Raw pack poultry

[Homemaker]

I'm planning on raw packing some chicken today. I've never done raw pack before and I have a few questions.

I looked at a few directions on line and in my canning book about canning raw chicken. There were a few important pieces of info I need before I start.

 

#1

Do I pack my cold, raw chicken into hot sterilized jars?

 

#2

Do I then take my hot jars with the cold meat in them and place them into the boiling water of my pressure canner?

 

To sum up these two questions:

Will the temperature differences between the cold meat and the hot jars and boiling canner water cause my jars to crack?

 

I don't want to ruin my meat or my jars, so I'll wait for the experts to advize me.

Maybe I'm just thinking about this too much and it really isn't a problem.

 

 

[Homemaker]

Okay, I've just been dilly-dallying around the house, waiting for an answer. I guess all of our canners are off doing something else.

What? Don't you all just sit by the computer all day waiting to help us??

 

I guess I'll get to my housework and check back later.

 

[WormGuy]

Homemaker, that the way I do it. I have not had a jar bust yet. I was concerned like you about the temperature differeneces. I would hold my breath everytime I put a jar in the canner. You can do it.

 

 

 

John

[Homemaker]

All right Wormguy,

I'm going to try it.

Thanks for assuring me that it should be okay.

Here I go! I'll report back later.

[Josephine]

My chicken was room temp when I put it in my hot-ish jars. Mainly because I had just finished cutting it up. They turned out fine with no breakage.

[Homemaker]

Well, they did just fine.

The second batch is about done.

It's so much easier to can meat separate than it is to can a complete meal-in-a-jar. Of course, I will need to be sure I have the rest of the ingredients to complete the meal when I'm ready to open it.

I won't put all of my eggs in one basket. I'll do some complete and some separate.

[WormGuy]

WTG Homemaker!! Glad it turned out good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

John

 

 

 

 

[Canned Nerd]

Interesting. Nobody has mentioned that you have to add either boiling water or broth to the chicken in the jars up to the specified headspace. Hot jar -- warm chicken pieces -- hot liquid -- hot canner.

 

 

[Josephine]

Interesting. Nobody has mentioned that you have to add either boiling water or broth to the chicken in the jars up to the specified headspace. Hot jar -- warm chicken pieces -- hot liquid -- hot canner.

 

I didn't mention it because the instructions I followed (Raw pack – Add 1 teaspoon salt per quart, if desired. Fill jars loosely with raw meat pieces, leaving 1-1/4 inch headspace. Do not add liquid), from the NCHFP, said not to.

 

[Canned Nerd]

I never noticed that before. I will have to inquire further since the Ball Blue Book says to pack with juice. I appreciate the followup.

 

[Josephine]

I never noticed that before. I will have to inquire further since the Ball Blue Book says to pack with juice. I appreciate the followup.

 

I figured it's because the raw chicken will release some juice, and if you fill the jar with extra liquid as well as the raw chicken, it will overflow.

[Michelle_3kds]

Raw pack requires no added liquid, it forms liquid as it processes. It's the pre-cooked poultry that you need to add liquid to. I always raw pack, for me it's faster. I buy boneless chick breasts on sale and just plunk them in the jars. On occasion I buy whole chickens and debone them, make the bones and trimmings into stock and then can that too.

[Stephanie]

The older edtion Blue Books also said 'no liquid'. However, the newer ones do say to add the liquid.

 

I add the hot water and the salt, with a bit of extra head space so that any juices added from the cooking chicken will not overflow. This works out fine as the chicken 'shrinks' a bit as it processes and I have never had an overflow problem.

 

I do not like the 'no liquid' method as I really enjoy having a nice amount of broth with the chicken when I open it for recipes.

[Homemaker]

Yup, the chicken made it's own juice.

It was so easy! I cubed mine up into big chunks and just stuffed them in.

[Canned Nerd]

Its an interesting contradiction to the requirement for a determined head space level to avoid leaving air in the jar. I've emailed NCHFP for possible clarification on the subject.

[SlingMama]

I didn't mention it because the instructions I followed (Raw pack – Add 1 teaspoon salt per quart, if desired. Fill jars loosely with raw meat pieces, leaving 1-1/4 inch headspace. Do not add liquid), from the NCHFP, said not to.

 

I've raw packed. Ended up with a fair amount of broth in the bottom of the jar. Real easy.

 

And I think there is another thread about this somewhere ....

 

 

 

Here are some threads:

 

http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?sh...c=29529&hl=

http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?sh...c=28883&hl=

http://mrssurvival.com/forums/index.php?sh...c=28934&hl=

 

[jayzee]

I'm so glad to see this topic - my canner arrived recently and one of my local grocery stores has chicken breasts on sale, so I was thinking of canning some tomorrow when the weather cools down. (It might be 90 degrees here today! Gotta love winter in TX )

 

Do you get about a pound per pint and 2# per quart as with beef?

 

Jen

[Homemaker]

Sorry Jayzee,

I didn't think to pay attention to how much I got in each jar. I don't even know how many pounds of meat I bought.

 

[jayzee]

I saw on one of the topics that were linked above that someone said they got about 1-1/3 pounds per quart, which sounds like a good amount for my family, so I'm going to stick with canning mostly quarts and maybe some pints.

 

I'm still a bit confused about packing with broth/water or without but will probably try out raw and see how that works out first. (edited - mistakenly wrote that I was confused about raw/hot pack - oops!)

 

Jen

[Violet]

Jen,

You can do the chicken either way, but I like broth in mine. I like to use the broth for chicken pot pie, etc. Makes the meat taste so nice.

I use broth in my beef, too. Just use boullion cubes in water is how I do it. It is fast and easy.

 

[Crazy4Canning]

I'm sorry no one was immediately here to help. I've had my dad here all day and we've been making loud noises with drills, running pipe and using smelly pipe cement.

 

When I do my chicken, my jars are hot. I put the room temp raw chicken chunks in the jars, add salt, and wipe the rims, add lids, etc. I LOVE it when it cooks in its own juice. I haven't added water or broth to date....I don't know why, I just haven't.

 

Mine have all turned out just great.

 

So happy yours did too!

[Homemaker]

No problem C4C,

I should have asked the day before I was ready to can, not after I had the meat out and cut up.

 

This method was so easy and quick. Less messy too.

 

 

[TurtleMama]

If you don't add water or broth to your jars, are you supposed to pack the chicken in quite tightly so that there's not a bunch of air on top when they've processed?

 

And one more question...isn't leaving the chicken to warm up to room temperature unsafe? I thought we were supposed to keep it good and cold so there would be limited bacteria before processing...

 

I just want to be as safe as possible. Thanks for the clarification!

[Homemaker]

I packed my meat cubes in pretty tight. I did leave about an inch at the top.

None of the raw pack directions I saw said anything about packing loosely, like you see for squash or pumpkin chunks.

I wondered about the room temp chicken also. I think that the canning process would stop any bacteria that were able to get busy in the chicken in the short time it was warming up on the counter.

When I canned mine, the chicken was still cold, and none of the jars broke. In fact, some of my cubes were still a little frosty. Boy was I worried, but it turned out.

[zoombies]

I have never canned any chicken before... was actually wondering how it tastes. Also, What kinds of recipes does canned chicken work well in? Is it possible for me to stir-fry like normal chicken?? Would appreciate any input. thanks.