Why didn't my turkey stock gelatinize?
We made turkey stock of out our Thanksgiving scraps. We simmered the turkey bones (unroasted) and all the vegetable trimmings for about 7 hours, and then chilled everything and stashed it in the refrigerator overnight.
But the chilled stock doesn't have any jelly-like thickness to it. It's pretty much a tan-colored liquid.
Without the gelatin-induced thickness, is this a failed stock? Can we use this "pseudo-stock" when a recipe calls for stock?
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My best guess is that your stock is very weak. Two gallons of water to just the bones from one turkey will not be a strong stock.
It may well well have gelatin in it, but very thin.
I make stock for a single turkey with the wing tips (not the 'drumstick' part), the back, the neck--everything but the breast and leg/thighs in with about 1 gallon of water to start, which reduces to several quarts over the course of three-four hours.
This produces a very shaky jelly--much thinner than the one in a jar of Smuckers for example.
If you heat some up, and add a little salt, does it taste good? Then its a successful stock.
If you want it to be thicker/stronger, simmer it a while to reduce it. As SAJ14SAJ says, that's a fairly large amount of water vs. the amount of bones.
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