.
Everything had
to be taken out since the soup had made its way to the bottom, splattering on the way down. Fortunately, the food was
well-wrapped, and we didn’t lose anything else, but the mess was nearly
overwhelming.
When we
finished, I still had two freezer bags of soup, although one had shrunk
considerably. I put the remainder in yet another bag, made sure Larry verified
it was sealed, placed it on the baking sheet, and got it at last into the
freezer.
I still have about a quart of turkey stock left. Once I get the courage, I’ll put it in a sealed container (not another bag), and it will also go into the freezer. I won’t be making soup again for a while!
If
you’re brave enough, here’s the soup recipe:
Mulligatawny Soup
Sauté:
1 med. onion (I
use dried onion since Larry can’t eat onions anymore.) in
1/4 cup butter (Or margarine, or whatever)
1/4 cup butter (Or margarine, or whatever)
Add:
1 med. carrot, diced
1 med. carrot, diced
1 stalk celery,
diced
1 bell pepper
(green, red, or yellow), seeded and diced
1 med. apple (I
like Granny Smith or Fuji), pared, cored, and diced
1 cup diced or
shredded chicken (Turkey works just as well.)
Stir in
gradually:
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp. curry
powder
1/8 tsp. mace
2 whole cloves
1 sprig
parsley, minced
2 cups stock
(chicken, turkey or whatever)
1 cup cooked
tomatoes (I use canned diced ones)
salt and pepper
to taste
Simmer for half
an hour or longer. Serve hot.
I adjust the
quantities depending on how much stock and meat I have. It’s really good on a
cold, overcast day. But I think I’ll stick to the canned variety for a while!
