Pressure Canning

I got a new pressure canner, and have been anxious to try it with some of my favorite recipes. Orange Chicken

If you’re not interested in canning it, make the chicken your preferred way, and use the sauce… It’s delicious!  (Use cornstarch to thicken sauce)

First off, if you are canning this, remember, you need a PRESSURE canner. A normal water bath canner will not get up to the temps needed to throughly kill all the bugs in the meat.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

 

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Meat:

• 4-5 lbs Boneless Skinless Chicken breast.

Sauce:

• 8 ozs Orange Marmalade
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• Orange zest (1-2 med oranges should do… Squeeze the juice in the sauce if you want)
• 2 tablespoons of green onions (optional… not an onion fan myself)
• 1/2 teaspoon minces ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon Crushed red pepper (if you like it hot…)

I add the pepper to a few jars for me, and leave the others unpeppered for the wife an kids.

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Mix all the sauce ingredients in a saucepan. Keep stirring to prevent scorching, and turn off when marmalade gets liquidous.  If your sauce is still thick add a little more vinegar, or orange juice.

Pack the jars with the raw chicken… Leave about 1 inch of headspace.  For more orange flavor, add more orange zest to the jars before packing them.

Pour the sauce mix over the chicken, and use a spatula to loosen air bubbles… this will also get the sauce moved down. You want about 1/2  inch of headspace after sauce has made it’s way into the nooks and crannies.  Use a rag to clean the rim, then add the lids, and rings.  Tighten, just barely finger tight.

Here is what it looked like:

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Processing:

Unlike high-acidity foods like tomatoes and pickles, a water bath is not enough to remove all potential bacteria from the canned goods.  Meats require higher temperatures, which is achieved by creating excess pressure in the canner.

Here are the dangers we’re dealing with.

• Enzymes – Die at about 170º – 200º
• Yeasts – 130º – 150º
• Molds - 150º – 170º
• Spores and Toxins - 150º – 170º
• Staff - 160º – 190º
• Botulism – 220º-240º

Tighten the lid on the canner, and bump the heat to high.  Leave the weight off of the vent on the lid.

We wait now until you have a steady stream of coming out of the vent, and start a timer for 10 mins.
The reason for this is, you don’t want any air in the canner, just water vapor.  Having air in the container, will prohibit the canner from reaching the needed internal temps.

After 10 mins, all the air has been purged, and you can out the weight on the vent.
The amount of pressure you need varies depending on your altitude. My instructions say:

I have a dial gauge, and am at about 1000′, so for me, I needed 11 pounds, at 75 mins (since I used pints) If you are using quarts, it’s 90 mins.

You have to be a little creative with the heat source… eventually, you will find the equilibrium.

After the processing time is complete, kill the heat, and remove the weight. Let the steam vent out. DON’T try to speed up the cooling process with water or anything. Just let the steam vent. Once all the steam is vented, wait a few more mins, then open the lid.

Let the jars cool on the counter for a few hours. You should start hearing the “popping” of the lids being sucked in. After the jars have cooled, remove the rings, and check the seals on the lids. You should be able to pick up the jar by the lid. if any of the lids didn’t seal, throw that jar in the fridge, and eat it within a few days. Don’t try to re-process it. It will just ends up as dry, nasty meat.

If done properly, canned meat should last for about 2 years.