Canning Venison...

[Hope]

I finally bought a pressure canner/cooker! Yippy!!!! :D Now, to figure out how to use it.... any tips?

[ice fishin' nut]

Yes Ma'am,,,,, question is, what cuts do you want to can, and do you want to use pints or quarts???? Have you ever used one??? They are quite simple,,,, but can be very dangerous.... I remember my grandma blowing the lid off of one when I was a kid. It was her mistake, she wasnt paying attention to the vent hole when she cleaned it..... My best suggestion to you would be to goto a book store or someplace that carries alot of canning supplies, and buy the Ball Blue Book for canning and freezing. It explains everything step by step, and also give you the times and pressures for doing just about anything! Once you use it a couple of times, you will love it!!!! Let me know if I can help with any other questions. Good Luck

IFN:D

[sargent]

Hope,

My wife and I use a large pressure canner with the gauge and multiscrew/clamp lid. We only can pints. We chunk the meat up and fill the jars then cover with lightly salted boiling water. Our canner is large enough to stack the pints but we prefere to do just a single layer for safetys sake (botulism) We can the pints at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes. Sometimes a jar will break It just happens. your canned venison will be good for years (if it lasts that long!)
Read the operators manual thoughly and don't take any short cuts.
For others canning venison or other meats never ever ever can meat in a hot water bath It must be pressure canned!!

Good luck!

[Salmonsmoker]

Hope,

I have never tried to can meat (or anything else for that matter.)
I agree with IFN - get a Ball Blue Book and follow the instructions.

I can testify to the excellent flavor and ease of use of home-canned meats. For all of my life (which has been more years that I want to think about) my Mother has canned beef, pork, and chicken and stews with excellent results. She is now in her mid 80's and still gets a new and updated version of that publication every year or so.

There are probably others out there who might like to try this excellent way of preserving game meats but - like the rest of us - just do not know how. Keep us posted on your processes and results.



Salmonsmoker

[ice fishin' nut]

Hope,
I just pulled out my Blue Book, and was going through it. I would reccommend that you start out with a easy task for your first time. On page 56 in my book, there is a recipe for seasoned ground beef, that should be very easy for ya!
I looked it over, and you can use it for venison, or if you dont want to take the chance on wasting it, go buy some cheap ground beef. Just be sure to drain off the grease real well. You will still get some grease left over, but dont worry about that!
I make this all the time, as it comes in handy when you are in a rush and want to make some quick sloppy joes or spagetti sauce or something.
When you are ready to can, have some hot beef broth ready, to top things off.
After you get done canning your first batch, put it in the pantry, and wait about 2 weeks to make sure that you did it right.
When the 2 weeks are up, open a jar, smell it, and look at it. If all looks well, make some sloppy joes or spagetti sauce, if you like the finished product, your all set!!!!!

Let me know if ya need anything else!

IFN:D

[Salmonsmoker]

IFN,

Thanks for the input. I was at a loss on that one...didn't know where to go with it.

Salmonsmoker.

[ice fishin' nut]

No problem Slamonsmoker,,, I do all the cooking around here, and the canning, and the freezing, and the smoking, and the beer and wine making. The wife is the baker,,,,, I cant bake for squat!!!! I can make some killer muffins and biscuts and bread in the dutch oven,,,, but not in the oven!

IFN:D

[sargent]

IFN,

I’m sure you have been preparing game and other meats for canning for a long time and I’m not trying to start anything with you but I must comment on your statement in your last post.
Quote:

“After you get done canning your first batch, put it in the pantry, and wait about 2 weeks to make sure that you did it right. “
“When the 2 weeks are up, open a jar, smell it, and look at it. If all looks well, make some sloppy joes or spagetti sauce, if you like the finished product, your all set!!!!!”

Botulism is the reason many people worry when it comes to canning meat products.

Case in point: About ten years ago I went over to a friends home to visit after I got off work. I worked midnight shift at the time so it was about 8am. He answered the door and tried to speak to me but his voice was slurred. He told me he was having trouble swallowing also. He said he went to the DR’s the day before and was given some anti vertigo medication. Knowing he was into harvesting natural food from the woods I started to question him about what he might have consumed in the previous days. He said he didn’t eat anything new in the last few days but had eaten some canned sausage at a potluck. I knew his Dr. so I called him and told him that my friend needed to be re-evaluated immediately. To make a long story short, he went to his DR’s. Office and was taken by ambulance to a Muskegon hospital where he was already beginning to become fully paralyzed. He had a tracheostomy and was on a respirator for over a month.
Another guy that ate the potluck died on a respirator. A woman also from the potluck spent a month in a Chicago hospital on a respirator. They all had botulism from the improperly canned sausage.

They all scooped out sausage from a Quart jar of sausage that was hot water canned. (First Mistake). But here is my point. All that ate from that jar stated that the sausage tasted and smelled very good. Also more than these three people ate from the jar and had no ill effects. It seems that the three that got sick ate from the bottom part of the jar and since it was freshly canned the botulism toxin didn’t have time to spread throughout the whole jar. You can’t rely on taste or smell when it comes to botulism.

Couple of things I’d like to add from my previous reply;
Use the freshest and cleanest meat you can (That’s why it’s important to learn how to butcher your own deer)
All utensils and jars should be as clean as possible never reuse canning lids
Can only pints. Each pint holds about 1 pound of venison. They are much easier to can and if a jar breaks you don’t lose as much meat.
A canner with a gauge is the best. If the recipe calls for 10 pounds pressure for 60 minutes you have to wait till the pressure reaches 10 pounds and then start your timing. After processing your meat never run your canner under water to cool it down quicker. This can result in your lids not sealing.
If after processing your lids still flex in the middle give them a ½ hour of so and they should seal. If they don’t seal, place that jar in the fridge and use it. Don’t try to reprocess it.
If a jar you have on the shelf has a bulging lid when you go to use it throw it away.
And as stated by IFN if after opening a jar and it smells bad or looks funny throw it out. There are organisms other than botulism that do produce foul smells to warn you.

Good Luck!

[ice fishin' nut]

Good point Sargent,,,,
I really havent had any problems with canning-(water or pressure) therefore, I really didnt think about that stuff when I made that post.
I was very fortunate, when I was 18 and got married, my grandmother(old world German) taught me how to can. Her and I used to spend hours and hours canning, and talking about canning. She always would strongly stress on the cleanliness aspect, and I guess that it just stuck with me!
After I was through with my canning lessons, my grandfather(old world german also) took over and taught me how to make beer and wine- again, CLEAN, CLEAN, and CLEAN again!!!
Now, it just seems to come without thinking about it. Kinda like riding a bike!!!

Hope, sorry that I left that part out!!! BE CLEAN(not that you arent) But, better to err on the part of overdoing it, than to be sorry!!!!

I too also only use pints for meats, stews and soups. The 2 week part of the post, came from talking with people from the FDA. They stated to me that in a pint jar, anything will give off a foul odor or look. Although botulism is supposed to be odorless, if it is present, so will something else. And if it gets the oppertunity to take hold, so will whatever else is in there with it, and therefore, you will get the smell or funny look. Also, I was told, that within 2 weeks, in a pint jar, botulism will start to bulge the lids.

So Sargent, you didnt start anything with me, I'm glad to see that someone caught that, as I would have hated to see anything go wrong with anybodys canning. Thank you for pointing that out, I hope that between these 2 posts, it will get people thinking, and paying attention to how they can!!!


IFN:D

[sargent]

IFN,

Thanks for the additional info on the period of time it takes for botulism to take hold. I'm going to have to make sure and date all the jars.

[ice fishin' nut]

You're welcome,,,, I always date all my lids, I throw them away after I pop the top anyways, so why not!!! Plus, sometimes I make up different concoctions that look like something else, so I also write what I have made on it...

IFN:D

[hypox]

ok...could someone give me the rundown on how to can venison in the pint jars?? I'm new at this so I need all the info....like how many minutes and how much water to use in the pressure cooker...thanks

[Salmonsmoker]

Hypox,

According to the Ball Blue Book ($3.99 at Meijers last Dec.) process Pints for 1 hour and 15 min. at 10 lbs of pressure.

Salmonsmoker