Delia Smith Turkey Soup Recipe

For Delia Smith’s turkey soup, you break the Christmas carcass into your biggest pot and let it simmer in water for 2 hours. That stock is reduced to a litre, then 900g of carrots, leeks, celery and onions sweat in turkey dripping and simmer in it for an hour and a half. Blended smooth, it fills 6 warm bowls in the quiet days after Christmas.

It comes from the leftovers chapter of Delia’s Happy Christmas (2009), her ideas for using up everything still in the kitchen after the big day. Her Complete Cookery Course (1992) has an earlier version, tucked in at the end of her turkey stock.

It’s a thick, blended soup, so it’s nothing like her chicken soup, which is a clear Thai broth with slivers of chicken. Here the flavour comes from the bones and the vegetables, and there’s no meat in it at all.

Delia Smith’s Turkey Soup

Recipe by Anne Morgan

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: SoupsCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

6

servings

Prep time

20

minutes

Cooking time

4

hours 

30

minutes

Calories

90

kcal

Smooth, savoury and warming, made from the bird you’ve already roasted. Page 273 of her Christmas book, for 6.

Ingredients

• For the stock:

• 1 turkey carcass, with the skin and any bits still clinging to it, stuffing included

• 1 large carrot, peeled and split lengthways

• 1 onion, peeled and halved

• 2 celery sticks, cut into chunks

• 2 sprigs thyme

• 2 bay leaves

• 12 black peppercorns

• a little salt

• about 6-7 litres cold water

• For the soup:

• 900g (2lb) vegetables, any mix of carrots, leeks, celery and onions

• 1 heaped dessertspoon turkey dripping or butter

• salt and freshly milled black pepper

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Directions

• Stock: Break the carcass into your largest pot with all the bits that cling to it. Add the carrot, onion, celery, thyme, bay leaves, peppercorns and salt, and pour in enough cold water to cover, about 6 to 7 litres.
• Simmer: Bring it up to simmering point, skim off any scum that rises, then leave it to simmer for 2 hours.
• Reduce: Strain the stock through a colander and throw away the bones and vegetables, then strain it again through a sieve into a large clean pan. Bring it back to simmering point and let it bubble until it has reduced to 1 litre.
• Sweat: Meanwhile, peel and chop the soup vegetables. Heat the dripping or butter in a large pan, add the vegetables, cover, turn the heat down low and let them sweat for 10 minutes.
• Simmer the soup: Pour in the litre of reduced stock, put the lid on and simmer very gently for 1½ hours.
• Blend: Purée the soup in a food processor or liquidiser, or with a stick blender, then check the seasoning and reheat. Ladle into warm bowls.

Notes

• Reducing 6 or 7 litres down to 1 takes a while, so I'd start the stock in the morning, or make it the day before and chill it overnight. That's my own planning, not hers.

FAQs

Should I add the leftover turkey meat?

You can, but her recipe has none, as the carcass does all the work. If you have some meat left, I’d stir small shreds into the blended soup and heat them through for a few minutes before serving, which is my own addition.

Can I make it without a carcass?

Yes, with a giblet stock. Her Complete Cookery Course has one made from the turkey giblets, liver and neck, with an onion, parsley stalks, celery, a bay leaf and peppercorns, simmered for 1½ to 2 hours in 850ml of water. She makes it for the gravy, but it would see you through this soup too, which is my own suggestion.

What vegetables work best?

The 1992 version uses swede, carrot, onion and leek, sweated in turkey dripping. It works on 450g of vegetables to every 570ml of stock, slightly fewer per litre than the 900g in the Christmas book, by my maths.

So a soup without celery is still very much hers. I’d keep the leeks and onions for sweetness and use whatever root vegetables are left from Christmas lunch.

How do I freeze turkey soup?

In the Cookery Course her carcass stocks are strained, cooled and skimmed of fat before you use or freeze them. That makes the stock the easiest part to freeze, ready for the soup another day.

The finished soup freezes well too, in my experience, as it has no cream, meat or pasta in it. I’d freeze it in portions and reheat it gently.

What should I serve with it?

Her own suggestion is the Irish soda bread on the next page, made with wholemeal and plain flour, pinhead oatmeal and buttermilk, with no yeast to wait for. It bakes in 50 to 60 minutes at 190°C, fan 170°C, gas mark 5.

She adds that a day-old loaf is still moist and toasts beautifully, which suits a pot of soup that lasts a few lunches.