Evening star., 1939-09-06

the food budget-then this latest rel
nomics of the United States De-
partment of Agriculture is right up
your alley.
It "tells air about the canning
of chicken in the home and If faith
fully followed should guide you safe
ly past those pitfalls so often en-
countered by the housewife when
she goes about putting up" meats.
The essential piece of equipment is
the steam pressure canner-it pro-
vides the only sure method for keep
ing material at the proper tenn
perature to kill the dangerous bac-
cilli that cause food poisoning. Any
thing else is definitely unsafe.
The bureau advises canning
plump 2-year-old birds. They may
even be little older, provided they
are not useful layers. Here's how
to do the canning job the way the
bureau says.
Dressing a chicken for canning
is no different than dressing it for
cooking Immediately. Take out the
lungs, kidneys and eggs-and cut
the bird into the usual-sized serving
pieces,
Next step is to classify the pieces
OF chicken into three pileS-the
meaty pieces, the bony pieces and
the giblets. Meaty pieces, which
are canned whole, are breasts,
thighs, legs and upper wing joints.
Bony pieces for making the canning
broth are backs, wings, necks and
sometimes the feet after they are
skinned. Giblets, because Of their
distinctive flavor and color, should
be canned separately.
Whether chicken Is canned with
or without its skin is a matter of
personal preference. And the bones
may be canned or not. It's better
to can bones, however, because then
the chicken has better flavor.
Also the bones help to conduct the
heat into the meat and in that way
shorten the processing time. Trim
off excess fat.
ITO make broth for the canning
liquid cover the bony pieces with
cold water, lightly salted. Simmer
until the meat is tender and drain
of the broth. Use this as is or for
a thickened broth around the
chicken, add five tablespoons OF
granulated gelatin to each quart OF
broth. Moisten the gelatin with q
little cold liquid-then dissolve it in
the hot broth. Meat stripped from
the bones Of these pieces cooked fol
broth may be canned as small
pieces or used to make sandwich
spread.
up to this point the treatment
Of chicken is the same whether il
is canned in glass jars or tin cans
The rest of the canning process i.
adapted to the kind of container.
For chicken to be packed in glas'
jars the best way to pre-cook tn,
meaty pieces is to spread them or
a rack in an uncovered pan anc
heat them in a moderate over
1850 degrees F.. Cook the piece.
for 20 to 80 minutes-or until the
red color of the raw meat is prac.
tically gone next to the bones. Sec.
ond best method is to parboil tht
chicken for to 10 minutes.
But frying is definitely out a.
method of precooking chicken
Canned fried chicken not only il
unappetizingly hard and dry, but i
also has disagreeable flavor afte,
storage.
"Pints are the most suitable siz,
glass jars. The processing tim'
needed to sterilize larger jars O.
chicken is much too long to get {
product that makes first-rate eat.
ing. Pack the hot chicken closel!
into the jars-leaving about u incl
head space between the top of th'
jar and the chicken. Add "a tea
spoon salt for each pint of meat
Add any pan drippings or broth lef
over from the precooking-then COW
er the chicken with the broth made
from the bony pieces.
Chicken packed in pint jars with
| the bones left in should be processee