Pressure canning meats

How do you gain confidence when pressure canning meats and such , I did Pinto beans as my 1st try a couple months ago they seem sealed and look good - Ate my 1st quart rite after and they were delicious , want to dive into my others but scared lol

We can check salinity and PH if you test the PH will it confirm its good if it's proper PH ? ,

Does proper reheating kill it off if its there . I'm aware of smell and mold but the invisible things are what gets you .

I've been doing it for years. Every kind of meat you can imagine.

Just follow these simple rules:
1) when your jars are full, wet a paper towel with white vinegar, and go around the rims of the jars a couple times each. This removes grease/fat, so you get a proper seal. (even if you are using a funnel, do it)
2) 70 minutes for pints at 10 lbs, 90 for quarts.
3) Always start the timer, only when the gauge is rattling (or up to pressure with a number gauge)

DO NOT touch the jars for at least 12 hours (Only removing them from the cooker with the tongs, when the pressure is completely gone, to set them on the counter if you choose.) That way you don't accidentally cause a lid to seal.
After 12 hours touch all the lids. If any still push in with pressure (weren't already down), Eat that jar soon, put it in the fridge.
Always look for rust on lid before opening. Make sure it is still sealed.
I have done beef stew and had it on the shelf for 3 years. Still tasted great.
It boils down to learning to trust your process, and yourself. It takes a while, but so worth it, to have full shelves.
Making beef and noodles with canned beef is awesome. So tender!

I would add to get your pressure gage checked by your county extension office to make sure it's reading accurately, and make any necessary altitude adjustments for your area.

Boiling pressure cannded food in an open pot for ten minutes will kill any botulinum toxin; FDA says five minutres, but I was taught by my grandma in the 50's so I'm stuck in 'old school' tech. lol

a reply to: chiefsmom

Do you actually cook the meat or food in the jars? I know nothing about canning foods, except for stuff like freezer jams.

originally posted by: rickymouse
a reply to: chiefsmom

Do you actually cook the meat or food in the jars? I know nothing about canning foods, except for stuff like freezer jams.

Kinda of you have to go by the ball recipes book , Like My Pinto beans needed to be soaked overnight then boiled 30 min then put into the jars leaving 1 inch head space , I did quarts and my elevation is 1027 so I did a 15 pound weight ,

Started my 90 min timer once the weight started to jiggle - I made sure there was enough water to last the whole process at least 3 inches of jar -"I did more" about halfway up the jars .

It's a old thing but it's science I guess . Rings on the lids do finger tight and remove once everything cools down . I really want to be confident in my work pressure canning is not like water bathing .

I've not done meat "meat" yet I would love to do my chili and not waste it anymore hopefully some experts will chime in .

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher

originally posted by: rickymouse
a reply to: chiefsmom

Do you actually cook the meat or food in the jars? I know nothing about canning foods, except for stuff like freezer jams.

Kinda of you have to go by the ball recipes book , Like My Pinto beans needed to be soaked overnight then boiled 30 min then put into the jars leaving 1 inch head space , I did quarts and my elevation is 1027 so I did a 15 pound weight ,

Started my 90 min timer once the weight started to jiggle - I made sure there was enough water to last the whole process at least 3 inches of jar -"I did more" about halfway up the jars .

It's a old thing but it's science I guess . Rings on the lids do finger tight and remove once everything cools down . I really want to be confident in my work pressure canning is not like water bathing .

I've not done meat "meat" yet I would love to do my chili and not waste it anymore hopefully some experts will chime in .

We send away for twenty eight ounces of canned Beef, Chicken, and Turkey from a company about every two years. It is really good meat. We get about two cases of twelve cans to keep in stock. It contains meat and salt. It is cooked in the cans somehow. It lasts four to five years from the date of canning and is good right up to four years.

The kids like that canned meat, they work and it is really good tasting and their time is more limited. I also give beef for Christmas to the kids and grandkids and my brothers family...get half a grass fed organic beef every year. I do have plenty of salt to treat most of the meat with if the power goes out for a long period, plus lots of canning jars and lids if needed, enough to can a couple hundred pounds of meat for sure if needed. We get our cow in late November to december, it is below freezing out here most of the winter, so it is easy to relocate the freezers out to a cold garage if I have to. Although, because the temperature is above zero F in the garage, the meat will not keep for sixteen months, I keep our freezers at five to ten below zero F

a reply to: rickymouse

I think these are things that needs to be taught in school when we are Kids , The times today no telling when we will have to fend for ourselves , I love fluffy bunny rabbits and chickens but there might be a time I need to harvest them and preserve them .

originally posted by: Ravenwatcher
a reply to: rickymouse

I think these are things that needs to be taught in school when we are Kids , The times today no telling when we will have to fend for ourselves , I love fluffy bunny rabbits and chickens but there might be a time I need to harvest them and preserve them .

My parents and uncles and aunts canned veggies, but nobody canned meats. I guess since we were all hunters and fishermen, we knew we could get our meats if needed. Bullets were always stocked and rotated in our whole family, old bullets would be used for target practice. But my fathers side of the family were the ones I hunted with and all were really good at hunting, some people cannot hit a rabbit if it is two feet away.

I do not have any boats anymore, gave the last of my three boats and canoe away a few months ago. I could have sold them but chose to give them to friends and relatives instead. If I need to go fishing, they will still be in the family.

I did learn how to do freezer jam when I was young and have been doing freezer jam sporatically for my whole life. But the last time I was involved in canning beans or veggies was about fifty five years ago, I was about thirteen then. I did more of the picking of the veggies on the farm. We salted fish and sometimes corned some beef, I have still done that on occasion although, I no longer have good crocks, they are used for my kindling by the woodstove, and also for decorative vases for the wife's plants in the house. I should actually buy some good salting crocks. We don't have very big containers for brining or salting anymore. I like salt fish, but like cod or alaskan pollack the best. Always have a box of that in stock, but this year there is no salt cod fish in the stores around here. I like having poached soaked salt cod on Sunday morning with toast, but lately, our friday fish has been shuffled to Saturday because we babysit and cook supper for the greatgrandkids on Friday. so I have not been having that often. The great grandkids like fishsticks, not real fish...I am not going to force them being so young yet to eat fish....Next summer I will take the great granddaughter stream fishing and teach her to cook it, she is six now, time to teach her next summer. They do eat the brookies they catch all the time if they cook them...that breaks them in for other fish.

a reply to: rickymouse

Yeah, everything I can, I do raw, except the taco meat. That I Precook, almost all the way, to get most of the grease out. You can do it raw, but it is really greasy, and I don't like it. But if I am canning hamburg to use in chili or Gulash or spaghetti, I will can that raw, and then just rinse with hot water when I remove it.

I just did bean soup for the hubby last weekend. When canning beans, you don't want them to get super mushy. (at least he doesn't!)
So instead of soaking them overnight, I boiled the water, added the beans for about 2 minutes, turned the burner off and let them soak for an hour. You have to remember, that if your adding meat with the beans, they will be in there for 70-90 minutes cooking in the pressure cooker. And I added ham from a hambone we had left over from Thanksgiving. It was double smoked. Hubby said the bean soup turned out awesome. I'm not a bean soup fan, so I'll take his word on it.

a reply to: chiefsmom

I've also canned salmon and sucker. Make great patties! I also do chicken, for chicken soup, and for tacos. If I'm doing it for soup, I put 2 or 3 whole chickens in the pressure cooker for a couple hours, with about half the cooker full of water, and all my seasonings. This gets all the meat off the bone pretty much. I sort all that out, removing the bones, then add the chicken to the jars, along with the broth it was cooked in, and can it up. You could do it raw, in a broth just as easily, I'm just lazy and don't want to spend that much time deboning the chicken.

a reply to: chiefsmom



Ummm...Very good advice...I use the All American brand of pressure canners...

I really like that there are six dogs to tighten the lid...which is tapered and mates into a tapered face on the kettle that doesn't require a gasket...I can can 7 quarts at a time which is handy...

Canned meats can last for many years providing they're stored and sealed properly...





UseHer

I've canned chicken and beef stew. good results.
apparently it's important to use thawed, not frozen, product.
really good when I feel a little under the weather. make some cheap ramen and add a few chunks of the canned. big improvement.
people who do this tell me the Blue Book is hugely helpful and reliable.

originally posted by: rickymouse
a reply to: chiefsmom

Do you actually cook the meat or food in the jars? I know nothing about canning foods, except for stuff like freezer jams.

Ummm...yes for the most part the meat is cooked in the jar...in the pressure canner...



UseHer

a reply to: UseHer

LOL don't know why, but that thing looks scary to me!
I just use the Presto weighted gauge cookers.
I have the double (tall) one and a regular.
I like the double, because I usually grow my corn and peas, so I have enough for 2 years because I rotate the crops every other year, so with the double, I can can up about 20 pints at a time.

But if it works for you, great! Nice to know others enjoy canning as much as I do!

I know people that are canning their venison in the oven now. They fill the jars with meat, add a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of water to the jar, then put the lids and rings on loose. They bake them for 2 hours at 250 F , then pull the jars out, tighten the lids and let them cool to seal.
They haven’t died of food poisoning yet.

originally posted by: butcherguy
I know people that are canning their venison in the oven now. They fill the jars with meat, add a teaspoon of salt and a tablespoon of water to the jar, then put the lids and rings on loose. They bake them for 2 hours at 250 F , then pull the jars out, tighten the lids and let them cool to seal.
They haven’t died of food poisoning yet.

canning in the oven is rolling the dice. the pressure cooker is the only safe way.
I'm glad they've gotten away with it so far but I wouldn't push it.

a reply to: butcherguy

Yeah, I've heard of people doing that also, but I can't bring myself to try. I'll stick with the pressure cooker.