bottling fried chicken

[michaels4gardens]

canning fried chicken update

Been playing with a canning recipe- about got it- so --now I wanted to do it again and take pictures-- {canning fried chicken]
I have been "writing it up" to share-- here is what I have so far..
canning fried chicken
The Jarden Company representative, [manufactures Ball, and Kerr brand canning jar lids] called me back- they said the lid seals don't melt , but they begin to burn between 400 and 450,
-That means canning fried chicken [or any other meat] can now be made very safe by adding a little of the 350 degree lard/ fat it was cooked in to the jar after the hot fried chicken is put in the jar. -then the jar can be turned up side down just like "the old way". [long ago-cooked meat was routinely bottled by cooking it, bottling it, -and pouring hot fat on it ,and turning it up side down- but- it didn't have a long shelf life, and it sometimes went bad...] it was not meant to be stored for years…
In this second experiment, I heated the jars in the oven at 350 before taking them out to fill with hot fat. [That way the jars should remain stable when hot fat is poured in.] -Adding hot fat to a cold jar would probably result in a jar failure--

Back woods, bottled fried chicken, [or sausage]...
Fry the breaded, [or not breaded] chicken in lard, or coconut oil,[because crisco is so bad for you] use at least enough lard to cover most the chicken.[I had enough to cover the chicken] --fry at 300 to 350 degrees,[Lard smokes at 374] -- keep your jars in the oven at 350,- when your chicken is nice ,crispy, and brown, take your jar out of the oven, and set on a dry towel, -quickly put your fried chicken in the jar , and then pour about a quarter, to 1/2 cup [just guess, some people use a couple of tablespoons] of the hot grease in the jar,- wipe off any crumbs that are on the top of the jar with a dry cloth, -then quickly put your lid and ring on tight, , then turn the jar up side down. The 350 degree lard will scald anything living on the lid [-don't boil your lids- as a little water in 350 degree grease is explosive]. Leave the jar up side down until it cools ----I like to put enough of the fat the meat was cooked in, - in the jar to make gravy for the potatoes I plan to eat with it.
...no more soggy, pressure cooked fried chicken, or sausage ...[sausage can usually be canned in it's own fat]
canned hamburger ,no longer needs to resemble dog food, just brown it and bottle it.
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I made another batch of bottled fried chicken, -- after frying it and putting the hot fat in the jar, I put the jars back in the oven at 350 for 25 minutes --right side up -on a cookie sheet to catch the grease if a jar broke, -[ none broke] -after taking the jars out of the oven, turn them upside down until cool .- this baking at 350 for 25 minutes longer, -is an effort to achieve long term / indefinite storage --
In a couple of weeks I will open one of the jars to see what the quality is, and do a comparison to the batch that did not get baked after bottling ……
The lard was at 360 when I put the chicken in it, -it quickly dropped to 305 , then -just before I took the chicken out the temperature had come back up to 345, - the internal temperature of the chicken I tested after frying was 208 degrees,
---- I have no idea what the internal temperature of the chicken was in the jars I baked for an additional 25 minutes after bottling…
Use small chicken thighs, or cut them in half, because- they won’t fit in the jar, or reach as high an internal temperature…

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update------
problem
grease squirts out of jar sometimes after jar is inverted, when bottling boneless thighs, [steam pressure in jar]
solution
turn jars upside down for 30 seconds the scald the lid, then turn them up right for 3 minutes, then invert again
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Disclaimer..
Those of you who know me , know I am not entirely sane.
This method is definitely not approved by any governmental agency..
welcome to "the road less traveled"
Happy Trails,
--Michael

just cause i think I should [because people new to caning might not know this]

[ this method will not kill botulism if it is present inside the chicken]
A word about botulism

C. botulinum will not grow in acidic conditions (pH less than 4.6), and therefore the toxin will not be formed in acidic foods (however, a low pH will not degrade any pre-formed toxin). Combinations of low storage temperature and salt contents and/or pH are also used to prevent the growth of the bacteria or the formation of the toxin.
Though spores of C. botulinum are heat-resistant, the toxin produced by bacteria growing out of the spores under anaerobic conditions is destroyed by boiling (for example, at internal temperature greater than 85 °C [185 F] for 5 minutes or longer). – [the toxin produced by the bacteria is the deadly substance-}

That is why it is recommended that some foods [like this fried chicken] be cooked for 10 minutes before you eat them ....

The Botulism itself—
C. botulinum spores can be killed by heating to extreme temperature (120 degrees Celsius)[ = 248 F] under pressure using an autoclave or a pressure cooker at for at least 30 minutes. –
[The toxin itself can be killed by boiling, or [boiling temperatures] for 10 minutes].
The bacteria, Clostridium botulinum, form spores that can survive hours in boiling water. The good news is that these spores are easily destroyed within a reasonable time at 240°F [115 C] (the temperature reached inside a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure [Ed: below 300 metres / 1000 feet]).”
One important take-away from this is to note that regardless of the temperature / time combination that authorities are discussing, they don’t mean that the inside of your canner should reach that temperature, or that the inside of your jar reach that temperature: they mean that the coldest spot inside your jar, and right inside the pieces of food themselves at that coldest spot, should reach that temperature for the specified period of time to ensure that the resistance of the most deeply hidden botulism spore is overcome. That’s why heat penetration and circulation studies are done.

Salt
And brining, or pickling to stop botulism …
salt prevents botulism [ https://www.zoutman.com/…/preventing-botulism-pickling-salt/ ]
Thankfully the risk of contracting botulism is rather slim these days, courtesy of the addition of pickling salt to smoked cold meats and other prepared meats. The pickling salt prevents traces of the harmful botulinum toxin from developing.
In addition, the salt is also added to allow the meat to keep its taste and color. If not, there is every chance it will go grey and start looking rather unappetizing in no time. This is why it is sometimes also referred to as color salt or colorozo. And as the meat gets less temperature-sensitive because of the addition of pickling salt, it will also keep longer.

 

[Nymphadora]

I'm still very new to the world of canning, but thank you for sharing, Michael!

I've made jams and marmalade, but I have yet to venture into meats and vegetables... the meat especially makes me just a tick nervous. But this sounds delicious, so I may just have to jump in and give it a try!
:dinner:

 

[michaels4gardens]

finished product

 

[Marinea]

I have some canned sausage in my pantry, a gift from a friend. It is great. But this...next level.

 

[michaels4gardens]

I have some canned sausage in my pantry, a gift from a friend. It is great. But this...next level.

I "talked" an "older" woman who fries her sausage patties, stacks them hot, into a hot jar, and pours scalding sausage grease over the top-, screws the lid down tight and turns them up side down- she claims she eats them for a year or more ,,, [on Rebel caners face book page] She said she also does fried chicken, but didn't want to admit it until after she saw my post ... <br /><br /> __________ Wed Apr 25, 2018 4:25 am __________ <br /><br /> truth-- I probably won't be doing lots more of it, once I get it all figured out, and can make evaluations, and good notes----- it is just an experiment in doing things "the old way" and wanting to learn exactly how to do it - modern poultry [chicken] comes from big farms where disease, and dirty conditions are the norm. - we are often having recalls of meat or eggs, or even vegetables [lately people are getting sick from e-coli laden lettuce] -- This caning method will not kill the botulism germ [spore] . So, although I like the "non melted, non soggy"fried chicken, and love to experiment -I think it is a needless risk to bottle modern "store bought" chicken this way [especially to feed to my family] - and then worry about heating it enough [internal temp of 85 C [-185 F]-for 5+ minutes] to make sure no toxin survives- just in case there was some inside of the chicken-- etc. etc, ...

 

[hotzcatz]

Fascinating! I've never tried canning fried chicken. Usually when canning poultry I'd debone it and can it as fresh meat and then use the canned chicken for various recipes afterwards. It's a lot like canned tuna but chicken flavored. It'd be cooked once it was canned, so it could be used for chicken salad without further cooking.

Usually for meat, the recommendations are to use a pressure canner. Not sure about the oven method, but it sure looks interesting.

Several years ago there was a huge sale on commercially raised turkeys. It was $4.99 for up to a 16# one and $6.99 for up to a 21# one. We got quite a few of them and canned them and still have canned turkey on the shelf. The frozen turkeys were thawed, deboned and a quick stock was made from the bones. Then the meat was packed into sterile jars, the hot stock was poured over the top and they were pressure canned for the recommended times for meat. That cooked the meat during the canning process so it didn't need to be cooked prior to canning. It's a different product though, than fried chicken! Maybe next time there's too many roosters around here some of them can meet up with a canning jar. That'd probably cure crowing about as well as chicken soup.

 

[michaels4gardens]

I canned some "the old way" [just fried good and crispy, poured hot grease over it, put the lid on and inverted it-- I canned some like the first method plus heating it in the oven, - and I canned some by frying it, putting it in a jar and then processing it at 10 lbs for 90 minutes.[no liquid in the jar] I canned both bone in and boneless with all methods-- after 2 weeks I will open a jar from each group and do a comparison...

__________ Fri Apr 27, 2018 2:22 pm __________

Fascinating! I've never tried canning fried chicken. Usually when canning poultry I'd debone it and can it as fresh meat and then use the canned chicken for various recipes afterwards. It's a lot like canned tuna but chicken flavored. It'd be cooked once it was canned, so it could be used for chicken salad without further cooking.

Usually for meat, the recommendations are to use a pressure canner. Not sure about the oven method, but it sure looks interesting.

Several years ago there was a huge sale on commercially raised turkeys. It was $4.99 for up to a 16# one and $6.99 for up to a 21# one. We got quite a few of them and canned them and still have canned turkey on the shelf. The frozen turkeys were thawed, deboned and a quick stock was made from the bones. Then the meat was packed into sterile jars, the hot stock was poured over the top and they were pressure canned for the recommended times for meat. That cooked the meat during the canning process so it didn't need to be cooked prior to canning. It's a different product though, than fried chicken! Maybe next time there's too many roosters around here some of them can meet up with a canning jar. That'd probably cure crowing about as well as chicken soup.

wonderful-- I love stocking up - when done is such a good feeling -- we all work together on big projects so it is a "family chat time" as well as work.
We got 600 lbs of whole frozen chickens a few years back from a food bank that didn't know what to do with them- we pressure cooked short time- boned, then bottled the meat-- when we were done we pressure cooked the bones-- and bottled the bone broth.. -we still have about 100 qts of that we are working on... [once pressure cooked for a few hours, the bones are soft enough for rabbits and chickens to eat]

 

[hotzcatz]

600 pounds of frozen chicken is a LOT of chicken. Did you have a place to keep most of it frozen until time to process it, or was it an emergency processing? We've got the solar electric system set up so in case the grid power goes down, the freezer, refrigerator and charging station for the electronics will all still be 'live', at least, when the sun shines. That's to save any emergency processing during electrical outages.

Canning is a great way to preserve foods since it's not only long term, but not dependent on outside power sources.

 

[michaels4gardens]

600 pounds of frozen chicken is a LOT of chicken. Did you have a place to keep most of it frozen until time to process it, or was it an emergency processing? We've got the solar electric system set up so in case the grid power goes down, the freezer, refrigerator and charging station for the electronics will all still be 'live', at least, when the sun shines. That's to save any emergency processing during electrical outages.

Canning is a great way to preserve foods since it's not only long term, but not dependent on outside power sources.

"Emergency" processing situation...
We had the chicken out in the yard, under a tree with blankets and tarps over it-- actually 640 lbs frozen in brine in plastic bags, inside cardboard boxes ..
after initial quick pressure cooking and then boning it -it was processed with the "old [1930] time charts" for 15 lb , 250 degree] processing, but at almost 6000 ft my altitude adjustment made the processing pressure 19 lbs. So, all of it was processed "hot pack" [jars of meat heated to just below the boiling point in hot water bath caners] 75 minutes at 20 lbs pressure... yes,- I was in a hurry, and worked around the clock.... the picture is my "pressure compensation" by adding more weight- to the pressure regulator weight.. [ my new caner doesn't have a screw type pressure adjustment ] -- my old caner was easy-- just screw it down a little more, and process at 20 lbs... <br /><br /> __________ Tue May 08, 2018 2:42 pm __________ <br /><br /> Fried chicken update, [none of it was still crispy] the breading stayed on all of it…
All jars were still sealed after 2 weeks.
Method #1 - fried put in jars, add some hot fat, screw lid on and invert – both bone in and boneless thighs were heated in hot lard to crisp it a little and get it hot, both were tender and very palatable.

Method #2 - fried, put in jar, hot fat added, bottle inverted. Put in hot oven [350 ]for 25 minutes.
Both bone in, and boneless thighs were fried a few minutes in hot lard to crisp it, and heat it up. Both were tender and nice and very palatable. Chicken cooked in his method was not quite as good as method #1, but still very good.

Method #3 fried , put in jars, add hot fat, put lid on, pressure cook for 75 minutes at 15 lbs.
Bone in chicken was a melted and a compact mess, in the bottom of the jar. Boneless- was fairly good looking, only a little shrunken, but it was rubbery-and it got worse [more rubbery] when I fried it a few minutes to crisp it.