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Abstract:

Beta recipes are my own experiments that I've only tried once. Usually palatable, they often could be better with a little tweaking - So please do, and let me know what works!

I just don't understand how folks could possibly have a difficult time getting rid of turkey leftovers. If I had to pick just one critter to eat henceforth, Ben Franklin's favorite avian dinosaur might be it. I smoked a bird for holiday nosh, and with what was relegated to leftovers, I decided to make soup. This turkey tortilla soup starts with  homemade turkey stock that's been infused with herbs, spices, onion, garlic, and ancho chile. To make it hearty, the broth is liberally garnished with smoked turkey, black beans, and diced tomatoes and chiles. And because it wouldn't be tortilla soup without the tortillas, we're frying up thin strips of soft corn tortilla that are then seasoned with lime salt. If you're looking to use up what remains of your turkey and you don't mind the wait, a rich and tasty soup doesn't get much more easy than this.

Purpose:

"You want to smoke another one?" - That was my wife's reply when I told her that I really wanted more turkey for Christmas (I guess the 19.5 lbs at Thanksgiving just wasn't enough). We needed sandwich fodder for when we had everyone over for drinks and nosh on Christmas Eve anyway; and ultimately, she couldn't give me a good reason not to. So, under plenty of pecan wood smoke, I cooked a 12 lb bird that was rubbed liberally with black pepper and garlic. The breast meat made for fine sandwiches, and I even did a few paninis from a thigh, but after the tinsel had settled, I still had a thigh and two drumsticks to get rid of. The carcass proper had already been rendered for stock, so soup seemed like a pretty obvious choice. I'd been looking for an excuse to make a chicken tortilla soup for quite some time; problem is, when you're freezer is full of steer, pig, and lamb, opportunities are few and far between. I've got turkey here and now; and I'm all about that "native timber" philosophy, so turkey tortilla soup it is.

It's a bit hypocritical for me to be handing out soup recipes. Soup is one of those things I seldom use a recipe for; but all the same, I suppose it never hurts to look over your shoulder to see what other folks are doing. A quick bit of "passive collaboration" (aka web search) was enough to let me know that my flavor choices where headed in the right direction. However, I did find a trick in a recipe over at Serious Eats that I'd not thought of, and that was to simmer some dry chiles in the stock and subsequently integrate the whole mess into smoothness with a stick blender. After a quick dash to the store for some Kansas-made corn tortillas, I was ready to make soup.

Observation:

• If your soup is usually watery and without flavor or depth (read: it sucks), it's probably because you're not using stock. Nothing else but a slow gentle extraction of collagen from a seasoned critter carcass will give you that magic that is a  rich and lip-smacking protein-based potion. The good news is that if you're cooking a turkey, you've got an ideal situation to procure some stock; and it's dead simple to do.
• White meat? Dark meat? What'll it be? If you have to ask that question, then this probably isn't your soup, as we're trying to use up leftovers, here pal. Having said that, I tend to abide by this rule: White meat for sandwiches, dark meat for soup. 
• Does your turkey hafta be smoked? Well no; I suppose any old roast turkey will do, but you're going to lose a bit in the complexity department. If you're gonna use turkey sans-smoke, then you might want to augment with a little adobo from those canned chipotles, or maybe even do your seasoning with some of that smoked salt you got for Christmas.
• I'm not gonna tell you that a stick / immersion blender is necessary to make this soup, but it sure makes it a helluva lot easier than pouring scalding hot stock back and forth between containers. Besides, who wants to do dishes?
• The Sriracha and lime are there to add brightness back to the soup as flavors can tend to muddy a bit in a slow-simmered soup. You'll want to add those final garnishes to each bowl right before serving.
• No time to fry tortillas? Not a huge deal. A big handful of your favorite bagged tortilla chips will do just fine if you can't be bothered with presentation points.
• If you do decide to fry your own tortillas, note that the grind of your salt is important. While pickling / popcorn salt is sufficient, I keep a super-fine (almost powdered) salt on hand for such occasions where I want the salt to properly adhere to every nook and cranny of the chip. Because surface area is maximized, a little seasoning goes a long way, and you might actually end up using less salt than you normally would in the process. Btw, the crystallized lime really isn't optional. I'm a big fan of what that stuff does for a recipe, and this is one of its highest and best uses. Trust me, you'll be amazed at how that stuff can season a chip.

Results:

I toyed with the idea of adding sweet corn or hominy to this soup, but in the end I decided against it, as it's just texture that battles for attention that should belong to the tortilla strips. While it seems kind of contradictory to soggy up something you just fried (that's my biggest gripe with chile rellenos, but that's another story), this is a case where it just works. Some of the strips will indeed get soggy, making them almost noodle-like; and where you're careful enough to not disturb the bits on the top of the bowl, you'll get a crispy, crunchy bite every once in a while. My personal favorites are those "best of both worlds" transition bits that are yielding, yet crispy on the edges.

Could you do this soup with chicken? Probably; but it wouldn't be as good. Turkey has the substance to stand up to that chile infused stock, while chicken would most certainly get lost in the broth (though I bet game birds like pheasant and quail would work pretty well). I'm usually a proponent of thicker and heartier soups, but I found myself on more than one occasion grabbing second helpings off the top. That ancho-spiked elixir is some great stuff, and I love how the subtle heat builds to the point where you're bound to finish your beer at the same time as your bowl.

Gallery:

This is the bird I used to make my soup. Pecan wood smoked turkey with garlic and black pepper. I used two legs and a thigh for the cause.

This is the bird I used to make my soup. Pecan wood smoked turkey with garlic and black pepper. I used two legs and a thigh for the cause.

That bundle of stem and seeds does nothing to season your soup. They gotta go before you add the chiles to the stock.

That bundle of stem and seeds does nothing to season your soup. They gotta go before you add the chiles to the stock.

For one or two cloves of garlic, it's just not worth dirtying a garlic press when you have a sharp knife handy.

For one or two cloves of garlic, it's just not worth dirtying a garlic press when you have a sharp knife handy.

Adding the herbs and spices to the sweat will go a long way towards building layers of flavor. Nobody likes a one-dimensional soup.

Adding the herbs and spices to the sweat will go a long way towards building layers of flavor. Nobody likes a one-dimensional soup.

You'll probably have a few errant pieces of onion and chile after smoothing out your soup, but you meant to do that, right?

You'll probably have a few errant pieces of onion and chile after smoothing out your soup, but you meant to do that, right?

Ever done a chiffonade with herbs? It's also the best way to "noodleize" your tortillas.

Ever done a chiffonade with herbs? It's also the best way to "noodleize" your tortillas.

The hardest part about frying tortilla strips is fishing them out of the pan. A fish turner and skimmer/strainer worked…

The hardest part about frying tortilla strips is fishing them out of the pan. A fish turner and skimmer/strainer worked for me.

Garnished with sliced avocado, a bit of fresh herb, and a shot of Sriracha, this Turkey Tortilla soup will warm you up when temperatures plummet.

Garnished with sliced avocado, a bit of fresh herb, and a shot of Sriracha, this Turkey Tortilla soup will warm you up when temperatures plummet.