Canned Chicken, Hot Pack

Ingredients

Instructions

1. 1Understand before you begin that chicken is a low-acid food and must be processed in a pressure canner; a boiling-water bath is never safe for canning poultry.
2. 2Wash 4 quart jars in hot soapy water or a dishwasher and keep them hot; wash new lids and prepare them exactly as the manufacturer directs.
3. 3Remove the skin and trim excess fat from the chicken, then cut boneless meat into large chunks or leave bone-in pieces sized to fit the jars with proper headspace.
4. 4This is the hot pack method: place the chicken pieces in a pot, cover with water or broth, and simmer for about 25 to 30 minutes until the meat is about two-thirds cooked through (it should still be slightly underdone in the center, since it will finish cooking during processing); hot pack is preferred when you want firmer, less shrunken meat and a fuller jar compared with raw pack.
5. 5Remove the chicken from the cooking liquid and pack the hot pieces loosely into the hot jars, arranging bone-in pieces with the bone toward the glass, without pressing the meat down tightly.
6. 6Leave 1 1/4 inches of headspace at the top of each jar.
7. 7Ladle boiling chicken broth (from the simmering liquid or freshly made) over the chicken to cover it completely, keeping the headspace at 1 1/4 inches, and add salt only for flavor.
8. 8Use a bubble tool to work out any trapped air pockets around the chicken pieces, then recheck and correct the headspace to 1 1/4 inches if needed.
9. 9Wipe the rims of the jars completely clean of any broth or fat residue, center a lid on each, and screw the band down fingertip tight.
10. 10Load the filled jars into the pressure canner, add water as directed by the manufacturer, lock the lid, and vent steam for a full 10 minutes before pressurizing.
11. 11Process pint jars for 75 minutes and quart jars for 90 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a weighted-gauge canner up to 1,000 feet (15 pounds above 1,000 feet), or 11 pounds in a dial-gauge canner up to 2,000 feet (12 pounds from 2,001 to 4,000 feet, 13 pounds from 4,001 to 6,000 feet, 14 pounds from 6,001 to 8,000 feet).
12. 12Turn off the heat once processing is finished and let the canner depressurize naturally by itself; never use a quick-release method for poultry.
13. 13Once the gauge reads zero, wait 2 more minutes, vent any last steam slowly, wait 10 more minutes, then unlock and open the canner.
14. 14Set the jars on a towel-covered surface and let them cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours.
15. 15Confirm each lid has sealed, wipe the jars, label with the contents and date, and store in a cool, dark place for up to about 1 year.
16. 16Before eating, boil the contents hard for 10 minutes to destroy any possible botulinum toxin, and discard, without tasting, any jar with an off smell, spurting liquid, or a lid that failed to seal or is bulging.