Let’s Talk Leftovers

Good morning. How’d it go? I’m hoping really well, for the lot of us: beautifully cooked turkeys and plentiful side dishes, everyone reasonably happy, excellent pies. I hope no one got weird.

Today’s for leftovers. Pableaux Johnson, the New Orleans photographer and raconteur, is a master of the form. He drives through the wards of the city collecting turkey carcasses from friends and uses them to make an enormous amount of turkey stock. With that stock, he makes an enormous amount of gumbo. And with that gumbo, he gives back to his friends.

I like a stock-into-gumbo situation myself, though my production is never as large as Pableaux’s. If you make stock today or tomorrow, and you should, you could use it for turkey soup or turkey pho. You’ll have more than you need. Freeze some in quart containers for a Carolina chicken bog or a righteous Brunswick stew.

I hope you have plenty of leftover turkey meat, too. I’m going to use some of mine, along with a bunch of leftover sides, to make Kenji López-Alt’s new recipe for, essentially, turkey Hot Pockets (above). (Cue Jim Gaffigan, naturally, though Kenji’s are much better than the trademarked ones you’ll find in the freezer at Sevs.) Maybe a turkey tetrazzini or a turkey potpie?

You should definitely make at least one turkey sandwich to eat on the fly, standing in the kitchen, all alone. No recipe required; just a toasted English muffin with mayonnaise, congealed gravy, cranberry sauce and a few shreds of turkey. That’s perfection. (It’s like a WASP-y take on the Elena Ruz, the great Cuban sandwich.)

Other Thanksgiving leftovers ideas for more than one person: turkey tikka masala; a turkey Cubano; and a Thanksgiving leftovers enchilada pie. And do not sleep on the concept of leftover pecan or pumpkin pie for breakfast. This is the weekend for that, absolutely.

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Hot Pockets and More Recipes for Your Thanksgiving Leftovers

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There are thousands and thousands more recipes waiting for you on New York Times Cooking, many of which will take you far from the holiday table. (After all that turkey, maybe you’d prefer some tuna poke or an arugula salad.) You do need a subscription to read them. Subscriptions support our work and allow it to continue. If you haven’t done so already, I hope that you will consider subscribing today. Thanks.

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Now, it’s nothing to do with how awesome it is to pile a bunch of leftover stuffing into your waffle iron to make savory waffles for lunch, but a couple of us fell into a long conversation this week about people we’ve known who have last names for first names and maybe for middle names too: IIs and IIIs and IVs. This led, inevitably, to a deep cut from the Phish archives: “Prep-School Hippie.”

On my side table: Jonathan Lethem’s latest novel, “Brooklyn Crime Story.” Alexandra Jacobs was mixed on it in her review, but I’ve thrilled to the memories it’s kicked up of a Brooklyn I knew really well. Come join me on Atlantic Avenue, 1978!

You into this Black Friday stuff? Our colleagues at Wirecutter are tracking the best Black Friday deals on kitchen goods and more.

Finally, with the bird behind us, we’re getting ready to celebrate the year-end holidays with cookies upon cookies upon cookies. Sign up for our short-series Cookie Week Newsletter, and we’ll send you a new cookie recipe every day from Dec. 1 to 8. Sweet! I’ll see you on Sunday.