Canning ptarmigan

How to make it

1. 1

   Sort fresh ptarmigan, larded and ready for roasting, keeping the old ones separate from the young birds.

2. 2

   Then brown 2–3 at a time for about 10 minutes in plenty of butter, lift them out, place them in a pot of boiling stock or light brine, and boil from 10 to 20 minutes depending on their size.

3. 3

   As soon as they are cooked, pack them into cans, the old ones separate from the young birds.

4. 4

   If there are more ptarmigan than you have cans for, you need not pack them down whole, but can cut from the neck and back to the spine joint, which is boiled along in the stock pot. When the bird is then sewn or trussed well together, it takes up far less room in the can.

5. 5

   You get the most packed down when the whole back is removed, so you use only the breast, the rump and both thighs for canning, each tucked down separately along the sides of the can.

6. 6

   The cans must be carefully cleaned and warmed with steam. There must be a couple of centimetres left before the ptarmigan reach the rim of the can.

7. 7

   Then pour over the stock so it reaches only 1 cm from the rim, and a couple of spoons of cooking fat on top.

8. 8

   The cans must be completely dry around the rim before they are soldered or screwed shut. If screw-top cans are used, put the lower lid on first, then place the rubber ring between the two lids. This must beforehand have lain in soda water and several changes of hot water, and been dried on a clean cloth.

9. 9

   Finally screw the top lid on very tightly. The cans must be completely airtight, which is most easily tested by setting them bottom-up.