Canning Game meat

[trapperdan2061]

I use a presure canner cut meat into 1in cubes fill jar leave 1in head space clove garlic teaspoon liquid smoke, 90min in pressure cooker at 10lbs let cool and your set.

[trapperdan2061]

tthe boiling method that you did requires about 9 to 10 hours in the water with 1in over the top so one needs to keep extra water on the boil

[Buchaneer]

I do it all the time. I am from NFLD and canned (bottled as we called it) moose (or caribou) was a regular meal in my home growing up. The process is very simple, cube your moose meat - usually the stuff the butcher takes for hamburger or the chuck cuts. Place 3-4 small pieces of salt pork 1/4 inch cubes- available locally at Save On Foods- in the bottom of your jar. Fill the jar with meat. Then add a litte onion if you wish, a few more cubes of salt pork, add a little salt and seal for the canning process. Deer or elk would work as well.

For canning in a hot water boil -hand tighten the lid - place in your canner (room temperature water), heat to boil and cook for 4-4.5 hours. If using a pressure canner (this is what I use). Add water in the canner so the lids of the jars are not below water level. Once the recommended pressure is obtained-I think 500- cook for 2-2.5 hours.

Once it is removed from the canner - let the jars cool undisturbed so they seal tightly. Before storing away, just tighten the lids again.

You can eat it cold. But my choice way of eating it, is to hat it in a fry pan and place it between buttered homemade bread. Others I know use it as soup base as well.

Hope this helps.

[MichelD]

Others have given the canning instructions. I have to confess, it's my wife that does it at my place.

She uses a pressure cooker. I think she cans at 15 pounds pressure.

She started doing it in 1976 when I got my first bear and because of family prejudices at the time, my parents wouldn't allow bear meat in the deep freeze.

So she made roasts in the oven first, and when they were about half done, took them out, cooled them and canned them in pint jars.

We ate that bear for years. It was a pretty big bear. I never measured the skull or hide, but she rendered nine gallons of bear grease out of the fat. We had that around for many years too.

I like having canned meat around.

It's great for hunting trips. Come back at dark after a hard day slogging inthe bush or on the mountain and all you have to do is boil up a pot of noodles or rice, empty the jar of meat into it to warm up and there's dinner.

[Marc]

Well I just tried a jar tonight that didn't seal properly as I used an old lid on that one. It was awesome, the meat was nice and tender and still tasty after being in the freezer for over 2 years.

The other 7 jars are sealed tight and ready for travel.

[Mr Cam]

I'd like to can some venison if I am fortunate enough to get one this year. I'll sear it in a cast-iron pan and add 1 teaspoon of salt. My experience with canning salmon is to pack the jars with little air gaps, leave some
"headspace" like a half an inch. No need to tighten the screw lid much. Bring the pressure up gradually, keep it at a minimum of 10 lbs. (once it's pressured I find the electric stove is on about 4) don't open doors or windows. Most importantly, after the 90 minutes at over 10 lbs., you can turn off the heat, but be in no rush to get the jars out. After the gauge goes down to zero, give it a while, the jars will still be bubbling, take them out and put them on a cloth on the counter, you will hear them pop (seal) for half an hour.

[highcountry88]

Mapguy and trapperdan have some key points. The cooking time with a boiling water canner are really long as compared to the pressure canner.

We can short cut the time, but the risk of food poisoning (botulism, salmonella and staph) all increase when the processing time or temperature is shortened.

If the bacteria that causes the food poisoning is present in the food, it needs to be killed. Botulism is the most serious (kills easily) and is present in most soils (so any canning any vegetables are a risk, like meat is), salmonella (found commonly in poultry) can kill adults, but mostly children or elderly or sickly. Staph can kill adults, but again hits children or the elderly harder.
Staph is the most common and found in buffets where food is kept at the wrong temperature.

Highly acid foods (likely pickles, jam, juice, etc) is no risk and the worst you can have is it will go moldy or ferment.

To be 100% safe, we just need to follow a good canning books guidelines "by the book", which seems like a pain in the rear, but is has to be done.

I am like MichelD...my wife does most of the canning in the house...(I just happened to spend 25 years in the food processing business) so if I can help with any questions, just PM me....I will get the answer from my wife

[johnes50]

The best gift I ever got for canning was a 25qt. "American" brand canner. The aren't cheap, $200-250.00 for a new one, but they are very high quality and have an interference fit so you don't have to replace rubber gaskets, and they have a proper pressure gauge. John

[JAYDEE]

The best gift I ever got for canning was a 25qt. "American" brand canner. The aren't cheap, $200-250.00 for a new one, but they are very high quality and have an interference fit so you don't have to replace rubber gaskets, and they have a proper pressure gauge. John

I've got the same canner. Works great even after 20 years plus.

[mapguy]

highcountry good answer my wife is the expert also