Three of our local grocery stores are running sales on turkeys this season (Piggly Wiggly, Meijers, and Pick & Save). The birds are actually lost leaders - meaning they lose money on the price, but draw you into the store where you make a minimum purchase in order to get the sale price. Thankfully, there were other things I needed anyway that met their required purchase, so I bought an eleven pound bird for only $7.00.
I pulled another bird out of the freezer from this spring and spent part of Sunday morning removing the skin and cutting up the meat to put into jars in the pressure canner. By 3:00 in the afternoon, I had processed all the readily available meat into five pint jars - three with white meat, one with dark meat, and one of turkey thighs.
When I finished with the pressure canner, I placed all the bones and remaining meat scraps into a large pot, along with carrots, onions, garlic, spring water, and seasoning to cook down into stock.
We had a retirement party to attend in the evening for the current music director for the Fond du Lac Symphonic Band, so I set the pot into our sufficiently cold back entry (uninsulated, I might add), and I'll finish that today.
Right now, I have all this canned turkey which I can easily turn into homemade turkey pot pies, turkey with the "fixings", or turkey casserole. I have another fourteen pound bird in the freezer, and I think I'm going to get one more to can. Once the stock is cooked down, I'll strain the contents of the pot, can straight stock, and then stock with the meat that fell off the bones during cooking. That will make a good starter for turkey soup this winter. I can serve it with biscuits or top it with dumplings when we're ready to use it.
The canning shelves are full in the pantry, but I'll definitely find more room as I need it.I keep repeating that the best thing I've done lately is teach myself to use a pressure canner. I get so excited about using it, and really, the goodness just keeps on coming. It's the gift that continues to give.
Tag will be back tomorrow. My sister, Di is arriving today for a few days. We're planning to be baking and canning while she's here. I wish you could at least smell the kitchen as we're working together. I think you'd love it. As that's not possible, I promise to share photos so you can see what we accomplish. See you Wednesday!
That processed turkey will be good this winter.
ReplyDeleteHave fun with your sister!
Marilyn
Hi Marilyn:
DeleteIt sure will! Thanks so much, dear. I hope you have a great week.
xoxo
Donna
It's great that you're getting such use out of your pressure cooker especially when I know how you viewed them with such trepidation at the beginning. Wish turkeys would be that cheap here!
ReplyDeleteHi MA:
DeleteI'm so glad I faced my fears! I felt so much more confident once I read up on how to use them. Sorry your birds are more expensive. I've read that Thanksgiving will be priced out of many homes, and that makes me sad. I wish everyone had a Piggly Wiggly so turkeys could be on every table. I'm sure you can count on Resident Chef to provide the perfect holiday fare for your holiday this year. I'm going to make our meal ahead of time, so when everyone is here I won't be alone in the kitchen.
xoxo
Donna
Alas no Piggly Wiggly (love that name!) or Aldi's here in Canada (at least not that I'm aware of). We're watching for a turkey sale but suspect there won't be much of a discount between here and Christmas. No room in the freezer anyway!
DeleteDonna, thank you for sharing your canning "adventures". You are definitiely a lady of many talents. If you don't mind sharing, has the canned meat been good to use. I have to admit that was new to me. I have only seen fruits and veggies canned. I have wanted to try canning and your information is definitely giving me more courage to try. Thanks from Kathy.
ReplyDeleteHi Kathy:
DeleteHandsome was nervous about the canned meat and how it would taste, too. So, before I went all in with it, he asked me to make a meal using some of my first batch of chicken breasts. I chose to make a family favorite, only using the canned version. It was a hit! In fact he said, "You can go ahead and can all the meat you want. It was great." The chicken was cut into bite-sized pieces to process, so when I want to use it, all I have to do is open the jar and add the contents to whatever dish I'm making. You can add spices (I added Mexican seasoning to one batch) and the seasoning is infused into the meat during pressure canning. The result is a tender, tasty meat that makes it's own broth. It's more tender than if I'd used the meat fresh in the same dish. It really cuts down on prep time, and frees up freezer space for other things. If you go back to my post about when I first bought the canner, I reference a cookbook for pressure canning that I swear by. It's called "The Complete Guide to Pressure Canning" by Diane Devereaux. It really gave me a lot of confidence. Plus, with pressure canning, as long as you don't add flour or rice, you can pretty much prepare the meats for end use, and that really saves time in the kitchen. I hope this helps. Thanks for asking.
xoxo
Donna
PS. I processed the turkey carcass yesterday and ended up with four and a half quarts of turkey broth. I tastes delicious, too! xo
Thank you! I definitely will revisit your post. It sounds like the meat turns out similar to slow cooking it in a crockpot so that is a good thing.
Delete