My family Thanksgiving dinner is pretty much American style. I roast a turkey and prepare traditional American side dishes and desserts. The day after Thanksgiving, I always make turkey stock with the turkey remains. With the stock and leftover turkey, I make spicy turkey soup, similar to dakgaejang (닭개장), and porridge, juk (죽).
Porridge is enjoyed as a breakfast or a light meal in Korea. It’s healthy and easy to digest food, so porridge is also commonly served to the ill, elderly, and babies.
How to make stock with leftover turkey
After enjoying your Thanksgiving dinner, save the turkey remains to make stock later. Simply boil the bones in a pot along with some aromatic vegetables. A great use of the remains of roast birds! Here’s how to make stock with turkey remains:
- Remove as much meat as possible from the turkey carcass and save them to use in the porridge or soup.
- Put the turkey remains in a large stock pot filled three-quarters of the way with water. Break up the bones if they are too big to fit in the pot.
- Bring to a boil over medium high heat and skim off any foam. Add the vegetables, reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for about 2 hours. Cool and pour through a strainer into a large bowl or pot.
- You can use a fat separator to remove the fat or keep it in the fridge until the fat solidifies to spoon off the fat.
What type of rice to use
Turkey porridge can be made with either short grain rice or sweet rice (aka glutinous rice, chapssal 찹쌀 in Korean). Sweet rice gives the porridge a creamier texture and a sweeter taste, but it’s simply a matter of preference.
Vegetable options
You can basically use any vegetables you like. Carrot, celery, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, green cabbage, potato, and green beans are all great options. You can chop them finely or roughly, depending on your preference. Adjust cooking time appropriately.
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Ingredients
- 1 cup short grain rice (or sweet rice, chapssal) soaked for about an hour and drained
- 4 - 5 cups turkey stock see below for recipe
- 1 cup shredded roasted turkey
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1/4 medium onion chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
Turkey Stock:
- carcass of roasted turkey
- 1 large carrot cut into large chunks
- 1 large celery stalk cut into large chunks
- 1 large onion halved and peeled
- 1 or 2 bay leaves
- 5 plump garlic cloves
- 4 to 5 flat-leaf parsley stems optional
Instructions
- Add 4 cups of the stock and rice to a medium pot and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes. Stir occasionally (more frequently as the stock is reduced so the rice doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot). Start with medium low heat and reduce to low heat when the stock is visibly reduced.
- Add the vegetables, cover and simmer for an additional 20 minutes until the vegetables are soft. At this point you can adjust the consistency of the porridge to your taste by adding more stock.
- Stir in the turkey during the last few minutes of simmering. Add salt and pepper to taste at the end.
Turkey Stock:
- Remove as much meat as possible from the turkey carcass and save them to use in the porridge or soup.
- Put the turkey remains in a large stock pot filled three-quarters of the way with water. Break up the bones if they are too big to fit in the pot.
- Bring to a boil over medium high heat and skim off any foam. Add the vegetables, reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 2 to 3 hours. Cool and pour through a strainer into a large bowl.
- You can use a fat separator to remove the fat or keep it in the fridge until the fat solidifies to spoon off the fat.
Ronald McCoy says
This looks amazing! I love your recipes – I use them a lot. Thank you!
phylis caskey says
Best use of Thanksgiving leftovers, ever!
Hyosun says
Indeed! Thank you, Phylis.
Ronald McCoy says
I agree!
Myung Moon says
I made this last Thanksgiving and it was a hit. Everybody loved it next day and no left overs. Looking forward to it again this year. All your juk recipes are fabulous.
Hyosun Ro says
I just made this juk, and we had it for breakfast. No more carrots left from Thanksgiving so added some green cabbage. It was delicious!
Biren @ Roti n Rice says
It looks delicious! A really good way to use up all those leftover turkey.
Jen (Tastes of Home) says
This is such great comfort food and a great way to use up turkey 🙂 Love juk/ congee in all its’ guises.
Anonymous says
My sister just made this and it was quite good. Perfect comfort food. Thanks!
Judy says
Hi Hyosun, Thank you, I hope you’re having a great holiday season too! Thanks for posting this! My husband is Chinese but he calls this juk too. I call this okayu in Japanese. Every year he MUST have turkey juk after Thanksgiving. He says it’s tradition. His is no where near as fancy as yours (which looks absolutely yummy!) we only use turkey and rice, then Lay’s chips for garnish. I know, this was a little strange to me too – I’ll have to explain later, but that’s how his family eats this.
I can only imagine how challenging it is trying to post with the demands of work. Although I’m not working now, I still have difficulty posting some weeks. 🙂
Happy holidays to your and your family!
Roxan says
Oh, great idea to put the leftover turkey into juk! I love love love juk. It’s really cold over here in LA now, so some juk is definitely in order.
I have also been really busy at work so time has been flying by, but now that thanksgiving is over things should slow down. Let’s enjoy the last few weeks of the year, yes?
denise @ quickies on the dinner table says
It is pretty shocking just how quickly this year in particular has gone by! I know we say that all the time, but personally I really feel like 2010 has been on steroids LOL
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving but I do like the sound of your turkey porridge, especially since I never like to see any food go to waste…
Sandra says
Looks fantastic, and I am sure that it taste even better! Great recipe!