165 replies to this topic

[Darlene]

Ok here goes...we're gonna make some chicken soup to home can. I'll post my recipe that I use and Nana's recipe (those are the only 2 that I'm aware of in the forums). Feel free to use your recipe too, if you'd like.

Darlene's Chicken Soup

2 whole chickens (around 7-9 lbs)
4 T salt (I only use kosher salt in my cooking)
1 T peppercorns
1 large onion
2 large carrots
3 stalks celery
3 whole large garlic cloves
4-6 bay leaves

Fill a 16-20 quart pot with water and place both chickens inside. Bring to a boil and skim off scum that rises to top. Once the chicken ceases releasing the scum, add above listed vegetables and spices and let simmer for a few hours until chicken starts to fall apart in pot.

Remove chicken and set aside to cool. Strain broth with veggies through cheese cloth, discarding veggies, leaving a clear, rich broth.

De-bone and de-fat chicken totally, cutting into bite-sized pieces.

In separate bowls, prepare the following:

Onion - chopped
Carrots - sliced
Celery - chopped

In each pint jar, place 1/2 ounce onion, 1/2 ounce celery, 1 1/2 ounce carrots, 1 ounce cleaned chicken. In quarts, place 1/2 ounce onion, 1/2 ounce celery, 3 ounce carrots, 3 ounces cleaned chicken. Pour hot broth over veggies and chicken in jars, remove air bubbles, place lids on and place into canner, processing for:

Dial gauge canner

Pints - 75 minutes, Quarts - 90 minutes

0-2000 ft - 11 lb pressure
2001-4000 ft - 12 lb pressure
4001-6000 ft - 13 lb pressure
6001-8000 ft - 14 lb pressure

Weighted Gauge

Pints - 75 minutes, Quarts 90 minutes

0-1000 ft - 10 lb pressure
Above 1000 ft - 15 lb pressure

~~~~~

Nana's Kick Azz Chicken Soup

1 or more whole chickens
for every chicken you need -

1 large or 2 small onions (quartered is fine)
2 large carrots, peeled and cut in chunks
3 stalks of celery, cut in chunks
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut in half
2 teaspoons peppercorns
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon nutmeg [or 1/2 fresh grated nut (nutmeg- nut!)]

Thoroughly rinse chicken inside and out, and remove extra fat. Put everything in a big stock pot and cover chicken with cold water. Bring to a boil, turn down to simmer. Cook until chicken pulls away from bones easily. Remove chicken. Strain broth, cool, skim fat.

To make the soup, remove from bones and chop the chicken into bite size pieces, add to broth and heat. Adjust seasonings with garlic powder, onion powder, and Tabasco sauce. It should 'bite' your tongue but not cause you to faint!

Bring to a gentle boil and add egg noodles. This soup should be thick with chicken and noodles, almost a stew. Serve hot with saltine crackers or garlic bread.

~~~~~

[Darlene]

My recipe can be halved...I tend to make larger amounts, so halving the recipe and using just 1 chicken instead of 2 will give you the same results.

I'm going to take pictures throughout the day as the soup progresses to kinda give a visual of making a chicken soup, and at least how I do it.

To start out with, I wash my whole chicken under water, place in my stock pot and fill up with water. I turn the heat on high and wait till it comes to a full boil.

(see attached)

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[Darlene]

As soon as the pot starts to come to a boil, turn the heat down and lower to a slow simmer. This will allow the scum to rise to the top to be skimmed off, without being boiled back into the broth.

I use a mesh strainer spoon to remove the scum off the top.

(see attached)

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[Darlene]

Once the scum ceases rising to the top and I've cleaned all that out, I add my whole onion, carrots, celery, garlic, salt, peppercorns and bay leaves. The reason I use peppercorns is because ground pepper tends to fall to the bottom of the pot. When I'm ready to fill up my canning jars, the jars that are filled as the pot gets empty tend to have more ground pepper in them...there is no uniformity. By using the whole peppercorn, I get the flavor from it, and it is easily discarded when I strain my soup after simmering it a few hours.

Today, for the carrots, I just threw in 2 handfuls of baby carrots that nobody is eating around here.

As it is right now, I'll probably simmer on low heat this pot of soup for about 3 hours or so.

(see attached)

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[Darlene]

After simmering a few hours, my soup is done.

(see attachment)

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[Darlene]

I take out the chickens and place them in a collandar over a bowl to drain.

(see attached)

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[Darlene]

I line another collander with cheese cloth to strain out the veggies and stuff from the broth.

(see attached)

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[Darlene]

My finished and strained chicken broth.

(see attached)

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[Darlene]

I slice up fresh carrots and chop up fresh onions and celery to place into canning jars.

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[Dee]

Ok, I'm back from town with my ingredients. Hind quarters were on sale so I bought 10 lbs. of them instead of whole chickens....can you say cheap cheap!

I got my carrots ready this morning. Believe it or not they're the end of the carrots from last summer (05). They taste good but did need a little hair trimming! I'll use this years fresh from the garden for the actual canning.

I am ready to start but it's late enough in the day I'm waiting until tomorrow morning.

My but all your pictures look wonderful and make me terribly hungry!

[Darlene]

I de-bone and de-fat the cooked chicken and cube it.

(see attached)

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[Darlene]

Oh kewl Dee! Congrats on the sale...hind quarters work great!

I'm excited to see how your soup comes out...hopefully mine will be jarred and cooling tonight...lol

[Darlene]

Since I'm doing quart jars for processing, I put in each jar the following amounts:

3 oz cubed chicken (approximately 1/2-3/4 cup)
3 oz sliced carrots (approximately 1/2-3/4 cup)
1/2 oz chopped onion (approximately 1 heaping tablespoon)
1/2 oz chopped celery (approximately 1 heaping tablespoon)

(see attached)

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[Genoa]

Wow, Darlene, these instructions with pictures are fabulous! I am definitely going to do this. One question to make sure I'm following correctly---the carrots, onion, and celery you place in each canning jar are raw, NOT blanched or cooked, correct? Again, these step-by-step instructions, combined with the detailed pictures, are priceless. Although I've canned in the past quite a bit, it's been a number of years, and this is just what I needed to restore my confidence. Thanks!

[Darlene]

Yes, the carrots, onion and celery that I put in the jars is RAW...it cooks in the broth during the pressure canner process and is perfect when you open the jar up to serve.

I'm glad you've enjoyed the pics...I've had fun doing this. Right now everything is in the canner processing...I ran into a little glitch...I ran outta carrots and it took me forever to bribe one of the children to go get me some more...lol

[Darlene]

I skimmed off the fat from the top of the broth, filled the jars up with the chicken broth, put the lids on and placed them in the canner. I ended up with 13 quarts of chicken soup, 1 quart and 1 pint (half filled) with chicken soup broth (sometimes when someone is sick they don't want any of the meat or veggies, just broth). I stuck it all into my canner (that had about 2" of water in the bottom) and was ready to begin the processing.

(see attached)

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[Darlene]

I then put the lid on, locked it down, and turned the heat up to high. When steam started escaping out of the vent, I started the timer for 10 minutes.

(see attached)

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[Darlene]

Once the steam had been escaping out of the valve for 10 minutes, I put on my weight at 10lbs pressure and waited until it started to jiggle. Once that started, I began timing my chicken soup at 90 minutes...I currently have 56 minutes to go (it's all the children's fault, nobody would go get me more carrots lol).

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[Jewlzm]

ACK! I forgot the celery. I have everything else except the celery! Guess I wait till tomorrow. I was going to do it while my family was asleep tonight (less distractions and extra fingers helping)

Excellent pictures Dar.. play by play even

[Darlene]

Thanks jewlzm...

And here's the final product...I just took them outta the canner to cool out on the counter till tomorrow...

Aren't they PRETTY? lol

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