Bone Broth and Pressure Canning

For New Year's Dinner I made Two Roasted Chickens with Thyme Gravy from Danielle Walker's new book, Meals Made Simple.

I am always itmintanted by cooking large animals, like turkeys and chickens. But this recipe was simple. We really enjoyed it.

The recipe calls for two 4 pound roasting chickens, so it is a great recipe for feeding the masses or for stocking up on shredded chicken.

I made some bone broth from the chicken carcasses. There are lots of different recipes out there, this time I used the one from Meals Made Simple.

Basically, you through everything into the crockpot let it cook ALL NIGHT (12-14 hours). then you strain out all the bones, and other matter to leave behind a nice amber broth.

Because we still have a box of broth from Costco, and NO room for 6 pints of broth in the freezer, we decided to try canning it.

Because chicken broth is a made from meat, it MUST be canned using a pressure canner. And a few months ago I told Mr. Wonderful, that I thought, canning our own broth could and would save us money. So he got me a pressure cooker/canner.

Today, I finally used it. I have never used one before, and they scare the bejeezus out of me. I guess I have heard too many stories of the weight flying off and killing people. (Ok not really, they just make a ton of noise and, there is steam and noise. It is just scary!)

I was able to get about 6 and a half pints of broth, (I only canned 6, and put the half in the freezer). All the jars sealed and are cooling, waiting to be given a home in the basement.

For my first experience with the pressure canner, it was easy. Nerve wrecking, and completely uneventful. I think I will be pressure canning more.