Saturday, December 31, 2011

Starting off the New Year right!

To start a blog, to not start a blog... that is the question.

I feel like this is the best way to share new cooking, gardening or canning ideas. For those of you who do not know me, I work for my mom & step-dad's farm/business - John Henry's Meats. They sell  Organic/All Natural meats and such while offering a home delivery service in Metro Detroit.  So of course all of my meats and some of the other items come from the farm. It's fun working for family and having access to great things to cook. We are hoping to start offering bulk organic dried goods as well and even make up meal kits for those on the go. So many of our customers ask me how do I cook certain things so I have decided to share. I may not be an expert but I know we can all learn something new from each other.

I am on a journey to find healthy meal ideas that a mom of a 3yr old and a 10 mo old can handle while working part time. I am going to try to post a different recipe or method each week.

Week #1 - Making and Canning Chicken or Turkey Stock/Broth

Shopping List:
12 + qt Stock Pot
Sea Salt
Parsley
Rosemary
Basil
Lemon Pepper
~ Pressure Cooker. This can be frozen if you do not have a pressure cooker. 
*Feel free to add in any other items, like carrots, celery, onions, garlic, etc. I usually do but this is a bare bones recipe to allow you to be creative so just use what you have in your cupboard.


 For this batch I used John Henry's Meats'  turkey backs about 3-4 lbs

*You can use any other turkey or chicken parts if backs are not available. It is recommended that the more bones the better so I would choose wings or drumsticks if possible. I know chicken feet are very good as well but I haven't tried that yet.

Place turkey backs in pot and fill with water (almost to the top) and 2 Tablespoons of each of the seasonings.
  


Simmer for 6-8 hours, you may want to add more salt to taste. Broth will decrease by about 1/3.

 Drain broth through a thin towel or cheese cloth.
* I place a colander in my sink lined with the cloth. Put a big bowl underneath, and slowly dump pot into colander.
 
Cool broth until fat solidifies, then skim it off. ( I usually end up with very little fat). Bring broth back to a boil and prepare to transfer to jars. I prefer to use pints because most of my recipes call for 2 cups. Ladle hot broth into hot jars, leave 1" headspace. Adjust two-piece lids.

 Place into pressure cooker
 Process Pints 20 minutes and Quarts 25 minutes, at 10 pounds of pressure.

4 comments:

  1. I've got a question for you (I always do!) ....what size pressure cooker would you recommend for canning?

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  2. Hi Jessica, Mine is a 22qt. Mirro. I didn't realize they had so many sizes until I thought about buying one. My grandma actually found mine at a garage sale about a year ago, it was $20 and like brand new :-) Summer is coming so be on the look out!

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