Fight colds with this Hot and Sour Thai-seasoned Turkey, Carrot, and Rice Egg Drop Soup
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When I was in nursing school, in a previous life, Hot and Sour Soup became my magical cure-all for any bugs picked up at the hospital that threatened to take me down. I'd swing by my favorite Chinese restaurant and pick up a quart when I first felt a tickle in my throat, and usually by the time I'd consumed the container I was right as rain.
Of course I've moved far away from that restaurant, and had good and not as good Hot and Sour Soups in the intervening
This soup is emphatically NOT a traditional version of Chinese Restaurant Hot and Sour Soup. Instead, it's got the hot and sour-ness that I crave when I'm sick, coupled with the consistency of egg drop soup that soothes my throat, along with carrots and rice that comfort me like a good bowl of chicken soup should. Except this is made with a turkey carcass. Yes, part of my Thanksgiving turkey carcass if you must know.
This is an excellent reason to save your Thanksgiving turkey carcass in your freezer until you're ready for it. No sense wasting it on some day-after-Thanksgiving soup when you've got amazing leftovers still in the fridge. No, save that turkey carcass, along with the bits and bobs of vegetables collected in your Soup Pack, for a Real Need.
I made this soup while in Real Need for Soup. While I was sharing sunny orange recipes here during HashtagOrangeWeek recently, I was sneezing and hacking my way around the Disney World Parks in Florida. As if being sick wasn't enough, we traveled to/from Florida in a plane and my ears went wrong shortly after take off and still weren't right a week after returning home. Add to all of the above I had a cough that made me gag and, well, if you've had kids then you know there are . . . consequences . . . when you are walking around having coughing attacks. So there I am at Disney, sneezing, coughing, and consequencing all over the place, and hoping to survive the flight home so I could make soup. /rant
Thanking again my well-stocked pantry, I slept in (love my bed) and started this soup the day after I got home. I was inspired by Lydia's Quick and Easy Hot and Sour Soup with Tofu, Shiitake Mushrooms and Noodles and Tyler Florence's Hot and Sour Soup. Now, normally I like the hands off approach of slow cooker soup stock, throwing everything into the crock pot for a day/night before straining and using. And while that technique is awesome, there is one drawback--in a slow cooker you don't get the flavor concentration from evaporation like you do in an uncovered stock pot on the stove top. I cooked this stock for 4 hours on the stove top, until it was reduced by about half [and took a picture so you could see**] then called it good. Using mostly fridge and freezer items I threw together the rest of the soup, snapped some more photos, and we enjoyed a late lunch. I was fortified for the rest of the day. And then a few more thanks to the awesome leftovers.
If you're looking for the cold-busting properties of a bowl of hot and sour soup, the consistency of egg drop soup, the comfort of a poultry-filled carrot and rice soup--this recipe is for you.
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