Canning Chicken Meat

[ShadyHoller]

I have also had good success canning the mystery meat. We started doing this to avoid wasting the meat that is still on the carcass after we have filleted the breasts off the carcass, and taken the leg quarters off, which we freeze in vacuum bags. Then, in order to salvage the bits of meat on the carcasses, we simmer them for a few hours. We get delicious broth (which we either can or freeze) as a by-product, and when the carcasses are done simmering, we strip the "mystery meat" off of them and pressure can it in its own broth.

The resulting canned mystery meat is very tender. We use tough old DP breeds, not CX, but it's still tender after being simmered, hand-stripped from the bone, and then pressure canned. It might be mushy if you did this with young broilers. But it makes the finest chicken salad, or chicken nicoise, I have ever had.

The other bonus is it means I can fillet the carcasses much quicker, without worrying about getting the perfect fillet, because I know whatever meat I leave on the carcass I will be able to recover in the simmering/canning stage.

The finished result is boneless breasts in the freezer, leg quarters in the freezer, canned mystery meat, lots of scrumptious broth, and chicken carcasses that have been completely stripped of any meat, with no waste.

I also run a couple cans of cleaned hearts and gizzards through the canner. Boy, does that make them tender! I use them chopped up and work them into chicken chili. Pressure canned hearts and gizzards are concentrated bits of chicken flavor.

 

[kingsfarm]

processed 6 -- 6 mo. old RIR roosters today...put into salt water brine for 2 hours...rinsed well.....now in refrigerator till monday to can ,.. please tell me specifically what to do to can these... "How to" please... have 9 more to process next week and I sure would like to have my meat NOT MUSHY... Do you season this meat at all? When? Thank you for helping.....want to learn the right way, the chickens have been skinned.....

 

[kingsfarm]

Sorry, forgot to add I do have a pressure cooker and a pressure canner.......is Sat. afternoon to mid morning Mon. long enough to REST the meat. If you pressure cook to debone how much water to add in cooker... If I understand you then add 50% more water to fill jars? Thank you... If you say to simmer instead I will do it either way.....just would not like meat to be mushy....the birds don't have much meat on them, too young I guess...

 

[Mac in Wisco]

We didn't rest the birds. They went straight from the processing table into a pot to simmer for an hour and a half to two hours. We then removed them onto baking sheets and let them cool until they were cool enough to handle to debone them. We deboned them, packed the meat into jars, and filled the jars with hot broth from the boil pot. I think our canning guide called for an inch and a half of head space, a little more than usual. We added a half teaspoon of canning salt to each jar (which you may want to skip if you've already brined them). We processed the jars for 90 minutes at 10 PSI. Of course the recommended pressure may be different depending upon your altitude.

 

[kingsfarm]

Thank you Mac.....this I will do.....Will post how it come out....

 

[Tracydr]

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Any tips on deboning the legs? I know how to debone thighs and breasts but not legs or backs.

 

[galanie]

When it's cooked like this you just pull it off with your hands.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

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Pretty much.

After it's cooked we pull the wings and legs/thighs from the carcass. The wings don't have enough on them to fool with. Just pull the meat from the leg and thigh bones. On the main part of the carcass, strip the breast meat. The only meat on the back is the two "oysters" above the hip joint. That's about it...

There are methods of boning whole uncooked chickens. I've never tried it, but many of the cooking website have tutorials. It's probably more appropriate for a broiler with lots of meat than a stewing type bird.

 

[happydog]

You know, this makes a very good closing argument for the dual purpose vs CX argument. If you are interested in having a sustainable flock, and you also can (and I hope I'm not the only one) this seems like the perfect solution.

Like others, I've debated the whole CX versus dual purpose thing back and forth. I decided to go with CX this time, but since I also plan to can my chicken (and stock) I think you've swayed me over to the DP side. I've found that my free range DP chickens get enough bugs, seeds, and weeds that I don't have to buy feed. (I have a cow and they do get plenty of clabbered milk as well.) There's nothing any easier or cheaper to raise than healthy, free range DPs. And they even reproduce for me!

Thanks for helping me clarify which direction we want to go in!

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[Mac in Wisco]

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We do both. We canned meat from the layer hens for general use, but also put up CX for roasters.