Thursday, March 30, 2023

Canning turkey stock

We were nearly out of chicken and/or turkey stock in the pantry. Fortunately I had one turkey and two chicken carcasses (deboned) bagged up in the freezer. Frankly I was tired of moving the bags out of the way for months on end. Time to do something about them.

So I pulled them out and plopped the carcasses in my biggest stock pot...

...then filled it with water.

To this I also added a splash of vinegar, which helps draw the nutrients out of the bones (hence the term "bone broth").

Then I covered the pot, let it come to a boil, then turned down the heat to the lowest setting. I let it simmer all night long and most of the next day.

In the evening, I strained out the solids.

Because it was too late to can anything, I set the pot of bone broth in our "outdoor refrigerator" for the night.

In the morning, a lot of the chicken/turkey fat had risen to the surface. I scooped it out as best I could, but it was pretty mushy stuff. Also, notice how reduced in volume the stock is from cooking all night. I added extra water to make it up.

Filling the jars.

I canned the stock up in two batches, since I had more than would fit in the canner at once.

Also, since the broth has lots of meat bits in it, I pressure-canned it at 15 lbs pressure for 75 minutes, just to be safe. (The gauge shows a touch higher than 15 lbs. I was still in the adjustment phase.)

To me, that moment when all the jars are out of the canner and cooling on the counter is a moment of intense satisfaction.

When everything was cooled down, I labeled the jars and put them in the pantry.

I simply love canning.

8 comments:

  1. This is probably ridiculous of me, but I love turkey stock so much that I buy an extra turkey at the holidays to roast later in the spring JUST so I have more turkey stock thru the year. (Despite having enough chicken, rabbit, and duck stock to get along without it if I had to). Turkey stock is the BEST!
    XaLynn

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  2. that reminds me.... i have a big ol ham that needs to be dealt with.....

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  3. Those jars look very nice. Congrats

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  4. We love canning too, that is our normal Friday night activity between October and May. We love turkey and can normally get nine meals out of a turkey. Cook and eat off it twice, strip the meat off the bones and can five half-pints of meat, and break the remaining carcass in half and make soup twice. Yes we are frugal, but eat very well! Our favorite dinner is our canned turkey meat over noodles. I see you are using Tattler lids, we use them exclusively and love them. Tractorguy

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  5. Patrice, because of your enthusiasm for canning, this Saturday, April 1st, I’m going for my very first canning attempt, and I’m almost 65! It will be a class. We will be pressure canning Dilly Beans. For several months I’ve been looking for an in-person pressure canning class for for some kind of meat/stew dish, which is what I’m interested in canning. Hopefully, the Dilly Beans pressure class will give me enough confidence to try doing meat on my own, using the USDA canning book you recommended a few months ago.

    The canning center I’m taking the class at has a pretty neat history. It goes back 80 years when it was housed in a shed that canned for war time. Later on it was used for canning food for the local prison. Now, it is a 4,000 square foot facility, with air conditioning, which is a good thing since it is in Jacksonville, FL, and it will be 89 degrees on canning day!

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    1. Woot! Good for you! Keep us posted about your canning progress.

      - Patrice

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  6. I was browsing through Lehmans online catalog and saw a " dinosaur!" you were wishing for not long ago! A gas stove, with oven that doesn't require electricity to light when the power goes out! In various sizes, with and without windows, and all models on backorder. Also perfect for future canning when the power goes out. Don't you know, we sometimes search high and low for something, only to find it in some old and familiar place! I know this really goes better with your old post, but seeing pictures of your stove here is what reminded me. Hopefully it's helpful.

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    1. The company is brownstoveworksinc.com

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