Pressure

I couldn't just stop with water bath canning apple pie filling.  I had to go bigger.  40 lbs of farm fresh chicken breasts that I got for 1.49lb, trucked in from WA State, pressure canned bigger.  I didn't own the tool I needed to accomplish this task so I did some asking around and checking online.  What I ended up with was a very basic canner that has a 5,10 or 15lb weight that is used instead of a pressure gauge.  Depending on who you talk to you will get differing opinions on the subject.  My opinion.  Stick with simple.  There is less to go wrong and it is fool proof.  Gauges can need to be calibrated and you are putting your faith in a needle.  I had the opportunity to see both in action side by side and there was much more fussing on the temp with the gage than the weight.  You will get an equal amount of people that swear by both methods though.  Whichever you end up with will be fine.  

Cutting up all that chicken was a bit on the gross side and I wasn't sure that I would ever be able to eat chicken again.  There was quite a bit of fat and nasty parts to cut off of the chicken breasts that I decided to fry up and feed to the dogs instead of throwing it away.  They were in heaven.  So, you take some nice clean jars...I did mostly pints because I think it's the perfect size for the applications it would be used for....and 4 quarts.  All you do is cut up your chicken and stuff it good into the jars.  They have a handy tool specifically for getting food packed in there tight.  Add 1/2 tsp salt for the pints and 1 tsp for the quarts, wipe the rims and put your seals on fresh out of the boiling water.   *(Now I dry canned mine meaning that I did not add water to the jars.  This has differing opinions as well.  Bottom line. You don't need it.  The chicken releases all the liquid you need and if you add more you risk boiling out and not getting a seal.  So, don't do it).  Now you can put your rings on and then place in your canner.  Mine is a 22 quart and it holds 16 pints or 7 quarts.  This means that I had to go through this process 3 times.  *(only load your jars with the amount that will fit in your canner.  Wait until you are ready for another batch to load your remaining jars).  You really need to set aside a 2 1/2 hour block per batch....because..... it takes a long time and you have to babysit it.  Add the specified amount of water ,per your canner, needs to come up to a nice temp before placing the jars in.  *(you can load jars with meat while you are waiting).  When you are all loaded up put on the lid and crank the heat to high.  When steam starts coming out of the canner you set the timer for 10 minutes.  After the 10 minutes you place on your 15 lb weight and wait  for it to start spinning....this takes awhile.  When your weight starts spinning this means you have reached your desired pounds of pressure and you can now begin the clock for canning/cooking.  It is 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts.  You also need to back off the heat until the weigh has a nice gentle rock...on my stove it is around medium.  *read your directions for your canner.  After the time is up you need to let your canner rest off the heat for about 1 hour or until the pressure has all been released before you can open it and remove your jars.

Now your house will have a highly concentrated chicken smell that will last about 2 days.  This makes me a little nervous to can some elk that we have in the freezer because I already hate the smell of elk being cooked.  It has to be done though and I know we will get a lot more use out of it if I do this.  There are so many awesome things you can do with a pressure canner.  Oh yea, and you will see 2 boxes of berries in the pic, blackberries and raspberries, I got those from a farm in OR that I needed to package up and deal with as well.  I feel like a pioneer woman and I love it! :0)