Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Wow..... Canned Venison

OK. it all started this past spring when a guy on another forum posted about canning venison. The comments were almost unanimously �yuck�..... (however, it was funny as almost to the person that said Yuck.... none of them had ever tried it)

Over the spring and summer I investigated it more and found that people who can deer, love it..... so i figured I would give it a go since I had everything and can veggies out of the garden every year.

Fast forward to this past weekend.... In my tree stand looking at three does and trying to decide if I am going to kill one or not.... (did not have to think about it too long )

Long story short, I canned the meat from the front shoulders and neck from the doe. Opened up a can today and put it in a pan to heat it up. Added some sour cream and hot sauce. Heated till the sauce thickened..... Serve it rice noodles and it was devoured.... My wife looked at me and said... I guess you will have to kill some extra deer this year just to can because this is Awesome.....

The deer meat after it has been canned is so tender it is unbelievable.... If you have never tried canned venison, you are missing out... plus it does not take up freezer space.....

Long story short... I highly recommend canning some deer if you do not...

I don't think that's a secret here at the campfire. I think you will find many fans of canning venison/elk etc.

Including me.

that reminds me, we need a new pressure cooker.

Part of the reason I am here just seems i can not convince poeple on the other board....

BTW... if you need a new presure cooker, look at the All American Pressure Canner. I bought one recently and it is certainly the nices canner I have ever used....

What size did you get? How many quarts will it hold?

I actually downsized and bought the 915 model... it holds 7 quarts or 10 pints... I found I never really stacked jars in my other unit so I figured no need to stack in the new one...

it is a interesting model in that it does not use a rubber gasket to seal.... it is all machined aluminum and is a metal to metal fit...

Huh, thanks I'm gonna look for one of those.

I've never tried canned venison, by dad used to eat it all the time when he was a kid. I've always wanted to try it

I've always wanted to try canned venison, I've heard it is awesome in chili and stroganoff. Would any of you share your recipe?

...and moose and caribou and goat and sheep and....

Exactly the canner I have (2 of them) and found after using a friend's canner which is the biggest one American makes, that it takes less time to run 2 loads in my smaller one, than one in his enormous one because the great big one takes so long to pressure up and then pressure down when the cook time is up.

So, I run 2 at the same time when it's moose cannin' time.

i can mine like this

cut meat in 1in cubes,remove all fat
pack jars to the neck with raw meat
add 1/4 onion and 1 beef boulon cube
fill almost full with water,make sure you slide a butter knife down in the jar when filling with water to get them full

pressure can at 15lbs for 80min for quarts,60min for pints.

you will find lots of ways to eat it. i like to add a pint to a bag of uncle bens rice. sometimes i add a can of beef gravy and eat other toast. its a 5 minute meal ,taste great all year long.

I've started this myself too. I've found there's enough juice in the meat that you don't need to add water. If you do add water then it just boils off when you bring it up to temperature and is replaced by deer juice.

with the beef boulon you need some water,i think

i've never added water?

Well I don't think it will hurt. How about we all get together and try 40 batches, half one way, half the other and see how it all shakes out?

My wife dosnt care for deer meat so instead of makeing stew meat out of the neck, I can it for my lunch meat.

I grew up eating canned moose, caribou, deer, bear, etc... Most of it was canned with a generous shot of dill weed and seed. We called it "dilled deer" The standing joke was that all of it was "deer meat" and it was a good thing we did not shoot does...

Dilled does...

i like having the broth,then you have a choice to use it or not. if i want gravy i usually drain it,if i add it to rice i don't. the onion and boulon makes it all good.

all i know is,its some fine eatin in the dead of winter when you need something fast.

That is one of the best thing I like about canned meat. It takes time to prepare and can it, but when you go to cook up a meal it usually is quick.

I didn't realize it was that easy. Is there a certain cut of meat that is better than others? Or are there any to stay away from?

I really want to can venison this year. My Mother in Law cans meat every year and will teach me all the tricks of the trade. Do most use beef fat on the top of the meat?


ddj

I've never canned meat.

That being said, I think the pressure cooker acts as the great equalizer, makes the tough cuts tender, allowing you to use whatever you can get into the jar.

Always canned mine in beef broth

Yes, in my experience that pressure canning process is your friend for some tougher cuts. it really does all seem equal when you dump it out of the jar.

not that I've tried canned backstraps vs canned trimmings

But canning venison is simply an excellent way to preserve that meat for later use. I mean all the way around, tenderizing, flavor, no risk of freezer burn, ready to eat, no thawing... It's a winner all the way around.

We don't add water or bulion either. Sometimes we add some diced peppers/onion but other than the canning salt that's it.

I'd be willing to bet the bullion would dissolve perfectly fine in the juices from the meat without adding any water.

Those that have done it know what I'm talking about, it provides it's own juice and if you pull the jars hot after the process time has passed those juices continue to boil in the jar for quite some time as the jars cool.

bullion cube, not a bad idea, might try it.

I put a bullion cube in mine and it seems to work well.... Keep in mind that I do not add salt since I am adding a bullion cube. The bullion cube has almost a 1000g of sodium so that covers the salt requirements.... I also put in some onion.... Had good luck so far

Everything I have canned so far (which is not alot since I am just getting started) has not been your prime cuts... i.e. pieces cut off of the neck and front shoulders.... they came out great and very tender...

Canning is the highest and best use for neck, hock and the like. I do, however, strip out the sinewy parts. They turn into gelatinous masses, which, to me, are unappetizing.

Almost all the canning I do is just plain meat. It leaves me with wide open options.

That said, however, I just canned up a bunch of 4-bean moose chili.

We trim ours stuff really good too, canning is almost magic but there's no sense in eating junk.. blech!

The dogs are more than happy to get a bowl of fat and silver skin trimmings.

Your 4-bean moose chili by the name I am asuming that it is beans with meat. I am courious about that as to how that turns out. I would thing that the beans would be mushy by the time the meat is cooked. Can you enlightem me on this?

No different than canned chili you buy in the store.

It would probably shock folks if they could understand just how many TONS of game meat Miss T has canned... And being just 22 years old and all... Most years there are at least a couple of black bears, complete except for the backstraps and T-Loins, in Chili Bear-de, a bit of moose hock, caribou hock, you name it...

Bison, black bear, bunnies, caribou, deer in three flavors, grouse, kipper snacks, ling cod, moose, mountain goat, musk ox, ptarmigan, salmon, sheep, and more... Hundreds of pounds at a time is not uncommon...
art

This has been a really great thread and has certainly opened my eyes to some potential. I think this might work really well for tenderzing and preserving wild boar too.

I have never canned meat, but I did can fresh tuna that I caught out of Venice, LA.

Simply a little salt in the bottom of a pint jar, fresh tuna chunks to 7/8 full, cover with chicken broth, more salt on top, and pressure to directions.

My family would not touch store tuna as long as there was any of this left.

You don't have to stop at canning meat, either. I buy those giant cans of tomato sauce and diced tomatos at Costco (they're about $3 each) and make up a huge batch of marinara sauce. Then jar it up and put it on the shelf. It can be used for pizza sauce, spaghetti sauce, what ever. Very handy.

One really cool non-meat thing we have put on the shelf is a rhubarb version of "mince pie filling." I think it was "Rhubarb, Apple, Walnut, Raisin Pie Filling." It was so good,and so rich, it worked better as a fruit square filling as opposed to pie. I double the pie dough recipe, put it in a large jelly roll pan, spread a quart of the pie filling in it, then top with another pie crust. The filling is about 3/8 - 1/2 inch thick, enough to give great flavor, but not so much that the richness of the filling takes completely over. Needless to say, this is not pressure packed, but water bath packed. Like a jam.

I could go on...

You guys have sold me....I'm going to try it tomorrow.

Couple questions,..do you use the bouillon cube with the quart jars or the pint jars, and is the cooking time the same (80 minutes) for both..?

I read about canning meat over the years and thought that might be cool.

I shot an elk last fall and haven't eaten all of it yet. It turned out really really tough, although the flavor is great. It was the first elk I've ever killed and it was on a warm December day here in OK. I was worried about spoilage, so me and my cousin butchered it up and had it on ice ASAP so none of it would go to waste.

What I didn't know at the time was elk needs to go thru rigor before it's packaged or it's going to be tough as a boot. Live and learn.

This will be a perfect test to see anything will make this dude tender.

So all I need is 1/4 onion and 1 bouillon cube per jar. I don't have to put anything else in it to keep from getting ptomaine poisoning ?....

I don't put anything except a 1/4 teaspoon salt in a quart jar. Processing time is 75 minutes for pints, 90 for quarts, at 10 lbs.
You can raw pack it or brown it, if you brown it, fill the jar with the drippings up to 1" of the top. It needs the headspace. Without it, the jars will not seal.

If you raw pack it do not add any extra liquid.

Be sure your jars are sterilized.

Put the lids in hot water to soften the rubber seal, but do not let boil. When you put them on the jars, tighten the ring to snug. Do not over tighten.

Lbs of pressure depend on altitude and type of canner you are using. I prefer the gauge canners, I don't really care for the weighted gauge (rocker) kind.

One of the most important things to remember is after it has done its time in the canner and you turn off the heat source, NEVER vent the canner until it is completely cool and the gauge is all the way to zero.

Wash the jars after they have cooled over night. I like to store them in the boxes the jars came it, and I label the whole box with great big letters on white paper. (I store the stuff under the stairs and it's easier to see.)

Have fun and BE SAFE!

Dude all I know is what I've read in the ball "blue book" which talks about ph and such... we crack the book open every time we can anything.

We'll maybe add variations with onion/peppers etc but we always use salt as suggested. 1/2 tsp for pint jars, 1 tsp for qt jars.

This is for stew meat which is what we typically can, diced to 1" or larger cubes.

I think we typically "raw pack" the jars. And process to the pressure and time specified. Pints 1.25 hrs at 10 psi, qts 1.5 hrs at 10 psi.

Others here will chime in, if i had to guess with bullion cubes in exchange of salt I'd say 1 cube for pints, 2 cubes for qts.

But I dunno.

Salt is usually listed as "optional" so I don't think you can under salt it.

Thank god MT beat me to it with better instructions lol!!

Thanks for the info folks..!

I found the following website very useful:

[b][color:#3333FF]National Center for Home Food Preservation[/color][/b]

Gives you guidelines on how to can just about anything....

I'll post up some pics when I make the canned meat happen..

I put up some Pickled Okra yesterday for the first time,..hope it turns out well.

Red Salmon....

yes,add one cube to each jar and the onion. i buy those big ol white onoins that are 3-4 in around . add about a 1/4 of one to each jar. if you cook it like i said ,you will not get poisoned unless you overdose on venison. that just may happen,i bet it won't take you long to start experimenting on different ways to eat it. i have kept it for 3 years on the shelf . that tough elk would be great to thaw out and can. i do that sometimes right before deer season . just thaaaw everything i have left and can it. i make deer bologna to,so i will cut up at least 2 whole deer and freeze in gallon ziplock bags to either can later or make bologna.

Well,..I canned some meat today. Had some "operator error",..hope it turns out well.

Just for a trial run I did 3 jars of lean chunks using the 1/4 onion and bouillon cube trick.

The other 2 jars I wanted to try making some canned taco meat. I spiced the meat and added a little tomato sauce on top. Wiped off the edges of the jars, put a New warmed lid on and screwed everything down tight with the rings.



Got the pressure cooker fired up,..jars in and steam shooting out,..rocker weight on top doing its thing. Everything seemed to be going well.

About 65 minutes into the cooking,..I started to smell the pleasant aroma of Taco Meat.... ....I don't believe that's supposed to happen...

I let everything finish pressure cooking at 15 lbs over 90 minutes.

Apparently some of the juice leaking out the top of a couple jars,..When I took the jars out of the cooker I checked them for tightness. I was able to tighten a couple about another 1/8 turn. There was still a bit of boiling/bubbles in the jar when I tightened them down.

After they cooled the lids all sucked down,..which I think means they all sealed. The suspect jars appear to have lose about 1/2" of liquid. Not a whole bunch, just enough to notice.

The other thing is,..I think the ground meat cooked together in one clump. Kinda like a mini-meatloaf in a jar. I imagine it will break up when it's time to use it.

Here's a couple pics of the finished chunks.

What do you think..? Is that what it's supposed to look like.?

Has anybody ever had jars leak a bit.?

We've got a jar of canned moose meat in camp, probably been there at least 10 years and the seal is still tight on it, I wonder if it's any good? Was so good back in the day.

I'm afraid to open this one......lol

Whacker44, I think you are fine.

We usually leave the rings kinda loose for processing then I tighten them once I take the jars out hot.

Headspace is your friend when you pack jars. Its normal to get expansion but you don't want to burp too much stuff past the lids.


Moose meat 10 yrs old? Freeze thaw, freeze thaw?

Ick.

I gotta give you guys 2 Big Thumbs Up..!

Opened a jar of the elk chunks I canned a few days ago. It was delicious. Can't tell the difference between it and beef pot roast.

The meat I used was less than desirable stew meat. Before canning I removed all the silver skin, gristle and fat I could and hoped for the best. I added 1/4 onion and 1 Tsp of bouillon.

Turned out better than I imagined. I'll be saving a lot more meat that way next time I draw blood.

Really want to try this...

Grandma used to can tomatos every year. Year before she passed away, she moved out of her house into a smaller apartment. She started throwing things away and figured "no one wants to can anything, I'll just throw this away".

Sure is sad to know that it is gone...specially since she had it for YEARS.

tomaters are usually just boiling water bath canned.

For the meat you need an actual pressure canner though.

Yeah, exactly what I was thinking too!! lol

I ate a can of beans from our old camp once that had seen many winters in our old shack.

It used to be beans, but the texture was like baby food when i opened it.

I ate the whole can on a quest for gas (had to be there to understand)

I got more than I bargained for

Well no worries there, I won't be eating that moose meat. I think the guys are saving it as a souvenir from the old days. We use to make a killer moose stew in camp using that canned meat.

The wife and I just got back from bear hunting, 2 - 200 lbs. bears. The wife canned 30 quarts of meat. When I butchered them I save the bones and the wife cooks the bones to make a broth to pack the meat in. And cans the rest of the broth to make soup. She will be doing the same when we fill are deer tags, the next couple months.

wow.... you really can some poundage...

I am taking my sone and two friends to West TN this weekend... they will have their sons as well with them. My son and I are the only ones in the group who eat deer meat... (unless I cook it and then they all love it )... hopefully this weekend we will come home with 2 to 4 deer for me to can.... it will be alot of work but it sure will be good.

I bet it was good stew.

Well if someone draws a bear tag and sets a bait station that aged moose meat will be the hot ticket lol!

Oh it aint so much more work than freezing it, it's just the waiting.

On that note, if you have an electric range... it's going to take a while to can anything.

Gas be good for canning.

Oh...good thing I never tried it! haha!

I think I want to get one of these!

Yeah I want one too, we usually borrow one from a friend.

haha! I gotta get some friends that have this stuff...they sure are expensive.

I have canned a lot of meat, poultry, fish and vegetables over the years and never used a pressure cooker. I know it is supposed to kill you but Four generations of us have survived with hot water bath canning so some kinda miracle must have happened.

Randy

With all due respect, I hope no one tries to duplicate your luck. It's a recipe for terrible potential consequences.

The only meat I have eaten with out the pressure is when my grandmother would cook some sausage, maybe half cook or all the way cook, and she would place them in the jars while hot and screw on seal and ring, turn upside down and let the grease run down and seal. It worked.

Now for those that have access to wild hog/feral hog, try canning some hog meat. It is better than the deer in my opinion.

I cried when we ate the last piece of our wild hog. It was so good!

I'm going to can some piggy this year too, if I can secure a dead piggy or three.

Going to use the burner for the turkey fryer.

canned 35 pints of deer that i had left from last season. i usually cut at least one whole deer up in 1in cubes to either can later or make bologna. ended up only making one 10lb batch of bologna this year so to make room for fresh meat in the freezer it all got canned.not that year old meat is good for another 3yrs on the shelf.

Randy I am new to canning meat just started last fall with great results ,it's been excellent. The reason for the pressure canner recomendation is that when pressure canned the molds,yeasts, and enzymes are destroyed at below 212 degrees F. Bacteria however are not as easily destroyed, 10-15 lbs of pressure will take the temp inside the canner to 240-250 degrees killing the bacteria. Pressure canning is the only methods recommended by the USDA for low acid vegetables, meats, and poultry. Presto 16 qt model for 64.88 at Wallyworld but well worth it to me. Magnum man

I understand the science and commend the safety afforded by the extra temp. I just have never had a problem, not at all saying they can't exist.
Randy

I just butchered a nice mature mule deer doe. I cubed the entire thing and will commence to canning tomorrow.

Todd

Let us know how it turns out.

I have been canning venison and lots of other stuff for years. Reading this made me hungry for canned venison. I went to the pantry and ... all we had was jelly. Bummer. Ill definately can some of the next deer. I have had great luck canning ducks and geese also. Try it. Pore a can of duck over a bed of rice or one of those boxed packages of Gumbo or Jumbalya and your in for a treat. No ducks... Try chicken. Can't beat canning.

Forgot to mention. Canned meat is great to take to deer camp or any other type of camping. Any time your camping or on a road trip where its not practacle to take frozen meat, canned is the way to go.

Good for rabbit and spruce hen also!

Absolutely! We take it and add bbq sauce for sloppy joes, sour cream for stroganoff and a bunch of other things. The only bummer is hauling out the jars.

Didn't hear anybody else mention it but when packing the raw venison in 3 lifts i would rod it a bit with a spoon to work out the voids between pieces and add chopped onion and fresh chopped garlic to the pack. really awesome eats. magnum Man

It turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself!

Hard to believe this is a whole mature mulie doe!



My jiggler was a jiggling!



Some of the fruits of my labor...

I did 6 quarts of whitetail buck yesterday. Now just have to figure out how I want to use it.

Nicely done..!

Never had canned venison before, but I can only imagine if it is half as good as the canned bear I had before I could see myself doing it for sure. A buddy at work brought the bear in to share, it was canned with jalepenos and onions, I couldn't believe it was bear it was awesome.

Thought I'd bump this and see if anyone has been canning recently.
This thread inspired me to buy a little canner and today I walked through the first attempt with it using the season's pheasant and chukar meat.

Mixed the results from one jar with sour cream and noodles and the plates were licked clean, with no leftovers.

Thanks all!

Canned some new stuff back at New Years. Went with venison meatballs in tomato sauce, venison meatballs in cream of mushroom soup mix, and your basic chunked venison with no sauce. Turned out very good. Will keep tweaking the meatball recipe itself but test jars were deemed winners by the family.

Canned 8 quarts of pork loins also. Good stuff.

Nice Stove - BigSky

Bump -

Just to see if ayone else has results from this season.

Going to get into this !!

Paul.

We normally can quite a bit and was wondering if anyone has used a turkey cooker to put their canner on?

I am thinking we could get the heat to rise faster instead of on the stove.

I use an Eastman Outdoors cooker to do my canning on...it is on the verge of too powerful. Once you get the pot to boiling, and venting off the stream, I find it hard to get low enough to keep the temps at 240, lots of times it will get a little higher. I haven't had any problems, just a little mor babysitting, or at least a little better attention paid to it.

Wonderful stuff...canned venison.


Larry

Tell me about this fish canning....and how different is this to pickling?

How do you serve the salmon?

I have a friend that makes patties out of Salmon and also put them on pizza with white sauce.

Pickling is basically raw fish in a brine. It's delicious, I'm sure you've tried pickled herring? I've pickled salmon and it too, is wonderful. You can't leave it too long, it will tend to get mushy.

What to do with canned salmon.... Hmmm.... think about canned tuna. What do you do with that? You can do the same thing with salmon. Salmon Patties, salmon salad, salmon dips, Alfredo sauce with salmon, salmon casseroles, and more. You'll find things you like better than others, and soon you'll have a list of "go tos" for your salmon. Mine is Alfredo sauce, salmon salad (like a tuna salad with mayo and what ever) and salmon patties. I LOVE salmon patties! Especially with a good dipping sauce....

Fantastic, thank you!

I used a turkey fryer this year for 43 quarts. First batch was rough. Tried to heat it to fast and couldnt get a steady stream of steam. Figured I boiled the water before I got meat sauce good and hot.

Are you saying you water-bathed your 43 quarts? If so that was a waste of effort...

A buddy at work canned some pork loin. Said he put in dry rub BBQ seasoning and 1-2 drops of liquid smoke. He put in a crockpot at work. Dang good pulled pork samiches!!!!

No, pressure canned.

In a turkey cooker?

i set up 2 burners for fish cookers outside. that way i can get 2 pressure cookers going and each holds 7 qts. in about 5 hours i can 28 qts. and clean up the gear.