American Cooking: The Great West: Recipes

Introductory Notes - Section 1 of 1 (1 )

Techniques for Home Canning

To ensure consistent results in home canning, use standard canning jars or jelly glasses with matching lids. Examine each jar or glass carefully and discard those with covers that do not fit securely and those with cracked or chipped edges. An airtight seal is essential to prevent spoilage

Wash the jars, glasses, lids, and rings in hot, soapy water and rinse them with scalding water. Place them in a large deep pot and pour in enough hot water to cover them completely. Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn off the heat and let the pot stand while you finish cooking the food that you plan to can. The jars or glasses must be hot when the food is placed in them.

(If you have a dishwasher with a sanitizing cycle, simply run the jars, glasses, lids and rings through the cycle, using your usual detergent. Leave them in the closed machine until you are ready to can.)

To prepare for sealing the glasses, grate a 4-ounce bar of paraffin into the top of a double boiler (preferably one with a pouring spout) and melt it over hot water. Do not let the paraffin get so hot that it begins to smoke; it can catch fire easily.

When the food is ready for canning; lift the jars or glasses from the pot with tongs and stand them upright on a level surface. Leave the lids and rings in the pot until you are- ready to use them. Fill and seal the jars one at a time, filling each jar to within 1/8 inch of the top and each glass to within 1/2 inch of the top. Each jar should be sealed quickly and tightly with its ring and lid.

The jelly glasses also should be sealed at once. Pour a single thin layer of hot paraffin over the surface of the jelly, making sure it covers the jelly completely and touches all sides of the glass. If air bubbles appear in the paraffin, prick them immediately with the tip of a knife. Let the paraffin cool and harden; then cover the glasses with metal lids.

NOTE: If there is not enough food to fill the last jar or glass completely, do not seal it; refrigerate and use the food as soon as possible.

How to Handle Hot Chilies

Hot peppers, or chilies, vary in piquancy-sometimes even on a single plant. The fresh red and green chilies used in recipes in this book are generally hot. (Fresh green chilies are under ripe red chilies, and taste almost the same.) Canned green chilies are mildly piquant; canned jalapeno chilies are fiery. Though most dried chilies are hot, the ancho variety is almost sweet and is used primarily to give sauces a maroon color.

The volatile oils in any of these chilies may burn your skin and make your eyes smart. Wear rubber gloves if you can, and be careful not to touch your face while, working with chilies. After handling the hot peppers, wash your hands (and the gloves) thoroughly with soap and water.

Before chopping chilies, rinse them clean and pull out the stems under cold running water. Break or cut the pods in half and brush out the seeds. The chilies may be used at once or soaked in cold salted water for an hour or so to make them less hot.

Small dried chilies should be stemmed, broken open and seeded before they are used. Dried ancho chilies should be plumped as well. Place the seeded ancho chilies in a bowl, pour in enough boiling water to cover them completely, and let them soak for at least 30 minutes. If you wish to remove the skins, slip them off with your fingers or a small knife, or put the chilies through the finest blade of a food mill.

Canned chilies should always be rinsed in cold water (to remove the brine in which they were preserved) before they are cut and seeded.