WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Hands up -- who doesn't agree the best part of the Thanksgiving feast is the leftovers?
It's the suggestion of mild delinquency, like eating cold pizza for breakfast, that comes with tugging off with the fingers those crunchy bits of turkey that lie along the exposed carcass and layering them between more succulent slices with dollops of cranberry sauce and chunks of stuffing to build the perfect sandwich. And you probably eat it standing up, lounging back against a kitchen counter, swapping anecdotes with friends and family you haven't seen in a while.
But the best leftover of the lot, in my view, is the totally stripped-down carcass. It becomes the foundation of the best soup stock of the year.
There is logic behind the description of chicken soup as Jewish penicillin. Slowly simmering fowl, meat or fish bones extract every last element of goodness. Add to the base some fresh vegetables, beans, rice or pasta, and you have a bowl full of vitamins and minerals. Sprinkle over some parsley roughly chopped at the last minute and you add vitamin C. Eat it with a slice of whole-grain bread and you bring in fiber and multiple vitamins that makes a filling one-dish meal.
Australian researchers, however, are touting the feel-full benefits of bread enriched with lupin kernel flour.
The Australian scientists who added lupin kernel flour -- Texas bluebonnet belongs to the lupin family -- to bread found that volunteers felt fuller and ate smaller meals.
The results of their study suggest that "protein and fiber enrichment of bread with lupin kernel flour has the potential to influence appetite and reduce energy intake, at least in the short term."
Dr. Ya P. Lee and his team at the University of Western Australia in Perth fed 16 people either plain white bread or LKF-enriched bread in different combinations for either breakfast or lunch.
Those who ate the LKF-enriched bread at breakfast ate less food at lunch. When a lunchtime sandwich was made from bread containing lupin kernel flour, they ate up to one-third fewer calories.
They then moved on to testing the blood of 17 people before and after they had eaten either plain white bread or LKF-enriched bread for levels of ghrelin, an appetite-regulating hormone. Concentrations of ghrelin in the volunteers who had eaten the lupin kernel flour bread were considerably lower three hours after the meal than those of the volunteers who had eaten plain white bread.
Lupin kernel flour contains up to 45 percent protein and 30 percent fiber. Its content of sugar and starch is low. Refined white flour contains 12 percent to 15 percent protein and virtually no fiber.
Bread enriched with seeds from the lupin plant can help people feel more full and eat less, the Australian researchers concluded.
Until LKF makes its way into various foods and breads, stick to whole-grain flour bread as a filler full of nutrients that goes wonderfully with a bowl of soup. As to stock making, remember not to add any salt until you've finished cooking. Since stock is made by concentrating down the liquid, the taste of salt will increase as the liquid reduces.
Chefs go to extreme lengths to produce a stock that is completely clear. They add broken egg shells, or beaten egg whites and all manner of complexities far too time-consuming for a family cook. If you make sure that the liquid never comes to more than a gentle simmer with tiny bubbles just crisping at the edge of the pot, your stock will not become cloudy. A stock can be made perfectly well just by breaking down the carcass into manageable pieces and covering them with water. But a classic stock, which will keep its flavor in the freezer for three months, is as follows:
-- 1 roasted carcass, roughly broken down, or 3 pounds roasted chicken wings, backs or other bones
-- 1 medium veal knuckle (ask your butcher to crack it open)
-- 4 quarts water
-- 3 medium onions, peeled and cut in half
-- 2 large carrots, scrubbed and chopped into large chunks
-- 2 medium leeks, whites only sliced into large rings and carefully washed
-- 1 large bay leaf
-- 8 flat-leaf parsley sprigs
-- 8 outer ribs of celery with their leaves, carefully washed and chopped into chunks
-- 1 small bundle fresh thyme, tied up
-- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
-- Put everything in a stockpot large enough to hold it all.
-- Bring very slowly to the boil over a low heat and skim off any impurities that may rise.
-- Cover with a lid, leaving it just a crack askew, and simmer for 3 to 4 hours.
-- Cool then strain, first through a colander, then through a fine sieve and put in a refrigerator.
-- When cold, peel off the fat cover that will have formed and use, or store in individual freezer bags.
-- Use as a base for any other soup, thin or chunky, or for sauces and gravies, adding salt at that point.
