I've been intrigued by the idea of canning meat, and particularly venison, for various reasons. Primarily, even with three refrigerator/freezer combos and a chest freezer, I find myself running out of freezer space fairly quickly. Additionally, there are cuts of venison that I typically save to grind for sausage, but some of the cuts (particularly shoulders) I keep for slow cooker stews, chili or tacos. There are also times that we want a quick meal that is often delayed by having to simply thaw meat in order to prepare. We were also without power for 36 hours during Harvey. Fortunately, I was able to use my Yamaha generator to cycle our various freezers, but it also convinced me that I needed a longish-term solution for extended food storage in the event of emergencies. While I'm no zombie apocalypse "prepper", I do think it prudent to be able to survive a catastrophe - whether natural or man made - for a reasonable period of time.
After I shot my Lavaca County buck earlier this month, I decided to purchase a pressure canner (as much as I wanted an All American canner, I opted for the 23 qt Presto at 1/4 the price) and can some of the meat. I used the shoulders and neck meat from that buck (in addition to some top round cuts that had been in my freezer for about a year from other deer) and canned a dozen pint jars (plus about half a quart that I had left over.) For my first attempt, I wanted to do a basic "canning", with just meat and a half teaspoon of salt for flavor. I cubed the meat, placed in the jars (with about 1" headspace), added a half teaspoon of kosher salt, and pressure canned them at about 11-12 lbs. for 75 minutes.
The result looked pretty disgusting, to be honest. But I let them cool and put them in a cabinet for a couple of weeks.
Today I decided to give it a taste. I researched a few recipes for stroganoff and decided to cook it tonight for dinner (all my girls are gone, so it's just the wife and me!) While I was preparing the noodles and the base of the stroganoff, we sampled the meat strait out of the jar. Surprisingly, it was fairly good! It was a little dry, but VERY tender and flavorful. Once the rest of the stroganoff recipe was done, I added the meat and heated it through. We ate it over wide egg noodes with some garlic toast and it was FANTASTIC! Good flavor. Tender. Rather than having to cook for a couple of hours to tenderize the meat, I was able to put the whole thing together in about 30 minutes!
Honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised at how good it was! While I anticipated that it would be "edible" (in a pinch), I wouldn't hesitate to cook this again for company or use canned venison for another meal like tacos, enchiladas, nachos, carne guisada or anything else that would normally call for braised meat cooked for an extended period. Heck, I'd eat it straight out of the jar with crackers, on a sandwich, a baked potato or any number of combinations just for a quick snack!
I'm going to can some chicken and pork (wild and domestic) and play around with canning some full recipes (chili, carne guisada, pulled pork in bbq, etc.) for a quick meal at home during the day or while camping, hunting or kayaking!
I know several folks here can meat. If you're on the fence, give it a try. I'd love to see other recipes that you use with canned meat. I'll post up more as I continue to experiment!
After I shot my Lavaca County buck earlier this month, I decided to purchase a pressure canner (as much as I wanted an All American canner, I opted for the 23 qt Presto at 1/4 the price) and can some of the meat. I used the shoulders and neck meat from that buck (in addition to some top round cuts that had been in my freezer for about a year from other deer) and canned a dozen pint jars (plus about half a quart that I had left over.) For my first attempt, I wanted to do a basic "canning", with just meat and a half teaspoon of salt for flavor. I cubed the meat, placed in the jars (with about 1" headspace), added a half teaspoon of kosher salt, and pressure canned them at about 11-12 lbs. for 75 minutes.
The result looked pretty disgusting, to be honest. But I let them cool and put them in a cabinet for a couple of weeks.
Today I decided to give it a taste. I researched a few recipes for stroganoff and decided to cook it tonight for dinner (all my girls are gone, so it's just the wife and me!) While I was preparing the noodles and the base of the stroganoff, we sampled the meat strait out of the jar. Surprisingly, it was fairly good! It was a little dry, but VERY tender and flavorful. Once the rest of the stroganoff recipe was done, I added the meat and heated it through. We ate it over wide egg noodes with some garlic toast and it was FANTASTIC! Good flavor. Tender. Rather than having to cook for a couple of hours to tenderize the meat, I was able to put the whole thing together in about 30 minutes!
Honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised at how good it was! While I anticipated that it would be "edible" (in a pinch), I wouldn't hesitate to cook this again for company or use canned venison for another meal like tacos, enchiladas, nachos, carne guisada or anything else that would normally call for braised meat cooked for an extended period. Heck, I'd eat it straight out of the jar with crackers, on a sandwich, a baked potato or any number of combinations just for a quick snack!
I'm going to can some chicken and pork (wild and domestic) and play around with canning some full recipes (chili, carne guisada, pulled pork in bbq, etc.) for a quick meal at home during the day or while camping, hunting or kayaking!
I know several folks here can meat. If you're on the fence, give it a try. I'd love to see other recipes that you use with canned meat. I'll post up more as I continue to experiment!
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