Canning meats

[Shandy]

Last year I canned my first meat. Chicken. There was lots of chicken on sale last fall and I canned as much as I could. It was a great success and I still have plenty of jars left to carry us thru the end of this year.

 

OK. So canning chicken is now one of my skills.

 

But you can get really tired of chicken if that's all you have. Our own teddy bear hit the fan this year, so we've been living entirely off my used-to-be well stocked pantry.

 

So what should I do next? I'm thinking beef. That's the next least expensive meat on the market.

 

But...yuck...I've tasted canned hamburger and it was pretty icky.

 

What do I need to know about canning beef? Should I even try pork or lamb? Or is it just too expensive?

[Stephanie]

Shandy, I don't know what kind of canned hamburger that you've tasted, but I use the Seasoned Ground Beef recipe in the Blue Book and it is delicious. In a pinch, we could barely warm it and eat it right out of the mason jar.

 

My very favorite way to do beef is the braised beef chunks made out of roasts. It is amazing how tender that meat is.

 

I have also done pork loins (cubed), they are also very good.

 

Happy Canning!

[Prickle]

Around here pork is usually less expensive than beef. I've done both.

 

I didn't care for the canned ground beef either, although it was OK in something.

 

Canned cuts of beef pretty much all come out tasting like pot roast. It's delicious though. Nice for shredded beef tacos or enchiladas, meat and gravy...etc.

 

I canned pork loin when it was on sale and it was good, although I thought it tasted a lot like the canned chicken,

 

I think my next projects will be tuna and turkey.

[Donit]

Home canned tuna is very, very good and not hard to do, once it is fileted. If anyone has questions about filleting tuna I can give the questions my best shot. I also recently learned from a "native" to my adopted state that when she was a girl one of the first things their extended family did when the ice went off the rivers was to go carp fishing. They would fill up the back end of a 1/2 ton pick up truck each weekend for two weeks and everyone canned carp. When you do it right after the ice comes off, there is apparently NO muddy taste whatsoever. She thought it was salmon until she was in her 30s. I can't wait to try this in the Spring.

 

Every year we can up a bunch of venison. If anyone you know hunts and doesn't use the meat, canned venison is marvelous food. We have lived places if you find a freshly road-killed deer you can go to the sherriff, get a special tag, and harvest the deer. Obviously one must be choosy about ones road-kill. We like to smoke wild turkey before canning. It makes great sandwich meat (like tuna salad, only turkey).

 

If you have any friends or family with land, you and your children could learn to set snares. Rabbit tastes a lot like chicken, only its free.

[Shandy]

I would love to have canned venison, but no way. All the hunters I know eat it all.

 

Canned salmon...mmmm. Canned fish is just plain good. Again, too expensive, which you wouldn't expect in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe just too expensive for me.

 

Turkey! I never thought of that! I always buy quite a few when they are on sale. I'll do some of that this year.

 

OK. So I'll try that recipe, Stephanie.If your kids like it, I can assume mine might.

 

I'm sure hoping the Father provides a half or whole beef this year. If so, then I'll try some of those cuts that you mentioned, Prickle.

 

Canning is one of my least favorite things to do. But since eating is one of my family's most favorite things to do, I've got to just "keep on swimming, keep on swimming."

[Snowmom]

 

I had never canned meats until 1999, then it was all kinds of meats. Ground beef, with onions and without, chili, spaghetti sauce, hunks of beef, pork loins, country ribs, ham, chicken and turkey. As long as you go by the Ball Blue Book, you should be fine. The meats in the jars ar soooooo good to have on hand when you need something in a hurry. Oh, also, don't forget the stew, soups and such. You can find all kinds of recipes in the book.

 

Let us know, and if you take pictures, please be sure to post them.

 

 

[etp777]

Here's another vote for the seasoned ground beef! Also, you don't have to can straight meat, can go for recipes that are actually complete meals. or at least one complete product, anyway. The goulash and beef in wine sauce recipes in ball blue book are both favorites of mine. Which is actually why I'm out of the goulash again. I've also done a mix of pork shoulder and lone roast, boneless, as that was what was on sale first time I got out canner. Pull it out of jar with a fork and it shreds as it comes out. Warm it up a bit and add bbq sauce of your choice and throw it on a bun. Only thing it's missing is a bit of pork flavor and I'd put it against any of bbq i can get in this state. course, I live in IL, so not exactly home of great bbq.

[Shandy]

Mmmm. Yummy. Thanks for these ideas!