Let’s Talk Leftovers

Good morning. How’d it go? I’m hoping really well, for the lot of us: beautifully cooked turkeys and plentiful side dishes, everyone reasonably happy, excellent pies. I hope no one got weird.

Today’s for leftovers. Pableaux Johnson , the New Orleans photographer and raconteur, is a master of the form. He drives through the wards of the city collecting turkey carcasses from friends and uses them to make an enormous amount of turkey stock. With that stock, he makes an enormous amount of gumbo. And with that gumbo, he gives back to his friends.

I like a stock-into- gumbo situation myself, though my production is never as large as Pableaux’s. If you make stock today or tomorrow, and you should , you could use it for turkey soup or turkey pho . You’ll have more than you need. Freeze some in quart containers for a Carolina chicken bog or a righteous Brunswick stew .

I hope you have plenty of leftover turkey meat, too. I’m going to use some of mine, along with a bunch of leftover sides, to make Kenji López-Alt’s new recipe for, essentially, turkey Hot Pockets (above). (Cue Jim Gaffigan , naturally, though Kenji’s are much better than the trademarked ones you’ll find in the freezer at Sevs .) Maybe a turkey tetrazzini or a turkey potpie ?