What are you canning now?

[ducks4you]

Well, I was cooking the carcasses to make broth so it didn't matter HOW the chicken turned out because it was going back out to the coop anyway.
But what I do is to quarter a big onion, peel and chop several carrots into 3rds, add a handful of garlic cloves, a bayleaf, a handful of dehydrated celery bits, a bit of salt & pepper, and a bit of any other herbs that strike my fancy at the moment and the carcasses into my biggest crockpot. Cover with water and set on low for 24hrs or so. Every now and then I poke it with a big wooden spoon to break up the ribs/backs and give it a stir. By the time it's done, the bones are so brittle that they just crumble. I dip everything out of the crock pot and strain it into a big mixing bowl to cool some while I set up the canner and wash jars. This lets me be able to skim off a good bit of fat before putting into the jars. I usually skim a bit more fat once it's in the jars. What was caught in the strainer is a nasty looking wad of mushy meat & veggies and crumbled bone bits. The chickens are THRILLED with the protein treat the next day. Then I just process the jars by the recipe.
You COULD do this with the carcass of a single roasted bird and then freeze in quart bags for later use. Would make amazing rice or mashed potatoes or soup or chicken and dumplings or.......

I wouldn't try to cook a whole chicken in the crock and expect it to turn out like a roasted bird. Crocks are best at cooking something at low heat and high moisture for the purpose of making it 'fall off the bone' tender.

I like the idea of using the leftovers but I'm not sure about feeding it to the chickens. The cats and dog however would call me a goddess if I gave them such a treat!

 

[flowerbug]

@ducks4you

i'd adore you for life if you made me punkin custard often. i don't need a crust or whipped cream on top. i'm a simple guy that ways...

stories have it that i climbed the cupboards as a baby because Mom had made two punkin pies and left them on the counter to cool. she found me sitting there later having enjoyed myself eating them up. i can believe it. i wish i had pictures...

 

[flowerbug]

I like the idea of using the leftovers but I'm not sure about feeding it to the chickens. The cats and dog however would call me a goddess if I gave them such a treat!

if it is thoroughly cooked i can't see why it would be much of an issue.

 

[Ridgerunner]

ROOSTERS!
This past Saturday was the long-awaited, scheduled day for my neighbor and I to 'clean out' our coops. This Saturday was also 28degrees!!! After some debate, we decided to limit it to only the ones that "HAD TO GO!". We did the actual killing out near the barn as usual, then transported them to the back porch and skinned/gutted in my kitchen. I was skeptical how this was going to work but all in all it wasn't TOO bad. After they were all in coolers we went to get some lunch. When we walked back in the house I stopped and said "OH MY GAWD!!! It smells like a giant chicken fart in here!" I got 3 diffusers going and the stink was gone by Sunday morning.
... or maybe it was just replaced by the smell of 2 crock pots going with 4.5 gallons of rich broth cooking in them!
Ended up with 9 pints of meat and 18 pints broth. WHEEEeeeeeee

This was yesterday. I still need to remove the rings and wash the jars before they go in the pantry. This was 18 pints that were pressure canned. I have two more pints in the fridge that will need to be used in the next few days. My canner can only handle 18 pints. I plan to put five more chickens in the freezer tomorrow. I was wanting to do them last week but life and weather got in the way. Maybe tomorrow.

When I butcher I cut them into serving pieces and freeze those that way. I freeze various parts that will eventually become broth. The surviving chickens get some parts, the dogs get the livers, and what's left is buried in the garden. Not much goes to waste.

I cook the broth for about 20 hours in a crock pot, pretty much using your recipe. When it's done I strain out the chunks and use a fat separator to defat it. That defatting is my critical path schedule on canning day. I can get everything else done that needs to be done while that is going through the defatter. I run the pint jars through the dishwasher.

When I strain the chunks out I pick the meat chunks out. There are a lot of small bones in it an yes it has cooked off the bone for a large part. You have to be careful picking that meat to avoid the small bones. I use that meat mostly in chicken sandwiches for my lunch but it sometimes goes in spaghetti and quite often soup. It's nothing like the fried chicken you get at KFC but it is extremely tender and flavorful.

I toss the larger bones in the garbage for the landfill, they take several seasons to break down in the compost. Sometimes I save the debris, veggies and herbs mostly, to use in my live traps for rats, possum, skunks,and raccoons. Sometimes I feed that debris back to the chickens. Sometimes I feed some of the animals I trap back to the chickens. As I said not much goes to waste.

I do not feed the cooked chicken bones to the dogs. Uncooked chicken bones are fine but cooked chicken bones can splinter inside them and cause serious injury.

 

[digitS']

Somehow ..

. i think that @flowerbug didn't join us through Backyard Chickens .

I was a vegetarian for a few years but continued eating eggs, fish and dairy products. (There is a name for this dietary habit but I couldn't begin to pronounce it .) Taking responsibility for the butchering was what I had problems with, after decades of doing it. Lately, I'm right back to leaving it all to others and i feel like i'm shirking responsibility. So ... I'm likely to get back to the backyard chicken keeping again. I just won't name anything!!

Any kind of vegetarianism isn't really possible with DW around and that's okay. I respect her ... I try to keep the both of us away from too much fat and oriented to a healthier diet. Honestly, I doubt if there was a single vegan in my ancestry going back to Homo erectus. I'm not taking responsibility for all of them but they better take some responsibility for me!

Steve

 

[flowerbug]

@digitS' yes, you would be correct...

i got here via russ aka @Bluejay77 's bean collection web page.

i'm not a vegetarian or vegan now, but i was for several years in the late 80s. we have meat here a few times a week on average, but more often than not we have it "out" unless we're cooking up a big batch for the people that Mom feeds once a month (she brings them food). then we freeze some for us too. reheat in the microwave and i'm good.

 

[Nyboy]

is it possible to cook chicken in crock pot and not have it turn to mush. It is a texture thing, can crock pot chicken cook firm ?

 

[canesisters]

Is this the pressure canner they go into? Just want to make sure.

Mary

Yep. I pressure can everything.

if it is thoroughly cooked i can't see why it would be much of an issue.

I figure the cats and dogs get plenty of treats and protein. This time of year, it's a real boost for the chickens.

 

[Ridgerunner]

is it possible to cook chicken in crock pot and not have it turn to mush. It is a texture thing, can crock pot chicken cook firm ?

Alex, It will not have the texture you seem to want.

 

[Ridgerunner]

i admire anyone who can do this, but it is not something i can do.

i have to wash a pan three times before the smell from meat cooking doesn't turn my stomach (if you've ever been a vegetarian you know what i'm talking about).

we mostly do not cook meat here at all these days so when we do it is noticed.

that funk you smell... my earliest memories from when Dad went duck hunting and brought back hundreds of them with all his friends and they'd sit around, get drunk and clean ducks. feathers all over, smell, etc.

all these many years later i can now think that all those goodies would make for some wonderful garden soil eventually.

how many chickens do you have now?

I understand about the fresh meat smell. I've never been a vegetarian but I still can smell a certain aroma when I butcher chickens. The clothing I wear for that never come in the house until I'm ready to wash them. I rinse parts of the kitchen with a bleach solution after I package them for the freezer. The shower afterwards is a good feeling. I even wash my glasses, frames and all, when I'm finished.