Canning meat/what Equipment is needed, how much canning is necessary

[seek10]

I raw packed the jars almost to the brim, and added some chopped garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper. I'm using standard "Euro" 750ml jars and lids, those described by Psyche way back. Processed them at 10psi for 80 mins, and all were sealed when I checked in the morning. Little fat did spill out, but the contents look fine to me, I havent tried any, as there's still some roast in the fridge to be finished :)

Based on some video's on the net, I was browning ground meat and adding boiling water in the bottle. I want to try raw meat canning. If it is raw meat canning , there is no need of any boiling water addition I think. just want to clarify.

 

[Nancy2feathers]

Hi seek10. We made raw hamburger patties and stacked them in the jars not adding any liquid. We did put extra bacon fat and herbs and salt in the mix, then pressure canned. Came out yummy.

 

[seek10]

Hi seek10. We made raw hamburger patties and stacked them in the jars not adding any liquid. We did put extra bacon fat and herbs and salt in the mix, then pressure canned. Came out yummy.

That sounds yummy and I should try next. Thanks for mentioning. I guess you might have placed a sheet of parchment paper between patties to avoid sticking.

BTW, I did my first batch of raw pack yesterday and meat looks cooked and herb mix I dropped over meat seams to have become black. I will try to open one bottle couple of weeks later for sampling.

 

[Alana]

Hi seek10. We made raw hamburger patties and stacked them in the jars not adding any liquid. We did put extra bacon fat and herbs and salt in the mix, then pressure canned. Came out yummy.

That sounds yummy and I should try next. Thanks for mentioning. I guess you might have placed a sheet of parchment paper between patties to avoid sticking.

BTW, I did my first batch of raw pack yesterday and meat looks cooked and herb mix I dropped over meat seams to have become black. I will try to open one bottle couple of weeks later for sampling.

I don't understand when you say it became black. Did you mix the herbs with the rest of the ground meat?

 

[seek10]

Hi seek10. We made raw hamburger patties and stacked them in the jars not adding any liquid. We did put extra bacon fat and herbs and salt in the mix, then pressure canned. Came out yummy.

That sounds yummy and I should try next. Thanks for mentioning. I guess you might have placed a sheet of parchment paper between patties to avoid sticking.

BTW, I did my first batch of raw pack yesterday and meat looks cooked and herb mix I dropped over meat seams to have become black. I will try to open one bottle couple of weeks later for sampling.

I don't understand when you say it became black. Did you mix the herbs with the rest of the ground meat?

In some bottles I didn't . those are black. I just dropped a teaspoon of the herb mix on the top , the way I used to do with salt in hot pack in water.

 

[Alana]

In some bottles I didn't . those are black. I just dropped a teaspoon of the herb mix on the top , the way I used to do with salt in hot pack in water.

I think that you will need to mix the herbs with the rest of your meat before you put it in the jars, otherwise the herbs will just stay on the top and will over-cook without giving the rest of your meat their flavor, which is the point of adding herbs in the first place ;)

 

[seek10]

In some bottles I didn't . those are black. I just dropped a teaspoon of the herb mix on the top , the way I used to do with salt in hot pack in water.

I think that you will need to mix the herbs with the rest of your meat before you put it in the jars, otherwise the herbs will just stay on the top and will over-cook without giving the rest of your meat their flavor, which is the point of adding herbs in the first place ;)

Learning while canning, I think.
I will have to do some more cooking before consumption for proper mixing.

 

[Breton]

My partner just built a shelf for all the jars in a dark and cool place in the basement. We are going to try to do 300 jars by the end of this summer. So far, we are doing pretty well. ;)

I was wondering about the right storage for the jars, my house is full of humidity I find fungus everywhere when is cold weather and all the things have a lot of fungus, in papers, woods, clothes, it is maddening ; so I wonder if the fungus could contaminate the jars?

Does the storage place must be dry, without humidity to avoid any contamination?
I have an incredible humidity here that I´m afraid that my jars get contaminated!

I don't think that humidity and temperature have any influence - as long as your jars have been properly sterilised and sealed. They are airtight after that and nothing should be able to enter the jar and there is nothing left in the jar with potential to grow. Again this applies only if the procedure has been done correctly.

I live in a very hot and humid environment too ...

:)

That´s a relief and a good news !!! I was so worry about that so I´ll can and see how it goes

I would also expect the jars to last well in many environments.

For the record, the manual that came with my All American canner gives this recommendation. It does not give much explanation for it. It mentions a dry place, but I cannot see how humidity plays a role here, and they offer nothing more to explain why they said "dry". However maybe this recommendation could be something to keep in mind so one can try to store their jars (and cans) this way as best they can. Maybe temperature and light affects shelf life as they say:

Store cans and jars in a cool, dry place. Exposure to heat, freezing temperatures or light decreases the quality and shelf life of canned food.

Freezing may damage the seal so that spoilage begins. In and unheated storage area, cover jars and cans with a clean, old blanket, or wrap them in newspapers.

That last bit about cold is particularly applicable to me, being in Finland! Not so much to Zim! :)

 

[Breton]

Got my canner recently and did first run of meat canning yesterday, and It was a success! I went with pork jowls, as it is one of my favourites anyway; fatty, juicy and it's most affordable (around 3€/kg), it's quite similar in taste to pork belly, actually.

I raw packed the jars almost to the brim, and added some chopped garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper. I'm using standard "Euro" 750ml jars and lids, those described by Psyche way back. Processed them at 10psi for 80 mins, and all were sealed when I checked in the morning. Little fat did spill out, but the contents look fine to me, I havent tried any, as there's still some roast in the fridge to be finished :)
{snip}

Excellent iagainsti !

I just used my canner for the second time. This time I cut the raw pork belly into chunks to pack the jars tightly. I only salted them. I got the jars Seppo Ilmarinen and I were looking at in Finland and all seemed to work well. They told me at the place that the lids can be reused 4-5 times or so.

There was some seepage of fat out of the jars also. However all the jars seem sealed, with the little depression of the lid. Therefore I expect all is ok, even though this bothered me a bit. However I reasoned that it takes time for the seal to get set, and before that, some fat can be expected to seep out.

 

[Mal7]

Found this step-by-step explanation here:

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/clay105.html.

Explains the process in much detail, and for different pieces of meat/ game/ poultry.

I found that article, along with the following video, to be useful in explaining to a complete beginner what a pressure canner does:

_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-fFAlldDKM

 

[seek10]

I was thinking of canning some lard and tallow. Before, I canned couple of times in pressure canner with less than 50% success with seal. I do clean with vinegar and other stuff. It seems to me that it is working only if the jars are filled with half or little more than that. other wise, it is not sealing properly. Does any body has success better than that.

Also I was reading on the internet with the opinion that fat will not reach needed 240 for killing botulism for proper canning ?. _http://www.permies.com/t/18854/food-preservation/Canning-Bacon-Grease
Does any body tried canning bacon or pork lard or beef tallow ? .
I opened my previously canned lard to see , after 3 months, it's not smelling any thing different, yet to eat.

 

[SeekinTruth]

I've had 100% success with sealing with Ball mason jars (with the non-reusable lid and band). But with locally purchased jars and reusable lids, I've had around 50% success with the sealing. I just eat the jars' contents that didn't seal within a few days (and of course refrigerate them after cooling). I haven't found that it makes a difference how much you fill the jars, although with the Ball jars, if you don't leave at least 1 to 1.5 inch head space, fat tends to leak out during processing.

I should also mention that I've only used the pint size Ball jars and can fit 24 (double deck) in one go into my Presto canner. While the local jars are quart size and I can only fit 7 at a time, so when say 3 don't seal, I can just eat the content pretty quickly (3 people eating it).

I don't think it's true that fat can't be canned safely. I've canned a bunch of lard and butter, but haven't tried any of it yet. But there's a long history of commercially canned lard that lasts an amazingly long time unopened, so I can't see how it could be true that it doesn't get to a high enough temperature to kill botulism. Hope this post helps.

 

[Goemon_]

I have been processing pork lard (fresh or rendered), liver's paté, pork's belly, bone broth, pork scratchings and green beans.
No sealing problem with those jars from Germany : _http://www.bouteilles-et-bocaux.com/shop/Pots-de-confiture-et-bocaux/1065ml-pot-rond-avec-twist-off-82.html

No problem with those ones from France local stores : _http://www.leparfait.fr/terrines-le-parfait-familia-wiss

The first ones has to be tie more strongly to seal well.

And, as said SeekinTruth if there is too much product in the jar, some fat will get out.

 

[seek10]

I've had 100% success with sealing with Ball mason jars (with the non-reusable lid and band). But with locally purchased jars and reusable lids, I've had around 50% success with the sealing. I just eat the jars' contents that didn't seal within a few days (and of course refrigerate them after cooling). I haven't found that it makes a difference how much you fill the jars, although with the Ball jars, if you don't leave at least 1 to 1.5 inch head space, fat tends to leak out during processing.

I should also mention that I've only used the pint size Ball jars and can fit 24 (double deck) in one go into my Presto canner. While the local jars are quart size and I can only fit 7 at a time, so when say 3 don't seal, I can just eat the content pretty quickly (3 people eating it).

I don't think it's true that fat can't be canned safely. I've canned a bunch of lard and butter, but haven't tried any of it yet. But there's a long history of commercially canned lard that lasts an amazingly long time unopened, so I can't see how it could be true that it doesn't get to a high enough temperature to kill botulism. Hope this post helps.

Thank you for sharing your experience. I use ball mason jars and had good success with meat. only one jar broke and most of them got sealed well. But with fat, unless it is half ( quart or pint), I have challenges with sealing . Probably due to spilling of oil while cooking, I guess. I tried some fat yesterday out of 3 bottles only one got sealed , that one has about half the bottle and other bottles has little more than half( not sure in terms of how much gap, need to check later ).

 

[Goemon_]

I just thought about one more thing : If you open the cooker too early the jars haven't cool down enough to be sealed but they will sealed as they cool down. As have been said before I don't see any reason for the jar not to seal correctly just because they are too much filed.