Turkey Torilla Soup
Let’s put that turkey carcass to work
Today I’m sharing a deeper dive (via homemade broth) into the chicken tortilla soup recipe I shared a few weeks ago. It’s a good one and worth revisiting. And isn’t that what we do in life, anyway? Return to what’s good, what’s familiar.
This is a recipe from David Tanis, a cinnamon-spiked turkey broth that really elevates the soup into something extraordinary. It’s the recipe that made me realize simple ingredients can transform a dish from good to great. Much like a well-wrapped scarf can turn a plain t-shirt into an elegant ensemble, the cinnamon in this broth turns everyday ingredients into something memorable. It’s the kind of thing that makes you stop and wonder, what’s in this dish?
I’m not sure the cinnamon is immediately identifiable, the way you can taste, say, basil in a salad when you least expect it. And that’s probably what makes it so memorable.
Which makes me realize that our memories are a tricky thing. I have a friend who took her small children to Disneyland as often as possible, because she wanted their first memories to be of Disneyland. Until then, it had never occurred to me that we, as parents, could potentially mold our kid’s memories. When my daughter was younger, we took her to Paris on two separate trips. My goal was to give her a love of travel; what she remembers are the carousel rides, from Paris to Nice. Much like leading a horse to water, I found you can’t necessarily make a person’s memories for them.
I think this recipe is a culinary memory for me because I’ve only made it once, and it therefore stands out in my mind as one of the best soups I’ve ever made. It’s definitely time consuming, a culinary project at the end of a week of culinary projects, which is what Thanksgiving is really about, from a food perspective. But it’s worth the effort to make a light, flavorful soup, which is a perfect counter balance to the heavy side dishes that accompany the Thanksgiving turkey. Hopefully you have enough leftover turkey to give it a try.
Nothing like a homemade soup from a turkey (or chicken!) carcass. Thanks for the heads-up on this recipe. Sounds good. Happy Thanksgiving!