Title : Canned Chicken Thighs
Post Title : Canned Chicken Thighs
Canned Chicken Thighs
cannery
noun can·nery \ˈka-nə-rē\
: a factory where food is put into cans
Okay, so you are thinking how does this possibly fit in with makeovers, painting and DIY projects?
Well, I thought I would share a few other topics with you that I have found to be very helpful in my life.
Growing up in the community that I did, I was taught how to can and preserve food. Although I don’t always get it done the way mom used to, I do get some done that I will post about.
Don’t worry, I will still be sharing any makeovers and DIY projects that I feel might interest you. :) (presently I have about five ideas brewing) :o
This week one of my favorite local markets ran a special where you could buy 40 pounds of boneless chicken thighs for $39.60. I snagged a box on Tuesday.
Oh, I should talk about my “cannery” a bit. No, it’s not a factory like described above. It’s more like a drab, kinda dark area in our basement that could seriously use a makeover, but it does work great to work on large quantities of food.
At times I feel a little suffocated down there since some of the windows are almost covered in ivy and I’m at my best when I can at least see the outside while working indoors. I find that playing a little music helps with this. So Tuesday before working with the chicken, I set up my tablet to play Pandora.
First I washed the thighs and cut most of them in half. I think they fit into the jars better if the pieces aren’t too big.
Next they were ready to be put into jars. I used regular quart jars.
I added a teaspoon of salt to each jar and filled it to the neck with water.
After wiping the rim clean, they were ready for lids and rings. I turn the rings until they are snug, but not too tight. Often I buy lids in bulk since it’s a bit cheaper than the boxed ones.
For meat like this, I always use new jar lids. I have at times for juice, fruit, etc. used lids that were used before.
Now the jars are ready for the stockpots. Here’s the part where I am pretty old fashioned. I know there are pressure cookers out there to cut your cold packing time in half or more, but I have always canned with stockpots and since that works great, I haven’t yet tried another route.
You of course can’t set the jars directly on the base of the pot, so I use cooling racks and old jar rings to get them off the bottom.
After setting the jars in, I fill the stockpots with warm water up to the necks of the jars.
I set them on the stove and turn the burners on high until they start to boil. I cold pack them for three hours. I turn the burners down once the water starts to boil,then I don’t have to worry about running out of water. If the water does get a little low, I add more hot water. I was always told to never let the pots run out of water, that the jars would explode. Thankfully I have never had to test that theory!
After they boiled for three hours, I set the jars out on newspaper, on the floor.
The 40 pounds of chicken gave us 28 quarts. After they cooled, I checked the jars to see if they sealed. A few of them didn’t. I refrigerated them, but they can also be re-cold packed if you wish. At times, I have also put the chicken and broth in freezer containers and frozen them for preservation. Often I just use it in the next few days for a meal.
After washing the jars, they were ready for the shelf!
What a great feeling knowing we have 28 meals of chicken ready to use anytime! In the future, I will share a few of our favorite family recipes to use this chicken with!
Have a great week, everyone! Thanks for visiting!
-Mary
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