We just killed and cleaned 5 older layers this morning. Can I throw them in the pressure canner and boil them down for broth?
Any suggestions?
I sorted out four old birds just before christmas ..here is what we do with the bits .
once plucked and drawn and washed out .
Debreast and de leg so all you have are carcass with the wings still on it and make stock out the carcass/ frames in the pressure cooker , we have two small 8 pint ones so we we play better .
Break the frames at the back leg area so you get two halves .
For each carcass in the pressure cooker add one teaspoon of lo salt to help developm the flavours ,one carrot , one decent sized chopped up onion , a stick of celery plus any herbs you feel like , then pressure cook for about 35 min on 15 pounds pressure .
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Strain off through a colander ,let the hot liquid cool in some pyrex bowls then refridgerate it so the chicken fat solidifies and then remove it ...( add a bit of the fat a bit each day on the dogs dinner ) .. sometimes the stock jellifies as well . Freeze the resultant stock in 2 pint bags so you can either use the stock for soups or other cooking that asks for chicken stock in the recipe like a pilaff or curries etc
Skin the breasts & complete legs then freeze them vac pack bags , use them as when needed them as needed , defrost them well some where cool ( ish ) first but not in the microwave .
Use the chicken all the livers , heart and opened up washed out crops and neck for a simple gravy stock by simmering for 1/2 hr once boiling strain off the liquid skim off the froth cool it & . freeze in 3/4 pint vac pack bags .( freeze the open bag first then vac pack and label it once frozen.
Use a fork and sctatch the flesh of the neck , cut the crop ,heart and liver into tiny bits for the cat or dog. don't use the food processor ....the crop is like leather and there will still be hard bones in the neck
Or make pate out of the livers
Pressure cooking the breasts makes good pie type fillings , chicken supreme & can be used when adding in once inch presure cooked chunks to a premade curry sauce inc a decent korma.
The skinless legs less the foot up to the knee joint are usually lightly pressure cooked and then added into a slow cooker casserole such as cock a van ( sp ? ).
When the frames have been pressure cooked for about 35 minutes let things cool naturally and when cold drain off the liquids for the stock . Now carefully pick off /out any decent sized meat and use this chopped up in chicken soups as extra meat after you have made the soup .. you can freeze it in small portions .
We use the smaller straggly bits of meat left among the bones by putting them in the liquidizer & wizzing them with 50/50 veg & chicken stock to make 1 1/2 pints then add some curry paste and more uncooked veg like a coile of cloves of garlic , chopped onions , celery , carrots and white potatoes cut into 1 inch cubes . Plus like as not 1/2 a one pound can of chopped tomatoes or half a jar of pulped ones.
We then pressure cook it for 8 minutes once you get the steam up and let it reduce naturally , add plenty of chopped fresh parsley .season with losalt & black pepper to taste & serve .
Alison often adds a small spoon of fresh cream to hers and munchkins .... I just get the golden baked baguettte as cream is off my menu ,sometimes as a whole one sometimes it's been sliced to 1 inch thick sections and oven baked till it's just light brown so it becomes big crunchy croutons.
Don't add lentils to anything you pressure cook in the hope of thickening it .. they have a tendancy to settle and stick to the bottom of the cooker and get slightly burnt.( Guess how I found out ? )
If you use lentils add then to an open pan of stuff
Topic: pressure cooker and old layers (Read 4539 times)
