Monday, July 4, 2011

Canned Chicken is so useful! I Love it!

So at our local grocery store we found chicken for 1.99 a pound. Around here that is pretty cheap, so we decided to buy some and jump in to the adventures of canning meat. Canning meat isn't nearly as hard as everyone thinks it is, and trust me it is well worth your trouble. You can use it in so many things, and it isn't taking up valuable freezer space.

You can use the Hot pack method, but we decided to go easy and use the Raw Pack. First you cut up the chicken into squares, about kabob size as mom would put it.  Then pack it into your sterilized jars, in this method, there is no need to pour broth or water in the jars, the chicken makes its own broth as it cooks. Make sure there aren't air bubbles, and the rims are wiped off, the whole nine yards, then set the jars in about 2 inches of water in the pressure canner. Lock the lid and let the steam vent for 10 minutes then close the vent and process at 10 pounds of pressure for 1 hour 15 minutes for pints, and 1 hour and a half for quarts. Oh yeah, and if you are worried about the hard water stains on the canner and the jars, put some vinegar in the water, that should do the trick.

The best part about having the canned chicken around the house is all the things you can use it for. We make chicken salad, chicken fettuccine Alfredo, chicken and ramen, just about anything! It is so versatile. To use it for baked things, just use in the recipe, but if you are eating it cold, like chicken salad, cook it ten minutes first, then cool it down. Cooking it first is just an extra precaution to make sure all the potential bacteria and things are killed. Just to be sure.

Anyway we made a video, and tried to describe the important things as best we could, to keep everything safe for eating. Hope it is as informative as we meant it to be :) Enjoy!


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