# Canning BBQ shredded chicken



## Xerocles (May 1, 2020)

It's been suggested that I learn to can food. If I get a handle on my rabbit program, or I get lucky and have a successful garden, at some point I'm gonna have more food than I can use, and my freezer has only so much space.
Presently, I don't have that delimma, but I don't want to wait until "that time" to figure out what I'm doing.
I have a pressure cooker (Mirro) that holds 7 quart jars, (inherited the pot but not the knowledge). It is in "like new" condition, good gasket, inside rack, jar lifter, jiggler weight, funnel for filling, and a butt-load of Ball jars. Have lids. Got to buy new rings, cause the ones here are so rusted even though they never touch any food....they're just so rusty, no.
I have used hours studying the internet about canning. I have read the "Ball Blue Book" canning guide. I think I have a basic understanding of safe canning.
I'm ready for my first "trial run". And already I have run into a problem. I make a "pulled chicken" BBQ. I love it! Crockpot chicken overnight, shed it off the bone, dump my favorite bbq sauce on it, and mix. Up to now, I follow that with "freeze". (I make 10 lbs at a time). So I thought, this is a prime candidate for learning to can. Before an overstock of things are facing me.
Problem? Every recipe I find for any "meat canning", even shredded chicken, says fill the jar with broth or water. NO, NO, NO! I'd rather not can, than open a jar of watery bbq chicken.
If I fill the jar to within 1 inch head space with the bbq chicken (packing it well, so no air spaces) do I "HAVE" to add any liquid?


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## Xerocles (May 1, 2020)

Xerocles said:


> It's been suggested that I learn to can food. If I get a handle on my rabbit program, or I get lucky and have a successful garden, at some point I'm gonna have more food than I can use, and my freezer has only so much space.
> Presently, I don't have that delimma, but I don't want to wait until "that time" to figure out what I'm doing.
> I have a pressure cooker (Mirro) that holds 7 quart jars, (inherited the pot but not the knowledge). It is in "like new" condition, good gasket, inside rack, jar lifter, jiggler weight, funnel for filling, and a butt-load of Ball jars. Have lids. Got to buy new rings, cause the ones here are so rusted even though they never touch any food....they're just so rusty, no.
> I have used hours studying the internet about canning. I have read the "Ball Blue Book" canning guide. I think I have a basic understanding of safe canning.
> ...


P.S. If this is a "go", to quickly be followed by canning that broth. It hurts to continue dumping all that chicken broth!


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## frustratedearthmother (May 1, 2020)

I've never canned pulled chicken or pork, but I found this:








						Canning Pulled Pork Barbecue
					

A blog about canning, dehydrating, food preservation, self-sufficiency, homesteading.




					canninggranny.blogspot.com
				




I guess the other option, not your preferred one, would be to can the chicken.  When you're ready to use it drain and add bbq sauce.


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## Xerocles (May 1, 2020)

frustratedearthmother said:


> I've never canned pulled chicken or pork, but I found this:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you very much. I think "Canning Granny" covered me. Just add extra sauce or watered down sauce I just didn't know if it had to be "watery-liquidy". I did take exception to what she said about our S.C. mustard based BBQ sauce, though. ONLY BBQ sauce to use.


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## Beekissed (May 1, 2020)

Xerocles said:


> It's been suggested that I learn to can food. If I get a handle on my rabbit program, or I get lucky and have a successful garden, at some point I'm gonna have more food than I can use, and my freezer has only so much space.
> Presently, I don't have that delimma, but I don't want to wait until "that time" to figure out what I'm doing.
> I have a pressure cooker (Mirro) that holds 7 quart jars, (inherited the pot but not the knowledge). It is in "like new" condition, good gasket, inside rack, jar lifter, jiggler weight, funnel for filling, and a butt-load of Ball jars. Have lids. Got to buy new rings, cause the ones here are so rusted even though they never touch any food....they're just so rusty, no.
> I have used hours studying the internet about canning. I have read the "Ball Blue Book" canning guide. I think I have a basic understanding of safe canning.
> ...



Nope.   No worries, no matter what anyone says, one doesn't have to worry about food not coming up to an inch below the lid.  Meat shrinks as it cans when cold packed, which is what you will be doing, so expect it to have little less volume, even when packed tight.   Now, precooked meats have far less shrinkage, so you may see very little difference in the jar level.   

Sounds like you are off to a good start.   I applaud you for learning a new thing...I know a few men who can, but not many.


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## Beekissed (May 1, 2020)

Xerocles said:


> Thank you very much. I think "Canning Granny" covered me. Just add extra sauce or watered down sauce I just didn't know if it had to be "watery-liquidy". I did take exception to what she said about our S.C. mustard based BBQ sauce, though. ONLY BBQ sauce to use.



You don't have to add extra sauce or water it down.   Ignore that.


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## Xerocles (May 1, 2020)

Beekissed said:


> I applaud you for learning a new thing...I know a few men who can, but not many.


Are we still talking about canning.....or learning new things in general?


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## Xerocles (May 1, 2020)

@Beekissed. YOU have the answers I was looking for! Just for the record, the meat will be pre-cooked and not cold packed. But nice to know it doesn't have to be covered in a liquidy type sauce.


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## Beekissed (May 1, 2020)

Xerocles said:


> Are we still talking about canning.....or learning new things in general?



Both!


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## Baymule (May 1, 2020)

I can chicken in broth. I am interested to see how this does for you. I also can the broth. I use the broth in lots of cooking. For a cold or sore throat, hot broth with ginger and garlic is so good!


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## Beekissed (May 1, 2020)

I cold pack my chicken, deboned, chunked and I add a bit of water, just to create more broth.   I also can up stock from all the bones, fat, legs, etc.


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## Xerocles (May 3, 2020)

Wouldn't you know? Right on the verge of my next learning experience. The cord on my roaster burned out. It was my Grandma's. I can distinctly remember her using it to make liver pudding when I was a pre-teen. After 60+ years, it's got a right to have some problems. New cord ordered at $11.00.
I WILL still make a load of bbq chicken and attempt my canning experiment!


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## Beekissed (May 3, 2020)

Wow!   Sixty years and this is the first malfunction...wish they still made products like that today!


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## Llimi (May 6, 2020)

Oh, dear. Let’s back up a bit.
To safely pressure can foods, the food must reach a temperature of 240 degrees. When meat is being canned, it must either be put into the jar raw and plain (with without an approved liquid), or it must be put in cooked and covered with an approved liquid. There are no other choices. Raw meat makes its own liquid, so added liquid is not required but many add more liquid anyway. And liquid is necessary for the center of the meat to reach 240 degrees. If it is full of air pockets or a liquid that is too thick, the heat will not circulate.
Also, the meat must be in approved sizes, and packed into the jar correctly. Some recipes call for whole large pieces, some for chunks. Never shredded. Shredded meat packs too tightly into the jar and prevents the liquid from moving around and getting the entire contents to 240 degrees. 

Lastly, your sauce. It may or may not contain ingredients that are safe to can. There are ingredients that can not be canned, like four and cornstarch, and I don’t know if your recipe contains any of those. Again, it comes down to getting everything to 240, and some ingredients block that temperature increase. The thickness of the sauce matters, too, as some sauces can be too dense for proper heat penetration. And it may or may not taste good after being pressure canned, since some spices do not handle that amount of heat for that long very well.

All of that to say: Use the canning process to replace your crock pot step. Put your raw or cooked chicken, in chunks, into the jars. Cover with water to the correct headspace if using cooked, optional if using raw.
Process according to the Ball book for the recipe (chunks of chicken), size of jar (pints or quarts), and your altitude.
Make your BBQ sauce and freeze it.
When you want to eat your BBQ chicken, open a jar, drain the liquid, combine with the frozen BBQ sauce, and heat.


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## tonybluegoat (May 6, 2020)

Xerocles said:


> It's been suggested that I learn to can food. If I get a handle on my rabbit program, or I get lucky and have a successful garden, at some point I'm gonna have more food than I can use, and my freezer has only so much space.
> Presently, I don't have that delimma, but I don't want to wait until "that time" to figure out what I'm doing.
> I have a pressure cooker (Mirro) that holds 7 quart jars, (inherited the pot but not the knowledge). It is in "like new" condition, good gasket, inside rack, jar lifter, jiggler weight, funnel for filling, and a butt-load of Ball jars. Have lids. Got to buy new rings, cause the ones here are so rusted even though they never touch any food....they're just so rusty, no.
> I have used hours studying the internet about canning. I have read the "Ball Blue Book" canning guide. I think I have a basic understanding of safe canning.
> ...


I can at least 100 lbs of chicken per year. No broth. Do not precook. Just pack raw chicken into the jars leaving 1” of headspace and pressure can for 75 min for pints 90 min for quarts at sea level 10 lbs pressure.

I would not can bbq chicken. Just can chicken with half a teaspoon of salt. Then when you use it add bbq or put it in a soup or chicken and dumplings etc. that gives you flexibility. I only can dark meat because it’s juicier.
Here is a link to my canning posts.





__





						Life on The Blue Goat Homestead
					

They came from Dallas.  They had no experience living on a farm.  They had big dreams of "homesteading" (whatever the hell that is).  Let's see what happens.




					tonybluegoat.blogspot.com


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## tonybluegoat (May 6, 2020)

Here’s a more direct link for canning.








						Canning Chicken - What to Pay per Pound
					

In the past I have canned chicken from leg quarters (65 cents/lb, $1.43 per pint), thighs only (75 cents/lb, $1.17 per pint).  Today I am ca...




					tonybluegoat.blogspot.com


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## Beekissed (May 6, 2020)

Llimi said:


> Oh, dear. Let’s back up a bit.
> To safely pressure can foods, the food must reach a temperature of 240 degrees. When meat is being canned, it must either be put into the jar raw and plain (with without an approved liquid), or it must be put in cooked and covered with an approved liquid. There are no other choices. Raw meat makes its own liquid, so added liquid is not required but many add more liquid anyway. And liquid is necessary for the center of the meat to reach 240 degrees. If it is full of air pockets or a liquid that is too thick, the heat will not circulate.
> Also, the meat must be in approved sizes, and packed into the jar correctly. Some recipes call for whole large pieces, some for chunks. Never shredded. Shredded meat packs too tightly into the jar and prevents the liquid from moving around and getting the entire contents to 240 degrees.
> 
> ...



Yep, that's what they say.   But I can against the accepted "rules" and have done so for nigh on 45 yrs now~as have generations of women before me in this family~ and haven't had a single incident of illness from canned goods, nor has all the generations before me that have canned in that way.  We can  picked off the bone chicken, with or without broth, all the time, packed well.   Flour and cornstarch are regularly canned without incident as well, as is milk.  BBQ sauce is very safe to can and presents no safety issues. 

Meat doesn't have to be a particular particle size to be safe in the canning process at all. 

And, no, I don't feel a bit bad about recommending a practice that's been proven safe over 5 generations of my family, thousands upon thousands of jars canned.   We aren't dabblers in canning, we can up food to live on, so it's anywhere from 500-1500 jars filled each year down through the past 100 yrs. 

I've even known old Mennonite ladies who canned all their foods in giant black kettles in the yard, vegetables, fruits and meats, all in boiling water baths and had done so for generations as well.

Just because the books say it's so, doesn't mean it's necessarily the only way to can safely.  A person just needs a bit of common sense.


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## tonybluegoat (May 6, 2020)

Beekissed said:


> Yep, that's what they say.   But I can against the accepted "rules" and have done so for nigh on 45 yrs now~as have generations of women before me in this family~ and haven't had a single incident of illness from canned goods, nor has all the generations before me that have canned in that way.  We can  picked off the bone chicken, with or without broth, all the time, packed well.   Flour and cornstarch are regularly canned without incident as well, as is milk.  BBQ sauce is very safe to can and presents no safety issues.
> 
> Meat doesn't have to be a particular particle size to be safe in the canning process at all.
> 
> ...


Just FYI... the odds of having a major meteor strike on Earth in your lifetime is 1 in 1.5 million
... the odds of getting botulism in your life is 1 in 3 million. 

So, as long as you are pressure canning the meat to the prescribed time you'll be fine. Or, you might be hit by 2 meteorites. Life is full of risks.


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## Beekissed (May 6, 2020)

tonybluegoat said:


> Just FYI... the odds of having a major meteor strike on Earth in your lifetime is 1 in 1.5 million
> ... the odds of getting botulism in your life is 1 in 3 million.
> 
> So, as long as you are pressure canning the meat to the prescribed time you'll be fine. Or, you might be hit by 2 meteorites. Life is full of risks.



That's where the common sense comes in.


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## Llimi (May 6, 2020)

Or, that’s where learning the actual science comes in. The reason pressure canning exists, the temperature the various pathogens need to reach to be killed or deactivated, what it takes to get all the food to that temperature, etc.


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## frustratedearthmother (May 6, 2020)

There is the age old battle between those who've "always done it this way" and those who actually listen to the science and refuse to take risks.  What is worse is when that information is passed on as right and correct when it could put someone else at risk.  Just because you've never been hit by  lightening - doesn't mean you won't be.  But, of course, those folks are welcome to keep walking outside in the middle of a storm.


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## Mini Horses (May 6, 2020)

I sure see both approaches.  My grands did not have pressure canners, used water bath.  Yes -- risks.   Personally, I use pressure for meats.   I pack raw.   Just feel better with the process for meats.   Now, I like the convenience but, not always the texture so I also freeze.   Again -- the presence of bacteria still exists when you cook what's been frozen.  Temperature control enters again.

The BBQ chicken would be something I'd make & freeze.   Plain chicken, canned is easy to use for other dishes...& fast, just heat.

All that said  --   I drink my goat milk RAW.


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## WyoLiving (May 6, 2020)

I just use the last of my canned chicken last night for chicken enchiladas.  I can the chicken plain, then add the sauce or seasonings when i want to use it.  I am working on differnet sauces that I can "can" and have on the shelf for when I want a quick meal.  So far, I have a Cherry Bourbon BBQ sauce that I really like - it is great on pork and chicken.  Next is Sloppy Joe sauce - for homemade manwich (I am intolerant of bell peppers so the store sauces are a NO).

Are you using a Store bought BBQ sauce for your BBQ Chicken?  If so, I would make up only 1 or 2 jars for a trial run to see how it works. 

I would worry that the store bought sauce may have some ingredients that won't hold up to the pressure canning or that may produce an off flavor.  I would rather "waste" the 90 minutes and pound of chicken for just a couple of jars that turn out funky - rather than messing up 10 pounds of chicken and sauce for something that you would rather not eat.

Don't want to spend 90 minutes pressure canning just2 jars of chicken, fill the rest of the canner with jars of beans so you run a full canner.  Beans are always good to have on the shelf.


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## Ridgetop (May 6, 2020)

Barbecue sauce is easily canned.  It is mostly tomato sauce with herbs, sugar, vinegar.  The spices used are also used in pickles so taste will not differ too much.  HOWEVER, meat requires a pressure canner.  BBQ sauce and catsup can be safely canned in a water bath canner.  

Vegetables, milk, meat, fish, need the pressure canner to raise the heat to the temperature needed for low acid foods.  Fruit, tomatoes, jams, pickles, all use the water bath method since the combination of acids, sugar, and salt,are enough to keep those foods safe at lower canning temperatures.

Also, you should have the pressure gauge tested each year before the canning season to make sure that it is registering the correct pressure.  The seal should be changed every 2 years.  I also don't always follow all the rules of canning.  I used glass quart mayonnaise jars (when mayo came in glass jars) a well  Ball and Kerr jars.  Ever now and then a jar would breat in the canner - but never a mayo jar, always one of the canning brand jars.


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## Baymule (May 7, 2020)

If I haven't already done it, I want to welcome @Llimi and @tonybluegoat to the forum. Thanks for your input and I hope both of you stick around, join the fun and conversation. Check out our sister sites, www.theeasygarden.com and www.sufficientself.com Links are on the right side of the page. @tonybluegoat you are in Anderson county? We are in Smith county, so howdy neighbor.


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