# What is your favorite way to can chicken?



## goshengirl (Dec 18, 2010)

I ask this because I've seen so many posts about how people just love their canned chicken - so tender and delicious. I figure they must be doing it differently than me, because my canned chicken smells like dog food when first opened up, is rather bland/tasteless, and kinda mushy. I can it because I want the security of having it, but it's always with the attitude of, 'well, if we're starving it won't matter what it tastes like.' But I'd much rather love it. 

What I've done in the past is to brown the chicken just a little, add it to jars, and add a little broth. Then process it (10 lbs, 90 min for quarts - we're below 1000 ft in elevation). 

What do you do? Brown first, or can it raw pack? Add broth or add water - or add nothing? Add a little seasoning, like a bay leaf, garlic, soy sauce - or add nothing? Just learning everyone else's touch might give me some ideas. And I just brought home a boatload of chicken breasts on sale that I plan to can soon (and may go back for more while they're still on sale).

Thanks!


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

We pretty much raw pack dark and white together as we kinda hate white meat here.. and store bought chicken is pretty tasteless so we have to juice it a bit flavor wise.
but we make home made chicken stock with onion/celery/carrots a bit of salt and other herbs of choice like sage/thyme some cracked black pepper and once you put the raw chicken in the jar you top off with the good stock and pressure can according to the Ball Blue book.
If you have never had any canned meats they all kinda smell like cat and dog food when ya open them. But once you heat them and mix with what ever you want I have no problem with the smell. Buy a small can of chicken at the store and compare.
but key here is your stock.. I cook it down so that it is a bit more flavorful than I would use for soup as the breast meat would not have any seasoning that way it will flavor the breasts well. and taste your stock if you don't like the flavor you won't like the chicken.. 
my grandma always stuck a bullion cube in but I can't do the msg so can not do that myself any longer.


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## wildcat (Oct 26, 2011)

I only can dark meat, (Legs and Thighs) I don't like the white meat. All I put in mine is water, Garlic, Onion, and Kosher Salt. 
That way I can make just about any chicken dish I want when I consume it by adding other seasoning.

I pressure cook for 30 minutes first to get it to fall off the bone, pick bones out, then fill jars and go 90 minutes in the pressure canner.


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## Onebigelf (Sep 17, 2011)

wildcat said:


> I only can dark meat, (Legs and Thighs) I don't like the white meat. All I put in mine is water, Garlic, Onion, and Kosher Salt.
> That way I can make just about any chicken dish I want when I consume it by adding other seasoning.
> 
> I pressure cook for 30 minutes first to get it to fall off the bone, pick bones out, then fill jars and go 90 minutes in the pressure canner.


Ding. I do the same thing. Maximum flexibility.

The local grocery occasionally has leg quarters for 39cents/lb. I buy 4-6 40lb boxes. Cook it off the bone, then add celery, onion, and carrot peels + salt/pepper to the stock and cook it down with the bones and skins. Strain, chill and skim. There's all the quality chicken stock you could want. Freeze excess in washed out quart wax-paper heavy cream cartons (I use cream in my coffee and save the cartons).

John


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## Salekdarling (Aug 15, 2010)

I just bought my pressure cooker/canner today. I'm waiting on it to come in about two weeks from now. I want to can chicken. I get the cheap chicken with the bones and skin still in place. So can I cook it in a pot with water, and your average vegetables such as celery, carrots, potatoes and whatever seasonings you please to make the broth?

Can I cook the chicken with the skin on and just remove it after the chicken is done cooking?

Can I can the chicken with the broth after I filter out the vegetables and fat? or should I can the broth separately? Can I even leave the vegetables with the chicken broth?

90 minutes of 10lbs of pressure? Sound right? I'm completely new at this so don't mind the question. I plan on picking up a Ball Blue canning book or just plan on borrowing my parent's since they never can anymore either way.

I am pretty darn excited to start canning.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

meat products are generally 90 minutes per quart, 75 minutes per pint.

What we do with turkey is throw the remaining carcas in a large pot for several days on a very slow simmer. After several days, separate the meat from the bones. 1/2+ cup of meat, 2 cups of mixed vegetables, filled up with the broth and canned. Remaining broth is canned as broth.


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## Salekdarling (Aug 15, 2010)

partdeux said:


> meat products are generally 90 minutes per quart, 75 minutes per pint.
> 
> What we do with turkey is throw the remaining carcas in a large pot for several days on a very slow simmer. After several days, separate the meat from the bones. 1/2+ cup of meat, 2 cups of mixed vegetables, filled up with the broth and canned. Remaining broth is canned as broth.


Gotcha! I would assume that you can treat chicken the same way than.   I'll report in when I attempt canning chicken for the first time. Hopefully I don't screw up too bad.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

Salekdarling said:


> Gotcha! I would assume that you can treat chicken the same way than.   I'll report in when I attempt canning chicken for the first time. Hopefully I don't screw up too bad.


break as many bones as you can break, at least in half. Slow simmer for DAYS! This is where a gas stove really comes in handy. It will be the best chicken (or turkey) soup you will ever ever ever taste. Especially if you can let it sit for a couple of months in the canning jars.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

In the past I cold pack chicken into wide mouth pint or quart jars after doing as partdeux said, breaking the bones, I use a heavy butcher knife and crack/beak the "knobs" of the end of each long bone. This ensures that the bone cooks through, when canning chicken with bone in the main reason for spoilage is from the bone not completely cooking through.

After I joined his forum and read that the most popular practice was to cook the chicken first, I started baking the bird first, de-boneing, removing the skin and then packing the meat into jars and processing it. I then take all the bones and skin and boil it down to stock and can that separately. The flavor was still not quite what I wanted and remembering a post that kappydell made about chicken being tasteless now a days, I tried putting a little bullion in each jar and that made quite a difference.

The last time I canned chicken, about a month ago, a local store had the 10 pound bags of leg quarters on sale for $4.95, so I picked up three bags, they wound up packing into 12 quart jars, 3 jars of meat per bag and 1 jar of concentrated stock. This is how I am going to do it from now on or until I find something that I like better.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

I simmer a kettle full of whole chickens, skin and all, for a day or two on the woodstove, then let it cool, debone it, and mix all the meat up. I pack it in the jars and add broth from the kettle, and a teaspoon or so of salt. We're at a high elevation so I pressure can them at 15 lbs. for 90 minutes (quarts).

We use it mainly for chicken & dumplings, potpies, creamed gravy (for over mashed potatoes, biscuits, bread, whatever), casseroles, stir frys, burritos/enchiladas, and other ways I probably can't remember right now. We've also mashed the tender meat (after opening a jar of it) and mixed it with mayo and/or egg, made it into patties, breaded and fried them.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

gypsysue said:


> . We've also mashed the tender meat (after opening a jar of it) and mixed it with mayo and/or egg, made it into patties, breaded and fried them.


Do you make them along the same lines of salmon or other fish patties? Never heard of Chicken patties(except those ready made things in the plastic bag at the grocery stores) but thinking about it, sounds pretty good.

Could you expand a little on the chicken patties, pleeeeze?


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

I want to try that gypsy,,,,when I come across things I want to save, is there a way to mark it somehow so I can go right to it?:dunno:


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

What I do when I want to save something--I open my computers "wordpad"(under accessories) and just copy paste it and save it... I do many recipes like that.

and for chicken 'patties' I have made croquettes with canned chicken with my grandma.. the shredded chicken.. finely chopped/diced onion, celery and almonds(I think it was blanched) gran used an egg instead of mayo and then rolled them in bread crumbs(or more likely shake and bake) and we baked them and served with cream sauce with onion and peas in it.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

Gotcha, think I can do it - right down to the cream sauce.

Thanks very much


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

Emerald said:


> chicken 'patties' I have made croquettes with canned chicken with my grandma.. the shredded chicken..


Chicken shredded then canned, or canned and then shreaded?


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Davarm said:


> Do you make them along the same lines of salmon or other fish patties? Never heard of Chicken patties(except those ready made things in the plastic bag at the grocery stores) but thinking about it, sounds pretty good.
> 
> Could you expand a little on the chicken patties, pleeeeze?


Yes, I make them like Salmon patties, only I don't use lemon pepper and garlic salt.

I open a jar of canned deboned chicken, then shred it and mash it with a fork. I've put it in the blender, too, to chop it up real fine, but sometimes I'm not as 'picky'! (or I'm too lazy!  )

Then I stir in either some mayo or an egg or two, depending how much I'm making. I add spices, usually salt, pepper, and seasoning salt, but I learned to go light on the spices in the meat. I save that for the batter. You can skip the batter/breading and just fry them as plain patties.

What I really love to do is to dip the patties in flour, then in egg, then with southern fried chicken coating. I oven-fry mine but they can be fried in oil, too.

They come out similar to McChicken patties only with more meat, with REAL meat, and taste fresh and light.

Partdeux, you could shred the meat before you can it but I don't know how it would come out. Maybe kind of pulpy? Dunno. When I debone it the meat pretty much falls apart in my fingers, but I still mash it more later if I'm going to use it for patties.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Canned whole and shredded after opening.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

gypsysue said:


> Yes, I make them like Salmon patties, only I don't use lemon pepper and garlic salt.
> 
> I open a jar of canned deboned chicken, then shred it and mash it with a fork. I've put it in the blender, too, to chop it up real fine, but sometimes I'm not as 'picky'! (or I'm too lazy!  )
> 
> ...


Thank you, We are going to have McChicken Patties tonight for dinner.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

Davarm said:


> Thank you, We are going to have McChicken Patties tonight for dinner.


Be sure and tell us how they come out!


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## oldvet (Jun 29, 2010)

My absolute most favorite way to can chicken is to have some else do it. :lolsmash::threadbump::lolsmash:


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

oldvet, same here, I'm trying to teach my daughters how to so I wont have to keep doing the canning, its slow going though, they are afraid of the pressure cooker. When they were young one of them poked an uncooked spaghetti noodle into the steam vent of my canner and as it heated up the steam cooked the noodle and blocked the vent, the safety plug blew and scared the S**t of them(me too). Guess they are still getting over it 17 or 18 years later, and now every time I use the canner I hold the lid up to the light to make sure light comes through.

gypsysue, Made the chicken patties, I think I need some practice though. I made the mistake of putting the chicken into the food processor, came out bout like chicken baby food. Went ahead and used it but I put some dehydrated cornbread dressing crumbs in it along with the egg. Dipped it in milk/egg wash then seasoned flour and fried them up. Was real good, but the texture was a little disturbing, the grandson absolutely loved them. He is a thin wirey little fellow(2 1/2 years old) and a picky eater but he went to bed tonight with a very full tummy.

Emerald, your recipe with the cream sauce is next, will let you know how those turn out.

Thanks for the recipes/directions.


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## Salekdarling (Aug 15, 2010)

My pressure cooker came in today!  I didn't think it would be here so quickly. 23 quart pressure cooker/canner with a vent and a pressure gauge. I got it on sale from Amazon because the box was smashed up. Not a single scratch or dent on the canner itself. Saved $40.00 plus free shipping. Thank you Amazon! 

Picking up supplies tomorrow and adventuring into canning. I'm going in blind though as no one has taught me how to do it. Here's to you youtube and prepared society! :kiss:


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## neldarez (Apr 10, 2011)

well folks, this is so fun. Cooked the turkey, then deboned it and threw all the bones into a pot and covered with water and sat on my wood stove ( heating stove, not cooking, but there's room) Next day, cleaned all the rest of the meat off of the bones, they were spotless! Then I sat the pot outside to cool and for the fat to set up. By this time I'm feeling pretty pioneery! ( new word) Filled 7 qt jars 1/2 full with meat and then put this new batch of broth over it. Pressure canned and it is beautiful. Meanwhile, back at the stove, the original broth that cooked with the turkey, I filled 5 qt. and canned them. That was soooo much fun and I didn't waste anything, actually, made more broth. I was so proud of myself, now I want to cook turkey and dumplings. Thanks you guys, you're the ones who taught me how to do this!!:2thumb:


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

You will be a lot more proud of yourself when you open one of those jars and make something that taste so good you will have to mark it on your calander.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

Sale,

Now the fun begins.

Few really important things, make sure the lids are hot before putting them on the hot jar. Don't tighten the rings too tight, don't leave them too loose, you'll eventually get the right feel  Let the pressure drop naturally at the end of your cook time, and even after taking off the lid, let them sit for a few minutes before removing the jars. Do not tighten the rings after removing the jars, they will be loose, that is normal. Remove the rings after the lids are sucked down tight. Get the ball blue book, always start there with your recipes. Vary at your own risk... but SWMBO couldn't follow a recipe if it was imprinted on her eyeballs  And I LOVE the outcome! Many canned foods will mello in flavor over time. We make our own Bloody Mary mix, and when it's first made, it's too bold and in your face. Over time it mellows out and is delish.

We started a couple of years ago, and literally have well over a thousand canning jars, and have build several storage racks and finally bought some HD wire racks from Costco.


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

Davarm said:


> You will be a lot more proud of yourself when you open one of those jars and make something that taste so good you will have to mark it on your calander.


You could have never convinced me the taste would be that much better!

Funny side story, but with a relative in the Hospital, we have been eating commercially prepared food a lot lately. Both wife and I were having some intestinal discomfort.


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## Salekdarling (Aug 15, 2010)

partdeux said:


> Sale,
> 
> Now the fun begins.
> 
> ...


Awesome, thanks so much for your advice Partdeux. I'm a recipe follower all the way. (I LOVE recipes). My local Kmart actually has an entire section for canning and the Ball Blue Canning book!  I'll be stopping down there to pick the book up. Glad I don't have to wait for it!


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## Salekdarling (Aug 15, 2010)

Currently sitting and watching my first batch of canned goods in the pressure canner. I decided to start out with potatoes, and if they turn out well tomorrow morning, I'm going to jump into packing chicken and its broth.


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

The first thing I ever canned was chicken.

This summer, I attacked, tomatoes, peppers, green beans, pepper sauces, apples, ...lots of veggies and this fall, turnip greens!!! YUM!

I promised my oldest that I would attempt "homemade French fries" it looks labor intensive, but he said that he would help. Now to find potatoes on sale. I really need to make some garbage can buckets to grow potatoes.

This is so much fun!


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

partdeux said:


> Sale,
> 
> Remove the rings after the lids are sucked down tight.


You may want to keep in mind, If you plan on taking any of your jars of canned goods with you if you Bug Out, you may want to leave the rings on. I boxed up a bunch of jars that I had removed the rings on and while stacking the boxes and moving them around several of the lids hung on one thing or another and popped off.

As far back as I can remember, everyone always removed the rings, I dont even remember why anymore but that the way it has always been done.


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## gypsysue (Mar 27, 2010)

I remove the rings and wash the jars and rings really good. If they're going to be stored on a shelf and not moved, I leave them off. If they'll be in a box (such as overflow that doesn't fit on the shelves), I put the rings back on after washing everything.

Salek, congratulations on the canner and on canning your first batch! Let us know how it comes out!


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## partdeux (Aug 3, 2011)

I remove the rings incase of a jar that goes bad. The little bugs will knock the lid loose, and there's an increased chance of not noticing it if the ring is on.

Potatoes... We were not fans of our first attempt at canned potatoes and have not done it since.


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## DJgang (Apr 10, 2011)

Gosh learned something again...rings...I always make sure my rings are on before storing, but heck that makes sense about in case they pop and bugs...


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## Onebigelf (Sep 17, 2011)

The rings will hold moisture and encourage rust. That's why they always tell you to remove them.

John


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

partdeux said:


> I remove the rings incase of a jar that goes bad. The little bugs will knock the lid loose, and there's an increased chance of not noticing it if the ring is on.
> 
> Potatoes... We were not fans of our first attempt at canned potatoes and have not done it since.


You most definitely will notice a bad jar if the ring is removed, my grandmother called them "stinkers".


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

partdeux said:


> I remove the rings incase of a jar that goes bad. The little bugs will knock the lid loose, and there's an increased chance of not noticing it if the ring is on.
> 
> Potatoes... We were not fans of our first attempt at canned potatoes and have not done it since.


I can not stand canned potatoes they are just not .. yummy.. That is why we started drying them.. they come out more like, well ... Potatoes when they are dehydrated.


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