Putting Food By - Janet Greene [79]
Cut off the feet. Working from the hind legs upward, work the rabbit out of its skin, easing the job with your knife where you need to. The head may be skinned, but chances are you’ll prefer to remove it with the skin when you reach it. Cut away the gall sac from the liver; trim the heart. Wash the dressed rabbit and pat it dry. Refrigerate each dressed rabbit until you are ready to can it.
If you raise rabbits for the table you’ll find it simpler to skin them as soon as they are killed and before drawing them.
Because of its anatomy, think of a rabbit as making two forequarters, two hind quarters, and a saddle. Split the saddle down the backbone as you would split the breast of a chicken, boning it if you like. The size of the rabbit has a lot to do with whether you joint the quarters.
Canning Poultry, etc., Bone In
HOT PACK (PRECOOKED), BONE IN
Put raw meaty pieces in a large pan, cover with boiling water or boiling unseasoned (chicken) broth. Cover the pan and cook the meat slowly over moderate heat on top of the stove or in a 350 F/177 C oven until Medium done. Pack hot meat with breasts preferably in the center (so skin them), surrounded by legs and thighs (unskinned, because they touch the sides of the containers).
In straight-sided jars. Pack hot meat in loosely, leaving 1 inch of headroom. (Optional: add ½ teaspoon salt to pints, 1 teaspoon salt to quarts.) Cover with boiling unseasoned cooking liquid, leaving 1 inch of headroom. Wipe jar rims carefully. Adjust lids. Pressure-process at 10 pounds (240 F/ 116 C)—pints for 65 minutes, quarts for 75 minutes. Remove jars; complete seals if using bailed jars.
• Adjustment for my altitude_________________.
In plain cans. Pack hot meat in loosely, unskinned if they touch the side of the can; leave ½ inch of headroom. (Optional: add ½ teaspoon salt to No. 303 cans, ¾ teaspoon salt to No. 401 cans.) Add boiling unseasoned cooking water to the top of the cans, leaving no headroom. Wipe can rims carefully to remove any fat. Seal. Pressure-process at 10 pounds (240 F/ 116 C)—No. 303 cans for 65 minutes, No. 401 cans for 75 minutes. Remove cans; cool quickly.
• Adjustment for my altitude_________________.
Canning Poultry, etc., without Bones
HOT PACK (PRECOOKED), WITHOUT BONES
Remove bones from good meaty pieces, but leave skin on all pieces of poultry until you’re filling the containers: then skin the ones in the center of the pack (usually breasts), leaving skin on the ones that touch the sides of jars/cans (usually legs).
Cover boned meat with boiling water or unseasoned broth and cook slowly on stove or in oven until Medium done as for Hot pack, Bone In, above.
In straight-sided jars. Pack hot boned meat loosely (with outside pieces unskinned). Leave 1 inch of headroom. (Optional: add ½ teaspoon salt to pints, 1 teaspoon to quarts.) Add boiling unseasoned broth, leaving 1 inch of headroom. Wipe jar rims carefully. Adjust lids. Pressure-process at 10 pounds (240 F/116 C)—pints for 75 minutes, quarts for 90 minutes. Remove jars; complete seals if using bailed jars.
• Adjustment for my altitude_________________.
In plain cans. Pack hot boned meat loosely, with outside pieces unskinned. Leave ½ inch of headroom. (Optional: add ½ teaspoon salt to No. 303 cans, ¾ teaspoon salt to No. 401 cans.) Add boiling unseasoned broth to the top of the cans, leaving no headroom. Wipe can rims carefully. Seal. Pressure-process at 10 pounds (240 F/116 C)—No. 303 cans for 75 minutes, No. 401 cans for 90 minutes. Remove cans; cool quickly.
• Adjustment for my altitude_________________.
Canning Poultry Giblets
Giblets are more useful if they are canned separately rather than combined in cans of poultry parts (use them chopped in gravies, meat sauces, or spreads, as fillings for main-dish pies, on rice as a supper dish, etc.). Furthermore, the livers are better and handier if they are canned separately from gizzards and hearts; and being so tender, livers need much shorter precooking before Hot packing and processing.
Pressure Canning only. Use Hot