I've tried to research this but can't find much on it. Most explanations don't really address what I am seeing in my soup pot each time I boil up a used bird. These are already cooked birds and are the leftovers from roasted turkeys or chickens. I love a pure broth for lunch. I am also a great believer in 'Jewish Penicillin**, thus lots of chicken broth. I use the broth for soup stock also.
So.. the main question:
Why is turkey broth always cloudy whitish and chicken broth clearer or brownish? It doesn't seem to be the fat content of the bird or broth. This almost always happens when I use the carcasses from either fowl to make broth. It doesn't seem to be dependent on how I cooked either bird. Turkeys=white broth…Chickens = clear or mildly brownish broth. It's almost chemical??? Is there any cautions I should be observing? **We do not observe any Jewish food requirements…it's only a familiar comment ('cause it's true!)
Best Answer
Turkey fat will emulsify into the water at a lower temperature than chicken fat, so one key to clear turkey broth is to be careful to NOT boil it. You want an occasional burble, no more. Also, the proteins in turkey muscle tend to release their bound up water more readily than chicken (that's why turkey often becomes dry more easily than chicken does) and will begin to disintegrate. So the more meat in your carcass, especially white, the more cloudy it will appear.
[as per my own education in Animal Science]