Ptarmigan, Home-Canned

About the dish

From the chapter on butchering and preserving in "Stor kokebok" (1914). Here Erken describes home-canning ptarmigan in jars or tin cans, a common way to preserve the hunting catch before chest freezers and freezers became commonplace. The sections on labeling, storage, warming screw-top cans and caring for rubber rings show how much handwork the housewife had to put into the equipment.

How to make it

1. 1

   Prepare the birds

   Use only completely fresh ptarmigan. Sort old birds separately and ptarmigan chicks separately. Clean and wipe them well, and lard them with thin strips of fatback or pork.

2. 2

   Cook stock

   If space is tight in the jars or cans, cut off the neck and back. Brown these in butter, add boiling water and cook a stock from them.

3. 3

   Brown the ptarmigan

   Brown 2–3 ptarmigan at a time in butter and let them gently sizzle in the butter for 15 minutes.

4. 4

   Pre-cook in stock

   Transfer the birds at once to a pot with boiling stock and cook them 15–20 minutes depending on their size.

5. 5

   Fill jars or cans

   Take up the ptarmigan and place them warm in clean, warmed jars or cans. Do not fill all the way – two fingers' width from the rim is right. Pour on boiling stock until it is level with the meat, and put on the ring and lid.

6. 6

   Sterilize

   Set the jars in a canning apparatus or water bath and sterilize at 100 °C (210 °F) for 1½ hours. Cool, label and store in a dry, airy cellar without frost.

7. 7

   Serving later

   To open the cans, set screw-top cans in warm water bottom-up, so the rubber rings loosen more easily. Dip the bird pieces in farm sour cream and brown them quickly in butter. Pour the stock into the butter, add a little cream and cook the sauce down; strain it if desired. Pour a little sauce over the bird on the platter.

8. 8

   Care of the equipment

   Wash emptied cans in soda water, rub them with petroleum jelly and set them in a dry place so they do not rust. Put the rubber rings in soda water for a couple of minutes, rinse and dry them, place them on a roll of cardboard or wood and pack them in tissue paper. They keep best moist and dark – dry air, frost, fat and vinegar ruin them.