Several things can be done. All of them, not just one.

1. Almost any food needs a balance of sweet and tart flavors. So far, there is nothing acidic (tart) in the soup. I would add a small or medium can of tomato sauce. One can of sauce won't dominate the flavor or change it to tomato soup. Nothing wrong with adding a spoonful of sugar either. That won't make the soup sweet. It will just enhance the flavor. In lieu of the tomato sauce and sugar, you could use some balsamic vinegar.

2. One clove of garlic to 8 quarts of soup? That works out to 1/8 clove per quart. I would use more like 2 cloves per quart.

3. You added pepper but, again, probably not enough. A half teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes will wake up the taste buds.

4. Eight quarts is a lot of soup. I don't know how much salt you used, but probably not enough because you say, "I didn't want to add too much salt". After doing all the other things, taste critically for salt. See if it needs more.

It can be difficult to judge these things when working with amounts larger than usual. You have a lot of savory flavors in there already but not much tartness or piquancy and probably not enough salt.

Jim

It looks to me like you'll put in everything but the kitchen sink.

It might depend on quantities, though.

You must have had a huge pot for a 22-lb-turkey carcass. And it made 8 qts. That's a lot.

In such a huge pot, I would have used two onions, two stalks of celery with leaf, four whole carrots, two Tbs salt, one TBs pepper (or about 15 peppercorns, three large cloves garlic and three sprigs of thyme. I might have added a handful of parsley stems (with leaf)

I would not have added the potatoes, corn and beans -- I'd think they would absorb too much of the flavor essences from the liquid. I might have added them to already made stock/broth but not during the main process.

I'm surprised that you added salt and garlic salt and chickan bouillon and chicken bouillon (again) and you thought you didn't add enough salt or were afrid to make it too salty. How are your taste buds? (no offense meant; just curious)

Joe

All of the above suggestions are good ones. With that said, nine times out of ten you didn't add enough salt. 2 gallons of broth takes a bit of salt. Just add some, taste, add some more, taste. I made my broth today and made about 2 gals or so, then made mistake of tasting it before I had added the salt. Dishwater, and that was after cooking overnight. Added salt till the taste was right and voila, excellent broth. The freezer is happy, I'm happy and I have some more orzo eggdrop soup waiting for my turkey salad sandwiches for tomorrows lunch.. or breakfast.

Thanks for your suggestions. I know that I should've put in more garlic. For some reason I was afraid that garlic didn't go well with turkey. As I was putting the soup away tonight I tasted it again and it tasted better than it did earlier. I'll work on it tomorrow. Maybe I'll try the balsamic vinegar. My husband added tabasco sauce to his bowl and thought it helped but he adds tabasco to everything. Maybe a little crushed red pepper will help.

Just wondering if you put any bay leaves in the pot?

All the above sounds right, and I would agree that if the salt isn't right it can be tasteless.
I would also have used fresh thyme and plenty of it, as well as more carrot, celery and onion.

I used a good recipe the other day for a chicken broth that included adding 1/4 a cup of brandy before simmering.

It was great!

SharonCb

lazycook, what color is your soup?

Mine turned brown and looks ugly. We're having it tonight. I'll wear a blindfold. heehee!!

I'd be real careful about adding the balsamic vinegar. That would ruin it for me.

I sometimes add

Ann

I have to agree with Ann that my suggestion of balsamic vinegar is "iffy". I certainly wouldn't add a lot of it. Probably best to try some of the other suggestions.

Let us know how it goes. We all need a few tricks up out sleeves for this situation.

Jim

I scooped some out into a smaller pan and added a little balsamic vinegar but I probably didn't put in enough to make a difference. Someone asked if I put bay leaves in - yes, I did. shaun, my soup is sort of a medium "turkeyish"
color. I put in a lot of onion, celery, potato, and carrots. I probably didn't put in enough herbs and spices and salt for the amount of soup. Actually when I added salt to my bowl of soup today it tasted so much better. Should I have added Worcestershire (sp?) sauce?

I second the lemon juice....and salt...
Anotehr thing that gives a soup a certain something is rutabegs....not a lot but maybe 1/2 cup of cubed rutabega in all that 8 quarts.

mmm, rutabagas. Is there anything they can't do?

Jim

Well, this isn't particularly imaginative and it's probably too late to help in this situation, but my first inclination is to do the most basic thing of all - cook it down.

If a broth lacks flavor I think the first thing is to concentrate. Then other amendments can be added as needed.

Carol

Ugh myturkey soup was awful. The meat was all dried up.

I'll never use a fried turkey carcass for soup again. Nope.

I buy the chicken stock paste in a jar from Penzey's. It gives great flavor to homemade soups.

Shaun....why was the meat dried up? Did you way over cook it? I have made very successful turkey soup out of over done turkey!
Linda C

I'm just forum hopping today, was looking for xmas cooky recipes & saw this post.

My two secrets to great tasting chicken or turkey soup.

Add 8oz. of V8 to the soup

Add two heaping tbs. (or more if making a huge kettle) of chicken flavored base. ( it comes in a jar, has a pasty consistency & is super condensed & gives it a super flavor!) I've found it at Jewel so I think most stores carry it.

Linda, I guess I let it cook too long when I was making the broth; simmering the carcass for hours. I left all the meat on the bones thinking it'd all come off easier. It was all dried up. Yuck.

Personally, I think this is a fantasy; as they're leaving, your Thanksgiving guests say no to your offer of leftovers, adding - "you can make some wonderful soup out of the carcass". You agree. Most people agree. I say nonsense.

To me, when soup fails it's because it lacks meat flavor meaning stock - meat stock in this case - and not for lack of bay leaf, peppercorns, sheeps ears, and most of all, celery, which turns barely flavored hot water into a toxic broth. I don't think anyone can turn non-soup into soup. Pea soup may be an exception, it can be good with just water, but it's better with chicken stock; barley soup, beef stock, etc.

I don't much like turkey myself, so the following refers to chicken, but the idea is no different. To start, I'd just heave the whole pot of what you now have. Thrift is a virtue but the garbage is a great friend to the cook - we all make a messes.

Another time, when you want home made soup of any kind, make your own stock first. Allow two days. When you use the frozen extra stock for more soup or better, chicken gravy, people will sing about it. My suggestions aren't based on the idea of getting the most out of leftovers, but on making good soup.

For chicken stock, I take 2 or 3 chickens, fowls preferably - WITH ALL THE MEAT - cut them in parts and crack the bones, put in a 15 qt or bigger pot, add 2 onions 2 carrots, halved, bring to boil, skim, lower the heat, simmer for half a day or more, remove the solids and cool. When the fat is solidified, take it off, return to heat and boil down a lot.

Now, I have almost stock, so I add salt and pepper, taste, but I never add much seasoning to the stock itself. Now I strain it, sieve or sieve and cloth, depending on how fancy I want, maybe de-grease some more.

If I start with six or eight quarts of water and 3 fowl in a 16 qt pot, I may end up with a few quarts of stock. It should have a very, very solid flavor on its own, just like that.

Now you have the starter for soup. Taking some of this for your soup, you may want to thin a little, add your meat or leftover chicken or turkey, a very few carrot pieces, noodles, whatever.

Unfortunately, soups in grocery stores use thngs like "beef and beef extract", "hydrolized vegetable..." onion powder, etc. all of which translate to "not much meat". Today's fast paced recipe books use ingredients like boullion cubes, canned tomatoes (my biggest peeve), celery, etc. none of which is meat, so they will never in a million years make meat soup.

The big soup companies have found many ways to make things sound rich and healthy, but most aren't. Campbells and Progresso say things like "thick and chunky beef" so and so, meaning, ever more tomates with disgusting thickener that makes it seem "rich" while it is only thick. Baloney.

For an idea of good stock and thence good soup, in 18th century France, look up Careme sometime - after the hens and fowl, he added "a couple of hams, veal bones", and lots more. This must be why many think he's the best of all time. And he must have cooked in a bathtub.

Mine used to come out the same way, watery essence of turkey/veggies. I've found to make a really good soup you would need to add some uncooked turkey (wings, necks) and you also have to cook it down a ways to consolidate the flavors, if you started with 8qts you should not end up with 8qts.

I was sourcing some new flavours to add to this year's turkey soup, when I came upon this discussion. I have pretty good success with soups, simply by making a hearty broth first, then skimming off the fat, before making the final soup. After putting bones, skin, some left-over gravy, celery, carrots, onions, garlic and herbs into a mix of water and chicken broth, I bring it to a boil and let simmer for 3-4 hours. The mix gets strained and the broth is put in the fridge or outside (if it's cold) to bring the fat to the top. Once the fat is skimmed off, I add turkey meat, onion, carrots, celery, left-over squash, herbs, spice and salt and pepper to the broth, bring it to a boil and let simmer for an hour or two. Tasty!

Sounds wonderful, Susan. I had trouble making turkey soup as good as moms. But someone gave me a copy of the old cookbook she had, and I finally thought to look up that recipe. Turns out I needed to add the left over turkey gravy and left over drippings with all the skin and bones. I had been throwing them out! I love a simple turkey soup flavored with onion, carrots and celery and finished with turkey bits and noodles.

Yes to the gravy, drippings, skin and bones! My BIL was a cook in the Coast Guard. He taught me how to make good turkey stock. You need a huge soup pot. Cover the entire carcass, skin and all (you can break it up to fit the pot) with water. Salt generously with Kosher salt. Add whole peppercorns (10 or more), two yellow onions, cut in half, two halves studded with one whole clove. A bunch of parsley with stems. A couple of large carrots, cut into thirds. A couple of celery stalks with leaves, cut into thirds.

Bring water to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook overnight. The carcass will fall apart - all of the meat will fall off of it. Take all of the solids out of the liquid and let cool. Once cool, you can pick all of the meat out. Discard the skin, bones and vegetables. Strain the liquid. Refrigerate then skim the fat from it. (We live in the Northeast, it's typically cold enough to put the large pot on a covered porch or in an unheated garage - have to critter proof it!)

Marry the turkey meat with the broth, taste and adjust for salt. Chop new vegetables, herbs, and cook with noodles, rice, orzo whatever floats your boat but you will have a very rich soup. (We've always cooked it overnight because we eat our turkey dinner late in the day).

It really is and can be a fabulous soup. Old thread but always worth bumping up to encourage others to make a good stock.

My X-BIL would always want to toss that big bird carcass. No way. Mom took it home and we pick the bones of any meat with any leftover slices. That meat goes in the fridge. He just wanted done with it. (leftovers are for poor folk) jerk. : )...kidding

All the bones and carcass go in a stock pot, some will even break up a bit like the ribcage. Chop corse a big onion, a couple ribs celery, carrot. Parsley stems, leek tops...any mild veg...no cabbage, brussels, hearty greens. No green or red pepper.

Barely cover with water. Even 2 inches under. After an hour at a low simmer the veg simmering will release enough moisture to top the contents. Two hours at a low barely simmer is fine. 3hours is fine. Turn off heat without a lid for an hour, then pull out the big bones and strain through a pasta strainer...the sink works well for that.

Best to chill as fast a s possible to keep stock out of the danger zone. Some can take the stock out into a deck that has a snow bank or a cooler full of snow or ice. A big bowl of ice under works. Don't put hot stock in the fridge. Get it at least cool first, no lid. Chill over night and make your soup the next day. (we put ours in the truck bed that has a cover to keep critters out...had a sneaky fella wipe out an entire stew one year...after just a hour on the deck in snow)

I pack the chilled turkey chunks with any beans rice grains i've cooked into pint deli containers then fill with cold stock...even some raw slivered greens like spinach collards kale, then freeze. It is cold and will freeze quick. A soup 'kit'.

The next couple cold months i can pull one out, frozen, after some fresh saute of what i have in the veg bin, then add the block to simmer and thaw in my pot with a cup or two of water. Soup for two-4. Hearty, with some fresh ingredients added.

We posted at the same time, : ). For home stock i don't do a big boil/simmer all night. Or with the meat. I get a richer stock with less liquid. Veggies are soft and melted into the broth but i find a long simmer is not needed. The bones melt down enough after just 2-3 hours.

Big kitchens often have big stock pots going all day and add fresh cuttings....

Just came across this post. I know exactly what you mean, not enough turkey flavor. Probably too much liquid. How about adding a few packets of something like Knorr's Turkey Gravy mix. Dissolve the packets in just a very small amount of water and mix into soup

Just strain it then boil it down until it has flavour. You have too much water.

Or not enough salt!! Or didn't include the skin when you made the stock.

Add a ladleful of leftover gravy. It makes the broth very rich and flavorful. Old family ( not so ) secret.

I had the same problem making turkey soup as wonderful as my mother's. A friend gave me an old copy of Mom's The Way to a Man's Heart--The Settlement Cookbook. The answer was in there--cook the frame and the neck, all the skin and all the bones, the extra drippings, and the left over gravy in the pot 4 hours or more. Remove the bones, etc, and add chopped celery, carrots, and onion with salt and pepper for 1 1/2 hours. I like to chop some left over meat and add thin noodles. Voila. The recipe even calls for adding the extra dressing, but we eat all of it.