Canning Chicken

Canning has been a new endeavor for us, and the results are worth the time spent. We bought an "All American" pressure canner that holds 7 pints or 4 quarts and works perfectly for just the two of us. The process is pretty simple, but make sure to read your owner's manual first before starting.

Here are our steps for canning chicken:

Cut up the chicken into large bitesize pieces and sprinkled "The Blend" seasoning made by The Maine Accent in Hallowell, ME. (You can put just salt and pepper if you want to).

Fill clean jar with the RAW meat, leaving at least a 1/2" headspace. DO NOT ADD WATER, JUST THE MEAT.

Wipe the rims of the jar with a clean, wet paper towel and place the lids and hand tighten the bands, no need to overtighten.

Pour 2.5" inches of HOT water into the canner, turn the stove on high and place the rack in the bottom of the canner. We use a tape measure to gauge the depth of the water.

Use a light coating of olive oil to lubricate the inside and top rim of the pressure canner.

Place the closed jars inside the canner (make sure the water doesn't go above the "neck" of the jar. If so, remove some of the water.)

Secure the lid to the pressure canner following the instructors in our manual. (tightening the bolts on opposing sides, etc).

Watch for a steady stream of steam escape the vent pipe, then set our timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, we place our regulator weight on the vent pipe (use oven mitts if needed). (please read your instructors manual, you may only have a dial on your canner, not a weight).

Pressure can the pints of raw meat for 75 minutes on 11 pounds pressure.

Leave the heat on medium-high until the pressure dial rises close to 11 pounds, then we start dialing back the heat. As it reaches 11 pounds the regulator weight will "jiggle" or "rock" continually. Adjust the heat until the pressure regulator weight jiggles/rocks only one to four times per minute. Never turn up the heat to the point that the regulator is constantly jiggling.

Start counting your processing time from the first jiggle/rock of the regulator weight.

To achieve the 4 rocks per minute, we have found that setting our burner just below the #3 on the dial is the sweet spot. Every stove will behave differently, you will figure out the sweet spot after just a couple times of canning.

After the 75 minutes is complete, turn the stove off -- DON'T TOUCH THE PRESSURE CANNER. (Do not move it off the burner)

Allow the pressure canner to cool for about an hour. The dial should be resting on the needle at "0" pressure. Take the regulator weight off (with a hot pad) and unfasten the cover and remove it AWAY from your face. **Our owner's manual says that once the dial reaches "0" to remove the regulator weight and the cover as a vacuum seal MAY form inside the pressure canner making it difficult to pull the cover off.

Remove the hot jars with hot pads or a handy jar gadget (we just picked one up at Wal-Mart) and place on a towel on the counter.

As the jars start to cool down, it is very satisfying to hear the lids "ping" as they seal.