A Robust Turkey Broth

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Dear Lynne: No canned version, please, or the new streamlined model. I want to make chicken broth like my great-grandmother's. It's trite, but true: The pot was on the back of the stove for the whole day, and that broth needed nothing. On its own you felt so good spooning it up. It could cure anything. Can I make a soup like this? -- Sam in FargoDear Sam: It may not be exactly what your great-grandmother did, but this recipe will give you a broth with so much personality it could stand on its own as a meal in a bowl, or take on any kind of addition.Broths can be made so many different ways, and this one takes some unfamiliar tacks. Structured to yield up the deepest, most satiating flavors, it's done with unusual ingredients for a broth -- turkey wings instead of chicken, whole heads of garlic, tomatoes and, especially, long cooking. Here's the reasoning:-- Poultry wings uniquely are neither white nor dark meat and yield up particularly good flavor. Cracking the wings allows even more flavor/nutrients to become part of the broth. This is where using organic poultry is essential, and turkey wings will give you fuller flavor than chicken. They are also less expensive right now.-- Garlic mellows in the broth and emboldens its character. You don't taste it, yet you'd know if it were not there.-- Tomatoes are packed with umami, the so-called "fifth taste" that lifts the flavors of ingredients. Umami-rich shitake and porcini mushrooms, red wine, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese rind and Asian fish sauce each would do the same thing.-- Long cooking with only the occasional bubble breaking the broth's surface draws out every bit of goodness from the ingredients.MOTHER'S ROBUST TURKEY BROTHMakes 7 quarts (halves easily) and freezes well for 6 months.Aside from tasting good, this is definitely winter-entertaining material. It's heaven for guests to be greeted on a snowy night with small cups of hot broth instead of icy cocktails.The mother in the title was mine. She was recovering from surgery and refusing food, so this broth came into being to tempt her. She not only recovered, she started making it herself -- with her "improvement" of the optional white wine.Consider the broth an ideal weekend recipe to have on the stove as you work around the house. It needs about 20 minutes of actual work, and checking a couple of times as it cooks.This is a large recipe and you could halve it, but doing it once will give you broth for most of the winter. Do use organic ingredients if you possibly can.5 pounds of turkey wingsAbout 6 quarts of cold water2 large onions (1-1/2 pounds), trimmed of root ends and coarsely chopped (do not peel)2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped1 large stalk of celery with leaves, coarsely chopped4 large whole heads of garlic, trimmed of root ends and halved horizontally2 whole cloves1 bay leaf, broken6 drained canned tomatoes2 cups dry white wine (optional)Seasoning for serving: Salt and freshly ground black pepper to tasteCut up turkey wings, cracking their bones with a cleaver in 2 or 3 places. Place in a tall 8- to 10-quart pot. Add enough cold water to come to within 3 inches of the lip of the pot. Bring the water slowly to a simmer. Skim off all foam that rises to the surface. Add remaining ingredients, partially cover and bring to a very slow bubble -- that is, you can count to 5 before the next bubble breaks the surface of the liquid.Simmer 12 to 14 hours, stirring and skimming off fat occasionally. Do not boil broth. Keep the liquid at the slow, occasional bubble. Add boiling water if the broth reduces below the level of the solid ingredients. Always keep them covered with about 3 inches of liquid.Strain the broth through a fine sieve. For a clearer broth, strain it by ladling rather than pouring, leaving behind any sediment at the bottom of the pot.Before refrigerating, cool the broth as quickly as possible. Set it outside in cold weather, for example, or chill it down in several small containers set in bowls of ice. Then refrigerate the broth for about 8 hours, or until its fat has hardened. Skim off hardened fat, and freeze the broth in containers of various sizes.To serve, heat the broth and season to taste, or use as the foundation of soups and sauces.(Lynne Rossetto Kasper hosts "The Splendid Table," American Public Media's weekly national show for people who love to eat. For more information, visit www.splendidtable.org or call 1-800-537-5252. Tune in to our special Thanksgiving call-in show, "Turkey Confidential" on Thanksgiving morning. Find tune-in information at www.splendidtable.org.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.scrippsnews.com)