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.

Canning leftovers

Last week I prepared one of our family's favorite dishes, orange-roasted chicken, from a Cornish Cross we raised last year.

After the meal, I deboned the rest of the chicken...

...and gathered up all the scraps. A chicken carcass is far too useful to waste.

So into a stockpot it went. I brought it to a boil, then lowered it to a simmer.

I added about 1/4 cup of vinegar, which helps draw the nutrients from the bones.

Then I set the burner on the lowest possible gas, covered the pot, and let it simmer all night long.

In the morning it was a revolting-looking mess.

I strained out all the bones, etc.

This yielded about a gallon and a half of stock. Good rich stuff, full of nutrients!

I like to can stock in pints (rather than quarts). Because my stock is just rough-filtered, it has tiny bits of meat in it, so I used the pressure canner.

Meanwhile I also took out of the freezer some homemade teriyaki sauce.

This was left over from a neighborhood potluck meal a few months ago. Like the chicken stock, it also has bits of meat in it; so I froze it until such time as I was using the pressure canner for another meat product. This means 75 minutes at 10 lbs. pressure (adjusted for our elevation, about 12.5 lbs.).

When defrosted, it filled three jars.

When ready, everything went into the trusty canner.

By the end, I had 11 pints of stock and three pints of teriyaki sauce.

Waste not want not!

Busy busy busy

Man oh man it's been a busy day.

As usual, my morning started around 5:30 am. By 7:30 I was out feeding Samson and two cows (the cows belong to a neighbor, they're getting bred by our bull) who are in the bull pen.

Washed and hung four loads of laundry on the indoor clothes racks.

I also canned thirteen pints of pinto beans (for making refried beans).

I canned these 18 pints of chicken stock yesterday.

Don was in the shop most of the late morning and afternoon, cutting tankard sides for a production run of 150 pieces or so. He brought them in in batches of 50, and the girls taped them up, ready for gluing.

Trust me, these are intimidating piles.

It was also my turn to bring snacks for church tomorrow, so I made a quadruple batch of shortbread cookies.

We're also hosting our neighborhood potluck tomorrow, and I decided to make chicken strips. Here Younger Daughter is crushing saltine crackers into crumbs.

Three cookie sheets of chicken strips, ready to go into the freezer until tomorrow's dinner.

Meanwhile Older Daughter made pizza dough since we were planning pizza for dinner.

She also made a hearty batch of steeped iced tea.

Don glued up one of the piles of tankards.

Later I glued up another pile. We got a bit less than half the tankards glued.

The girls split watering the garden (a two-hour process) since I was so busy in the house).

Here's the risen pizza dough.

From this, we made three pizzas -- two tomato...

...and one pesto. This will provide us with breakfasts and lunches for a couple of days.

Can't forget evening chores: feeding livestock, feeding and watering chickens, topping off all water tanks.

I don't know about you, but I'm pooped. Once this glass is empty, I'm off to bed.

G'night.