Yesterday we cooked a turkey for the first Thanksgiving of our marriage along with the requisite side dishes for a traditional American meal. It was the first time I've done this, ever, having been a vegetarian for the past five years and before that, eating turkey that's been cooked for me. Perhaps a bit stressful (particularly as we both independently nearly poisoned everyone, fatally, him with salmonella and me with some horse chestnuts that I found and thankfully learned about before cooking...alhamdulillah - notice the triple emphasis of bold, italic, AND underlined...) but overall wonderful. Once family left, my husband set to more cooking; making soup stock. He stripped the kosher organic turkey that we'd made a dent in and put the bones in a big pot with whatever else we had in the vegetable drawer, an onion, a leek, some garlic, then bay leaves and peppercorns. So far, a straightforward soup stock recipe. We left it simmering overnight, and this morning it had reduced by half to concentrated turkey goodness.
Here's where it becomes medicinal. Once the stock is done simmering, we add handfuls of dried nettle leaves and calendula flowers, plus some astragalus root. I had also boiled a pot of reishi mushrooms, powerful immune boosters, the day before and filled an ice cube tray with the bitter liquid. We added two cubes of that to the brew. If we'd had some burdock roots, either fresh or dried, those would have been a nice addition as well. I'm sure there are lots of other good things that could go in a medicinal stock. We'll then pour the stock into pint jars, put them in the freezer, and use them for soups over the winter. Very easy, and very rewarding!