When someone get word that I can poultry , they often ask , “ Why ? Do n’t you have a freezer?”Yes , I have a Deepfreeze … a huge one . But I also have apressure canner , and I like to can a portion of our wimp . It ’s easy , try delectable , frees up space in our freezer and gives us ledge - unchanging meat for the pantry .
give the sack some of your chicken meat is a great choice to freezing . Also , canning allows you to stock up up on wimp and turkey and not be limited by freezer space .
All fowl , including wild game such as duck and squab , can be canned with the stick to in the altogether - pack method instructions . I ’ll utilize Gallus gallus as the model . But just bonk you’re able to replace it with any poultry .
You may can chicken with or without the bones . Producing jars of bone - in chicken is in all likelihood my preferent way to can chicken . It ’s easy to rationalise the volaille into piece ; put them in a couple of prepared jars ; add hot water , salt and maybe some dried herbs ; and have a cooked whole chicken on the pantry shelf quick to habituate .
While it may seem like waste place to can chicken still on the ivory , the bones sum up more nutrition to the Gallus gallus and broth . While under pressure , the finger cymbals release food such as collagen , which is why the stock will be gelatinous or else of liquid once the jolt cool down off .
A Whole Chicken
Always start out with saucy , tone chicken for canning . If you ’ve buy the chicken , it needs to be canned by the use - by date . It ’s perfectly fine to freeze the chicken , then completely thaw it out and can it later if you do n’t have time to can it when you purchase it .
If you ’ve butchered and dressed the chicken , permit it chill for six to 12 hours before canning . This will allow the rigor mortis to blow over and the sum to relax . Keep poultry cold until you ’re ready to can it .
The peel can be impart on the chicken for canning or removed . The skin will bring more fat to the jar . If you may pasturage - raised chicken , this additional fat can be a good thing because they tend to have less fat in the gist than commercially evoke chicken does .
The texture of tinned chicken is unlike than when fudge new . It ’s not unsound , just different — like the difference in grain between white meat and glum meat or a dispute between roast , grill or boil chicken .
My personal opinion is that the blank meat tends to be a little siccative after canning , so I ’m not a rooter of canning jars of Gallus gallus tit for my family line . However , some the great unwashed enjoy that texture and love canning Gallus gallus breasts .
Read more : Raise meat birds for sizable , homegrown protein !
Prepare the Equipment
The first affair you need to do to can whole Gallus gallus is get your pressure canner , jarful and lids ready . Chicken is a low - Lucy in the sky with diamonds food and must be canned in a pressure canner .
Wash your insistence canner , quart jars and eyelid in blistering , soapy water . Use wide sassing jars if you’re able to . They ’ll be easier to pack than regular mouth jarful .
Add piss to the pressure canner according to the manufacturer ’s instructions .
The shock involve to be continue ardent , so put them in the canner while you prepare the chicken . Put the canner on the kitchen range , and heat overmedium heat energy . The water supply should be about 140degrees Fahrenheit and not boiling to avoid thermal shock .
congeal the lids aside . They do n’t necessitate to stay hot .
Prepare the Chicken
trim the whole chicken into piece . I like to cut the leg and wings off with a tongue , then use kitchen shear to class the breast from the back . Sometimes , I ’ll secern the drumstick and thigh , and reduce the tit in half . It just look on how big they are .
I do n’t impart the back and spine to the jars . I save those to make stock later . Because the backstage do n’t have much meat , they can also be saved for broth instead of canning with the whole wimp .
Pack the Jars
Remove a shock from the canner , and carry it with the chicken art object . I care to put a drumstick , second joint , breast and offstage in each jar . You may take to order the pieces several times to get them to fit . You ’ll want to wad them tightly .
If the chicken is pretty large , you might not able to get half of it in one jounce . That ’s fine , just habituate another shock .
Add 1 teaspoonful of noniodized salt to each quart shock , if desired . you may also add any wry herbs you like to the jars , although most masses forfend adding sage , as it can get bitter while under pressure .
While there is no penury to tot water to cutting packed chicken , there may not be enough rude juices in the chicken to fully cover the meat . Meat that is n’t fully cover may discolor but is perfectly safe to rust . Because I wish the meat to be fully cover in liquid , I add hot ( not quite stewing ) water to my peeled - tamp down whole chicken .
Chicken is pack with a 11⁄4 - inch headspace because it tends to well . habituate a bubble remotion tool and remove any strain bubble if you added piss to the jar . If you did n’t bestow water , there wo n’t be any air bubbles to get rid of .
If you do n’t have a house of cards removal tool , use a silicone polymer spatula or chopstick . Do n’t apply a butter tongue , as the alloy can scratch the jar and weaken it .
Recheck the headspace . All the chicken ( and pee , if add together ) demand to be about 11⁄4inches from the rim . Wipe the rims with a clean , damp cloth , and put the lid and striation on the jars . stiffen the bands to fingertip fast , like you would a mayo jar .
Put Under Pressure
Place the jars of chicken in the fain pressure canner , and lock the lid in station . turn over the heat up to high , and when the canner starts discharge , go down a timer for 10 minutes . you may turn the heat down just a bit .
It does n’t demand to gush out of the vent-hole tube . But it does call for to be a steady stream .
After 10 minute , put the weighting on the canner and bring it up to pressure . When the canner is at 10 pounds per straight inch ( adjusted for altitude — see below ) , set a timer for the correct processing time .
The processing times for sack poultry with off-white and tin domestic fowl without bones are unlike . Process the jolt of fowl without clappers at 10 psi for 75 minute for pint and 90 minutes for quarts , aline for altitude , if need . treat the jar of poultrywith bones for 65 minutes for pint and 75minutes for quart , adjusting for altitude , if involve .
When the processing sentence is finished , turn off the heat and permit the canner to naturally depressurize . This will take 30 to 60 minutes . Refer to themanufacturer’sinstructions that come with your canner .
Read more : Learn more about the basics of insistence canning .
Removal & Readying for Storage
Once the air pressure canner has depressurized , lay a clean towel on the counter to lay the jars of chicken on . Remove the weight unit from the vent or launch the petcock and let the canner sit for 10 minutes before open up the lid . This keep the liquidness in the jar from surging and lids being compromise .
When you remove the canner lid , remove it away from your face to avoid the blast of steam . Let the jarful sit in the canner for another 5 minutes before removing them .
Using a jarful lifter , dispatch the jars from the canner and place them on the prepared kitchen towel to cool . Leave at least 1 inch of outer space between the jar . have them cool down for 12 to 24 hours and then watch the seals .
If everything has seal , the jar are ready to be stored away . Use dwelling - canned poultry within one year . If a jarful did n’t seal right , put the jar in the refrigerator to use within a week .
Unlike remnant , it ’s okay that the home - displace wimp has cooled at room temperature for 12 to24 hour . Any bacterium , yeast and mold spores have been destroyed by the canning process .
This article to begin with appear in the July / August 2022 return ofChickensmagazine .
