- Season
- Available all year; a shelf-stable pantry product with no season
- Price
- Medium
- Nutrition per 100 g
- 169 kcal
- 23.7 g protein
- 6.9 g fat
- 1.5 g carbs
Turkey in Its Own Juice
Pantry staples
Turkey in Its Own Juice
Krůtí maso ve vlastní šťávě is a Czech canned meat product: chunks of turkey meat packed with salt and seasoning into a tin or glass jar, sealed and heat-sterilised, so that the meat sits in its own juices, which set to a jelly. It sits on Czech supermarket shelves next to the other meat conserves (masové konzervy), such as vepřové maso ve vlastní šťávě (pork in its own juice) and hovězí ve vlastní šťávě (beef in its own juice).
In practice
How to store
- On the counter
Unopened, store in a dry place at the temperature the label states (for example 0–28 °C for some Czech products), away from heat and direct sunlight. No refrigeration is needed before opening.
- In the fridge
Some cooks chill the unopened jar or tin before serving cold so the jelly sets firmly. After opening, move any leftovers out of an opened tin into a clean, covered container. Keep in the fridge below the temperature the label gives (often below 10 °C, ideally 0–4 °C) and eat within about 48 hours, or as the label instructs.
- In the freezer
Not needed for the unopened product. Opened leftovers can be frozen in a sealed container for a few weeks for use in cooked dishes, but freezing makes the jelly watery and the meat more fibrous once thawed. Thaw in the fridge and heat thoroughly.
How to choose
Compare the turkey percentage on the label first. A high-meat product names turkey meat (krůtí maso) as the first ingredient at 80% or more, and premium lines may state turkey breast (krůtí prsa). Products containing mechanically separated poultry meat (strojně oddělené drůbeží maso), poultry skin or added soy protein are a cheaper, softer, more uniform type. Check whether pork skin is listed if you avoid pork. Check for nitrite curing salt (E 250) if you prefer an uncured product. Allergens are shown in bold in the ingredient list. Glass jars let you see the size of the meat pieces and the amount of jelly. In a good product you see larger pink chunks rather than a fine paste. Do not buy tins that are swollen, deeply dented on a seam, rusty or leaking, or jars with a raised or loose lid. Check the minimum durability date (minimální trvanlivost), which is often around one year or more from production.
What to swap in
Best swap
Canned chicken in its own juice (kuřecí maso ve vlastní šťávě), which is made the same way and behaves almost identically in cooking.
In a pinch
Leftover roast or braised turkey or chicken, shredded and warmed in a little stock thickened with gelatine or starch. Canned pork in its own juice works in the same dishes but tastes richer and fattier.
Preparation
The contents are fully cooked and sterilised, so they can be eaten cold straight from the jar or tin, or heated. To serve warm, put the contents in a pan with a splash of water and heat gently, stirring, until the jelly melts and the meat is hot all the way through. You can also heat the opened glass jar in a water bath, without its lid. Do not heat a closed tin or jar. If you add the meat to a sauce, soup or stew, add it near the end of cooking and only heat it through, because long boiling breaks the pieces into shreds. The juice is seasoned and gelatinous, so taste before adding salt.
Don't toss it
Do not pour away the jelly. It is concentrated, seasoned meat juice that can thicken and flavour a sauce, gravy, soup, risotto or the cooking liquid for rice or potatoes. Clean glass jars can be reused for storage, and tins and jars belong in the metal and glass recycling bins.
In the kitchen
Cooking
In Czech households it is mostly used as a quick, ready-cooked meat. It can be warmed in a pan and served with boiled potatoes, rice or bread. It can be stirred into a quick sauce, ragout or risotto with onion, peas, mushrooms or paprika. It can fill pancakes or be mixed into pasta. Served cold, it can be spread on bread with mustard and pickles, which makes it a common choice for hiking, camping, travel, cottage stays and emergency pantry stocks. Because it is already cooked and sterilised, warming it through is enough, and further cooking only softens and shreds it.
Goes well with
- Boiled Potatoes
- Rice
- Pasta
- Bread
- Pickled Gherkins
- Onion
- Garlic
- Mustard
- Peas
- Caraway
- Paprika
- Mushrooms
What it is
Krůtí maso ve vlastní šťávě is a Czech canned meat product: chunks of turkey meat packed with salt and seasoning into a tin or glass jar, sealed and heat-sterilised, so that the meat sits in its own juices, which set to a jelly. It sits on Czech supermarket shelves next to the other meat conserves (masové konzervy), such as vepřové maso ve vlastní šťávě (pork in its own juice) and hovězí ve vlastní šťávě (beef in its own juice). Czech producers and brands include Hamé, Rekord (Tábor), Viva, Karlova Koruna and several smaller butchers and farm producers, and some supermarkets sell it under their own label. Typical packs are 120 g, 290–300 g and 400 g. Despite the name, recipes vary. The turkey content is stated on the label and usually falls between about 80% and 98% in better products. Common additions are pork skin (vepřové kůže), which helps the juices gel, plus drinking water, salt or nitrite curing salt, garlic, spices or spice extracts and gelling agents such as carrageenan. Cheaper lines can contain much less turkey and include mechanically separated poultry meat, poultry skin, soy or colourings. Always read the ingredient list (složení) and the stated meat percentage.
How it tastes
Mild, savoury poultry flavour with a clear salty, lightly cured note when nitrite curing salt is used. Garlic and spices such as pepper or caraway are often noticeable. Straight from the jar the meat is firm, set in a translucent jelly, and pink if nitrite curing salt has been used. Gently heated, the jelly melts into a juice and the meat becomes tender, juicy and loose. Products that use nitrite curing salt are pink rather than grey-white, with a taste closer to ham than to roast turkey.
Common questions
Is krůtí maso ve vlastní šťávě already cooked?
What is the jelly in the jar?
Does canned turkey in its own juice contain pork?
Why is the turkey meat pink?
How do I tell a good product from a cheap one?
Is it safe to eat from a dented or swollen tin?
Deep dive
3 min read
Varieties
High-meat turkey in its own juice
The standard Czech type. It contains roughly 80–98% turkey meat, with pork skin, water, salt or nitrite curing salt, garlic, spices and often carrageenan. The product is pink with larger pieces of meat in a firm jelly. It is sold in tins and in 290–300 g glass jars by brands such as Hamé and Rekord, and in versions made to Czech guild standards (České cechovní normy).
Turkey breast in its own juice
A premium variant made mainly from breast meat, at around 98% turkey in some products, with very few other ingredients.
Simple butcher or farm versions
Smaller producers often use a short ingredient list, for example turkey, pork skin, salt, pepper and ground caraway, with at least 95% turkey.
Budget meat conserves
Cheaper tinned products sold under similar names can contain much less whole turkey meat (for example under 50%), plus mechanically separated poultry meat, poultry skin, soy, thickeners and colourings. They are softer and more uniform in texture.
Related canned meats (different products)
Kuřecí maso ve vlastní šťávě (chicken), vepřové maso ve vlastní šťávě (pork) and hovězí maso ve vlastní šťávě (beef) are made the same way but are separate products. Canned meats sold abroad, such as tinned chicken breast in brine or water, are also different products. They usually contain no gelling pork skin or curing salt and are not set in jelly.
History
Canned meat in its own juice has long been a staple of Czech pantries and is linked to camping, cottage weekends and stockpiling. Several Czech brands that make it have long histories as canners. Hamé dates its food production to the 1920s, and Rekord, based in Tábor, traces its origins to 1922. No reliable documented history exists for the turkey version specifically. It appears alongside the more traditional pork and beef conserves as poultry became more widely eaten.
Science
The product is preserved by commercial sterilisation. The filled, hermetically sealed tins or jars are heated under pressure above 100 °C for a set time (the producer's sterilisation programme). This destroys spores of dangerous bacteria, including Clostridium botulinum, so the sealed product stays safe at room temperature. During heating, collagen from the meat and the added pork skin turns into gelatine. When the jar cools, the gelatine sets the released meat juices into the characteristic jelly, and carrageenan, when used, makes the jelly firmer. Where nitrite curing salt (E 250) is used, the nitrite reacts with the meat pigment myoglobin to give the stable pink colour and cured flavour. It also adds extra protection against bacterial growth. Under EU rules, the meat content must be stated as a percentage on the label, and additives are listed by function and name or E-number.
Sourcing and ethics
Labels often show the country of origin of the product, and some Czech producers stress Czech production. The origin of the turkey itself is not always stated, so if this matters to you, check the label or ask the producer. Turkey for these products comes mostly from conventional intensive poultry farming. Organic or higher-welfare versions are uncommon, so look for an EU organic logo or an explicit welfare claim if that is important to you. Many recipes contain pork skin, which matters to people who avoid pork for religious or ethical reasons. These products are not suitable for vegetarians or vegans. A long shelf life without refrigeration reduces food waste and the energy used for cold storage. Tins and glass jars can be recycled.