Pressure Canning Chicken 🐔

https://busycreatingmemories.com/canned-chicken/

!LA VIVA FEO POLLO!

Translated, long live ugly chicken. I couldn’t resist. Y’all know I have been canning for little over four years now. I’ve shared Liesa Surton from Sutton Daze on YouTube. She recently did a video of Fried Rice starring Ugly Chicken.

This post is about canning chicken. YOU MUST PRESSURE CAN CHICKEN. I can’t emphasize that enough. I am aware that the Amish waterbath can chicken. They’ve been using their methods for generations. This post is for those of us who aren’t Amish and we’re not familiar with their process.

PRESSURE CANNER: I use a Presto and I call her Bertha. Like my late Grams named Bertha, my canner can do anything I need her to do. Presto is affordable and that’s what got me.

JARS: I usually take the day before I am going to can to go through my jars so I can examine them carefully. What am I looking for? And visible signs of the jar being compromised. Chips in the top of the jar, it gets set aside to be repurposed. If you see any scratches, set those aside for a different use. Chicken is hellishly expensive so don’t risk it.

TO PRE COOK OR NOT: I don’t as a general idea pre cook chicken. You can par boil it. That would be called hot packing. I prefer cold packing.

SEASON: This again is optional. Just remember that the longer the seasonings set in the jar the more intense they can get. Plus it ties you into a particular cuisine.

CHICKEN: Now we are at the star ingredient. The best advice I can give is cut it as uniformly as possible. This way every piece gets done at once. It has never failed me. There are those who can chicken in whole pieces. You know thighs with skin and bone together. I didn’t mean a whole chicken.

FILL JARS: Here’s a quick look at this process. First make sure yours are clean. Use a funnel if you can. It’ll help keep the rim free from particles. WIPE THE RIM! You still need to clean the rim. It’ll help increase the chances of a successful session.

TIME: How long should you can your chicken? Once your jiggler is doing its dance steadily, start timing pints 75 minutes or one hour and fifteen minutes. Quarts are 90 minutes or an hour and thirty minutes. DON’T RUSH YOUR CANNER TO DEPRESSURIZE! Once the process is done move your can to a back burner and go do chores. There’s nothing for you to do.

FINISH UP: Once your jars are out and you’re done set the jars somewhere they can have peace. A spot for them to cool and seal. Don’t touch them for 24 hours.

There you you go. The link above takes a detailed look at the process.

Cooking Skills We’re Going To Need

I have been watching Jon Townsends for over two years now. His cooking is simple and it’s based on 18th Century methods. Why in hell am I sharing this? Watching society has become a bit of a hobby for me the last couple of years. I am seeing us repeat history. Some actions are so verbatim that it’s scary. I am not going to get too political here because I am going to share this on multiple pages. Scratch Kitchen is meant to be a place I can relax and do what I enjoy most. Cook!

Jon uses fire and various means our great grandparents used. Dutch ovens (cast iron) for cooking and baking. He does a great job at explaining the ingredients used in the recipe, the substitute and why he’s making the substitutions. I hope y’all will enjoy Jon as much as I do. 

Caldo Gallego

https://www.cook2eatwell.com/cuban-white-bean-soup-caldo-gallego/

With everything going on in the world you’s think I would forget about Hispanic Heritage Month. Nope! Ladt year I posted a recipes from various countries. This year I can only do one but it’s a great one to cover. Caldo Gallego! It’s a white bean and ham soup. One of the most enduring recipes from the Great Depression is bean and ham soup. So let’s look at what Cuba did with it. Keep in mind that Cuban Cuisine tends to be earthy rather than spicy.

AROMATICS: This is the usual celery, carrot, onion, and garlic.

SEASONINGS: As usual you use salt, pepper, bay leaf, OREGANO and CUMIN. The Cuban version has oregano and cumin in it.

WHITE BEANS: You can use the white beans you have. If they are canned than rinse them. If they are drued than use a longer process. Soak over night. Than cook. Just to use in the soup.

MEATS: This recipe uses beef. You can use the meat you have. Brown it off. Now for the Chorizo. This recipe uses Spanish Chorizo. The difference between Spanish Chorizo and Mexican is that Mexican Chorizo is raw and extremely spicy. Oh dear God! The Spanish Chorizo is more like kielbasa in that you buy it smoked. Ham!

The soup from the Depression was ham, beans, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper. I haven’t mentioned the liquid because it’s your home use what you have. I figure it’s implied you will read the actual recipe. I am just giving you a run down.

If you make this please share your results. Did you go exactly by the recipe? If not, what did you change?

Vintage Depression Recipes

https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/vintage-recipes-from-the-1930s/?trkid=soc-TOH-Pinterest-LP&epik=dj0yJnU9blZnbEp5VnJ4MFFqQjRrZlQzS2cxTWc0UGR6ZmtWN1EmcD0wJm49UXNFSXJsdVJzRHZBRm1aUXQ2OTE1ZyZ0PUFBQUFBR05CdzhB

There were so many of these recipes that I recognized. These were foods my late parents grew up eating. Good or bad, these meals feed people across the country. Here’s what’s exciting, similar foods were eaten in Europe and Russia. Below will be ones which were familiar.

SUCCOTASH: Lima beans, tomatoes and onions. I didn’t really care for it back then. However, I do think woththe right seasonings it could be awesome.

VEGETABLE SOUP: My late mom used to make this in the winter with ground meat. Nothing particular just what we had in the freezer.

STUFFED TOMATOES: My mom loved this. There’s room for improvement. But it does have potential.

PICKLES: These pickles are easy. Make a brine and pour it over cucumber spears or however you decide to pickle them. I am sure there was lot of moms who just shoved the damn cucumber in the jar in between nursing and referring kids.

DESSETS: There was two particular ones that brought back memories. Rice pudding I ate growing up. Applesauce was another. My mom often used applesauce in the place of oil.

Unboxing Weee! Products

This is a cool site. Seriously! I can’t rave enough about it. the prices are fair and comparable to stores and sometimes even cheaper. Yeah! The meat is awesome. There’s a great selection to choose from.

https://www.sayweee.com/en/onboarding

200 Cheap Casserole Recipes

https://www.thistinybluehouse.com/cheap-casserole-recipes/

I grew up eating casseroles and hamburger helper. Which is probably why I have avoided them like the plague. Since both of my parents have past I have craved the meals I shared with them. Below I will share a few that made the list here. Amy of these would be a great freezer meal.

Pizza casserole is something I enjoyed growing up. It was pasta with sauce and cheese with ground meat. There was a taco casserole. This was a favorite because it reminded me of pizza.

Taco casserole was a favorite since it reminded me of tacos. Tortilla chips, ground meat, cream of mushroom soup and cheese. After Campbells started making nacho cheese for casseroles that was added. I do one similar with a combination of tortilla chips and flour tortilla shells. Serve with sour cream, salsa, lettuce and tomatoes. Yummy!

Tuna casserole. This is another my late mother made. I didn’t care for it. But I do now. Mom used cream of mushroom soup with French’s fried onions on top with pimientos. I’ve been meaning to make this for awhile now. Seriously! I’ve got the items needed.

The last one is cheesy broccoli rice with chicken. This is one that my mom found when I was in my teens. It was okay. Over the years we’ve found and made improvements. Such as using a different cream of soup. Perhaps added corn or carrots for a pop of color. Or beans.

Those are the casseroles I personally remember eating while I was growing up. What about you? Was there any casseroles that sparked memories?

National Center for Home Food Preservation | USDA Publications

https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html#gsc.tab=0

Here’s a really good source for information regarding food preservation at home. You don’t need a huge factory in your home. Below will be a list of things you need:

BOOKS: Yep! You need at least two printed books minimum. Above is a link to a book you can print or go to Amazon and purchase it. Honestly, it would cheap to go to Amazon to purchase the book.

CANNERS: Are you going to go all in? Are you just going to start with a basic canner? Low acid foods like proteins HAVE GOT TO BE PRESSURE CANNED! I can’t emphasize that enough. What are low acid foods? Meat, beans, veggies. High acid foods are fruits in jams, jellies, and pickles. Pickles can be any veggie. The vinegar is what makes safe for waterbath canning.

PRESSURE CANNER: This is a heavy canner. They can be used to pressure cook. However, a pressure cooker CAN’T BE USED TO PRESSURE CAN! They are two completely different pots. The Canner can reach high temperatures that a cooker can’t. Those high temperatures is what kills botulism.

WATERBATH CANNER: This is a process of bring water to a boiling temperatures that will kill of bad bacteria in high acid food. Are you ready for this: you don’t have buy a separate canner. That’s right. You can use a pressure canner as a waterbath canner. YOU CAN’T USE WATERBATH CANNING FOR PRESSURE CANNING. I understand that the Amish do this. They have been for years. I don’t know how so you may want to talk with them about that.

JARS: My favorite part. What size to buy? Depends on your family. Rule if thumb would be four or more go to quart and three or less go to pint or pint-a-half. If you can get the second size awesome. I’ll envy you. No actually, I do have a few. Half pint is for jams. And the adorable four ounce is for jelly.

BRAND: Grab what you can get. Seriously! I have used a vareity of brands. I use to be exclusive to Ball/Kerr (Bernardin in Canada) however, they cost so much and I have their quality isn’t what it use to be.

Pizza Hamburger Helper

https://dinnerthendessert.com/pepperoni-pizza-hamburger-helper/

When the hamburger helpers came out I am sure they were brilliant. However, now they are disgusting. You can’t pronounce anything in them. So let’s look at this copycat recipe.

SAUCE: You have two choices either make it or buy your favorite sauce.

MEAT: You can use your favorite meat or protein knock off.

PASTA: This recipe calls for shells. I think the curly pasta would be neat. Of course, you could use the expensive veggie pastas.

TOPPINGS: What do you like on your pizza. Put them on.

CHEESE: This recipe calls for mozzarella. Go crazy it’s your meal.

Baked Potato Bar Fall Flavors

https://www.thekitchn.com/baked-potato-bar-recipe-23421060

Here’s a great idea for potato bar Fall version. I am going to highlight the ones that stood out to me or I’ll be here all day.

TACO: ground meat seasoned for tacos. I would skip the rice because of the carbs in the potatoes. The usual suspects for tacos.

CLASSIC: The classic toppings for baked potatoes in America are bacon, cheese and sour cream.

CUBAN: This is a great idea. Take all the elements of the Cuban sandwich and put them in a potato instead of bread. If you’re not familiar with a Cuban sandwich here’s the line up. Two types of pork usually roast pork and ham. Dill pickle, mayo or mustard.

BBQ: Either chicken, pork, or beef with barbecue sauce. Some people put coleslaw on their BBQ sandwich. I don’t. I like it on the side. So have coleslaw on the side with these potatoes would be a great idea to have on the. I am thinking broccoli slaw instead of the traditional.

DESSERT: This would be the sweet potato or yam. Butter. Lots of butter y’all. Fried apples. This would be like apple pie meets sweet potato. Or pecan pie filling in the sweet potato. Oh hello!

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