canning beef for my first time

[Violet]

Looks really great !!! I am proud of you !

 

[cowgirl8]

Question, i took a rim off and there is broth under it. They seem sealed, bowed and ting when you thump it. Before they cooled though, i put them in the fridge just in case.. I think we'll try some tonight for supper to see if i should do more. I like the fact that all i have to do is open the jar and my meat is ready. Those roast are so big, it takes a week for us to eat one and halfway through we tire of it. I have 5 meals ready when i want it and i can make 5 different meals out of it.

[Violet]

By rim do you mean the lid or the ring ? If you left the rings on, you need to take them all off, wash all the jars in warm soapy water and store without the rings. The only purpose of the ring is to hold the lid on for processing.

If you mean under the lid, then some condensation is fine. Just as long as they are sealed, they are safe to eat since you processed for the proper time in a pressure canner at the right pressure.

 

[Christy]

Ah well done Cowgirl8.

First meat I canned were rabbits and it smelled like... meat as well. The jars are stil lsealed and doing fine.

 

How did they taste if you opened up a can today?

[cowgirl8]

Rims are off. It appeared to be fat under the rims. Did i goof up?

[CrabGrassAcres]

As long as the seals hold, it is ok. Sometimes you have some fat leaking out and it can make the seal fail. I just fed a lovely qt jar of turkey to the cat (not at one meal!) because I saw the lid was no longer tight down. The meat smelled fine so I think the rubber was holding. It had been several months since I canned it though and I would rather not take a chance. Cat was happy.

[cowgirl8]

How hard should it be to get the lid off. If it pops off easily, was it sealed good, or should it take a good pry to get it off. I'm going to keep them in the fridge and eat them within a week. I still havent opened one yet, OH is cutting hay and wont be home till dark, i wont start supper for several more hours. Or maybe i should go ahead and open it just in case it taste bad, i'll have time for plan 2.

[Prickle]

In my not very vast experience, I need a butter knife to pry the lid off on a well sealed jar.

 

 

Did you trim off the fat and leave a 1 inch head space before you processed the meat?

[cowgirl8]

Every scrap of fat......but, although i thought there was an inch, could be i should measure. I just eyeballed it.

[Violet]

I use a regular can opener, you know the one with the sharp end to puncture lids, the other prys lids off. They should have to be pried off. Normally I hear it make a noise, as air goes into the jars. If you cannot move the center of the sealed lid up and down in the center, then it should be sealed. Press in the center. Do they "pop" up and down ? If so, they are not sealed.

Some small amount of fat will be on the top of the meats in the jars. Mine is approx 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch. I just scoop that off.

The meat will be really tender, just shred apart.

If your jars are sealed and you processed them correctly, you don't need to eat them up in a week. You can keep for a year on the shelf.

Let us know how the first one is, OK ? So many new canners are afraid at first. It is fine, you will gain confidence as you go on.

 

[cowgirl8]

I opened one. It popped so i think it was sealed. And its flavor is terrific! I'm excited, i've got about 100 pounds of this roast in my freezer, i'm going to be a canning fool...........!