# Canning Chicken & Dumplings



## How Do I

DW made some Chicken and Dumplings yesterday and it was _the best_ I've ever had (sorry mom). Can you pressure can chicken and dumplings? Something I could eat at least once a week and I was thinking it would be nice to make up a huge batch and pressure can. So, _can_ you or not? If so, how?


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## margoC

I don't think you're supposed to can dumplings cause of the flour but you can can the chicken and make the dumplings afterwards. 

I have attempted to make some chili and stew according to teh ball instructions but I wasn't satisifed with the consistancy. I have decided, at least for me anyway, it's simpler to can the ingredients them use them to make a recipe afterwards. 

I like to use my canned venison to make venison "strogenoff". I open my venison, make gravy with the juice, then add the meat, mushrooms, sour cream, and whatever seasonings I wish to use. It's pretty easy. I've canned chicken as well, just plain chicken. I havn't used it to make dumplings yet but I think I will try that next.


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## Lucy

Sorry, no. Nothing with flour is safe to process. Also, making up your own canning recipes is one of the number one safe guidelines. 
Canning and cooking recipes are 2 totally different things. 
Basically, if you don't find it in the current Ball blue book or any of the extension books or websites, it won't be considered safe to can. 
I agree, can the chicken and use it to make your dumplings with later on.


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## oberhaslikid

I Love chicken and dumplings. I cook my chicken off the bone with onion and celery and seasonings. Then I can the chicken with broth. 
Then you can make a large batch of dumplings and freeze them.
So when you want them it takes just minutes to open the jar of chicken and bring to a boil and drop the dumplings in and cook untill they are done. 
Conveinence food.


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## Macybaby

oberhaslikid - what type of dumplings do you make? I'm looking for the type that are more like fat noodles to see how that works. I love the dumplings that I make - but they are like steamed biscuits and don't freeze well.


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## oberhaslikid

I like to use baking powder in mine. Or use a baking mix so they are more caky. LOL Is that even a word?


DUMPLINGS
Printed from COOKS.COM


2 c. Bisquick
2/3 c. milk
1 1/4 c. flour

Mix together and make a ball and roll out thin on floured wax paper. Roll thin and cut with knife. Have broth hot and boiling, drop dumplings in and lower fire and cook about 20 minutes until done. Pre-season broth, add 1 stick butter and 1 can chicken broth.


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## Lucy

You want rolled dumplings :
Rolled Dumplings

3 cups all-purpose flour 
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening 
1 cup milk or water or broth 
1 egg, slightly beaten 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
Cut shortening into flour with a pastry cutter; add remaining ingredients and mix well. 
On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness and cut into 2 x 3/4-inch strips (or a desired) with a sharp knife or pizza cutter. 
Gently drop dumplings into boiling poultry or meat broth. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. 
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
We always used broth that was cooled down some.


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## Macybaby

Since I don't buy Bisquick, I'll have to try Lucy's recipe. I think the egg will give me what I'm looking for. Got some rabbit to cook up, so I think I'll make rabbit with dumplings for supper.

Got enough smashed strawberries to make a batch of strawberry jam and another of strawberry rhubarb jam. Had to run out to get more rhubarb - I've been running around the house in my undies, and I should have put on more clothes - I thought I could move faster than the mosquitoes, but I guess not!


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## Candace

Have you frozen these before?? I canned chicken for the first time last season and it has been wonderful. This is such a great suggestion! Thanks:nanner:!!



Lucy said:


> You want rolled dumplings :
> Rolled Dumplings
> 
> 3 cups all-purpose flour
> 3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
> 1 cup milk or water or broth
> 1 egg, slightly beaten
> 1/4 teaspoon salt
> Cut shortening into flour with a pastry cutter; add remaining ingredients and mix well.
> On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness and cut into 2 x 3/4-inch strips (or a desired) with a sharp knife or pizza cutter.
> Gently drop dumplings into boiling poultry or meat broth. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
> Makes 6 to 8 servings.
> We always used broth that was cooled down some.


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## Lucy

Yes, I froze some. Was so fast to take out and just put in the broth. 
I do prefer to use broth in the dumplings instead of the milk or water. Also makes it so I can make them for my daughter. She is allergic to dairy. The mixes usually have dairy in them.


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## PlicketyCat

"stick it in the freezer" seems to be a common theme here...

So what do you do with left-overs that contain "no-no" ingredients if you don't have a fridge or freezer? 

Making a special version of a recipe without no-no ingredients just for canning is fine, if you haven't already made it or if the recipe you have for something isn't nearly impossible to make for just one meal (like chili or stew).


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## Macybaby

made Lucy's dumplings last night. Hubby thought they would be better if I made them about half as wide (3/8 instead of 3/4) I liked them wide. I made them with milk this time, going to try with broth to see if that will "lighten" them up a bit. May need to roll them thinner too. I alwasy think I have them thin enough but the plump more than I expect when cooked.

Lucy - do you cook them up and then freeze them - or cut them up and freeze them uncooked?


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## Lucy

I like them wide like that, and thick. To me those are dumplings. Too small and they are noodles. 
Freeze them raw. Put wax paper or something between layers. 

No fridge or freezer ? I have 2 refrigerators and my large freezer, then one in each fridge.


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## Macybaby

I'm going to try laying them out to freeze, and then see if I can bag them up once frozen. Figure if worst comes to worst, the chickens will get a treat. I have three chest freezers so plenty of room to put cookie sheets full of rolled dumplings on. The are medium sized freezers because I can't fit a big one down the stairs LOL!

The rabbit broth turned out excellent. I can see more "rabbit & dumplings" in the future.


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## PlicketyCat

Lucy, I'm off-grid a mile from the "road" and 3+ hours from the nearest grocery store. We do have a small DC freezer (5 cu ft), which is all the power we can spare from the battery bank at the moment. and it's usually packed tight with meat, fish and game. Our "refrigerator" is a cooler that we rotate blue-ice blocks in.

Luckily we have a free "freezer" at least 4-6 months out of the year, since it rarely gets above 0F between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day, so we can just put stuff out on the porch or in the shed and let nature take care of the rest. Comes in handy when we bring home a whole moose or bear  Just have to be sure to can, cure or smoke everything we haven't eaten before Spring.

I don't can my chicken & dumplings because the dumplings tend to get mushy and nasty, irrespective of canning health concerns. What I usually do if I'm making C&D specifically to can, is make up a dry dumpling mix, divide it into vac-packets and tape those to the jar so I can just add water to the mix and drop the batter in when I reheat.

*Plickety's Dry Dumpling Mix:*
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 Tablespoons butter powder (or shortening powder)
4 Tablespoons instant powdered milk
1 teaspoon powdered sour cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dry chives
Scant pinch of ground black pepper

Add ingredients in a large bowl and thoroughly mix. 
To prepare, add roughly 1 cup room temp water, stir/whisk until smooth. 
Makes 8-10 dumplings.

*Pints*: Divide mix into 4 equal portions (about 1/2 c), seal in zipper or vacuum bag, attach to jar. Add roughly 1/4 cup water to prepare. Makes 2-3 dumplings.

*Quarts*: Divide mix into 2 equal portions (about 1 c), seal and store as above. Add roughly 1/2 cup water to prepare. Makes 4-5 dumplings.

Cheesey Dumps variation: add 2 Tablespoons cheese powder or freeze-dried shredded cheddar and increase water slightly.

Note: if I've made C&D and have leftovers (that I won't be able to eat within 24-hrs), I'll spoon out the dumplings and can the stew as usual (100 mins @ 10 psi). That probably breaks all the canning rules since there is milk and flour in my chicken stew recipe... but it beats having to feed leftovers to the dog before they spoil.


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## Lucy

Wow ! That is off grid. Must be peaceful there. Your life sounds interesting. 
I have butter powder, but have not used it yet. I have wanted to try the sour cream powder, too. I have a lot of cheese powder stored. Thanks for sharing your recipe for the dumplings. 
Don't you love mixes ? Makes life easier, for sure. 
My storage for dried things is full. Wish I had a whole room to store all of my canned things, dried things, all my food in one place. 
If I had a colder spot that would be good for oils and things that go rancid over time. 
Do you make your own soap ? I just ordered some shampoo bars from a gal. Supposed to be better than the commerical liquid stuff. I hear it may help with hair loss, too. 
I wish I had time to do all the things I want and make more of my things. 
At least I am fitting in some quilting.


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## PlicketyCat

Dry mixes are super handy, especially for things that don't can well. I have a bunch of quart jars that contain "box meals" like mac-n-cheese, stroganoff, rice & beans, and potatoes au gratin all done up with packets of dry long-term storage ingredients and ready to just add water. I just vacuum seal in bags or jars (FoodSaver or adding a oxygen absorber and sealing). I have dry canned the dry mixes in the oven before, but they don't work as well IMO.

We have the pantry, the larder (currently just a shed outside), and will eventually have the root cellar under it. Different foods in different preps require different storage conditions, so we don't try to put *everything* in one place... plus that's a LOT of weight for 6-12 months of food!

Heat isn't normally a problem up here as long as things aren't stored near the woodstove or smack in the middle of the south yard. The pantry in the cabin is in the north corner, the freezer and "fridge" cooler on the north porch, and our food shed in the north yard (shaded by the cabin) and those rarely get above 50-60F even in the dead of summer. Freezing, on the other hand, is a major issue for all wet canned goods. Dry or frozen foods can be stored outside in the shed, but anything wet in glass jars has to be inside in the pantry or they will explode in the winter. Most wet foods in metal cans also need to be inside in winter since they get totally mushy after freezing and thawing a few times (still safe and nutritious, just gross texture, like dog food). Light exposure is also a big problem for the quality of stored foods in the summer since we have 24-hrs of daylight in June, so I normally keep things in cardboard boxes, wooden crates, or dark buckets/tubs and a curtain across my pantry shelves.

Eventually we'll dig out a root cellar since our yearly average soil temp is between 34 & 38F because of the permafrost, but we need to dig it deep and insulate the heck out of it to keep it above freezing in the winter (when it's -40 outside, the soil freezes solid about 4 feet!). Butter, cheese, eggs and fat/oils store a year or more in a root cellar at those temps without doing anything seriously special... crocks work just dandy. Even fresh milk keeps a week or so in a steel can or glass bottle.

I make lard (hog/bear) and tallow (other big critter) lye soap from rendered fat, both fresh and cleaned used after cooking. Works great and simple to do once you get over the fear of hot fat and caustic lye in a kettle. Tallow makes a great hard bar that doesn't lather (good for laundry), lard makes a slightly softer bar that lathers nicer for skin & hair IMO. We don't have to make soap frequently since one batch of leaf fat from a full-sized hog makes over a dozen bars -- at least double that from a full-size black bear. But I just normally save up all the used cooking fat in a 2 gallon lard can and make soap when it's full rather than "wasting" fresh fat on soap. It's not too hard to re-render and clean used fat so your soap doesn't reek of bacon LOL

I haven't made any veg oil soft soaps in a long time, but those are just as simple and make excellent hand soap and shampoos -- although recycling used veg oil doesn't make as nice a soap as recycled lard/tallow. It's easy to make any hard soap into a soft soap for shampoo, dishes or laundry... just grate some of the bar up and add enough hot water to dissolve it into gloop (usually 2 pt soap, 1 part water). My first endeavor after getting our goats will be milk soap!


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## Christina1078

Macybaby said:


> made Lucy's dumplings last night. Hubby thought they would be better if I made them about half as wide (3/8 instead of 3/4) I liked them wide. I made them with milk this time, going to try with broth to see if that will "lighten" them up a bit. May need to roll them thinner too. I alwasy think I have them thin enough but the plump more than I expect when cooked.
> 
> Lucy - do you cook them up and then freeze them - or cut them up and freeze them uncooked?


 Where can I find a list of NO! NO! Ingredients? Thanks in advance!


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