Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska While we're on the subject of salmon, canned?

When we were kids, mom used to feed us canned salmon on boiled potatoes for supper. Back then, where we lived, "fresh salmon" was unheard of, we didn't mind the canned. Fast forward to today. Cans of same today say "Wild Alaska", etc., etc. on them. The fish, labeled Pinks, in the can looks like they were caught, run through a wood chipper, sent to a slurry factory, and viola..salmon.
So...the process some of you use to can real salmon at home, and not have the store canned salmon texture/taste?

I do some pressure canning myself. I use two different base sauces - one V-8 and one olive oil - and a variety of spices and peppers.





The kid worked on a purse seiner catching pink salmon for the canning market. I'd never eat that schitt.

L,

What's the process for venison? Momma wants to give it a try..

My favorite style of canned salmon is what I refer to as native style where the fish is smoked first and then canned. The resulting salmon is just oozing with oil and finger licking smoked goodness.

Calvin,

Sorta thread hijacking - but I did some venison for the first time last year that turned out quite good.

I did my own hybrid of a few other recipes/methods I found.

I put a rounded tablespoon of dried veggies in the bottom of each jar (they sell the dried stuff in the prepper section at Walmart - I suppose fresh could be used too?), followed by 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a squirt of concentrated beef broth - This stuff . Pack 1 inch-ish chunks of venison (lean) into jars leaving 1 inch head space. Lids, rings, and cook at 11 lbs. for 75 minutes for pints.

The final product was great for a quick stroganoff or as shredded meat for burritos with some taco seasoning added. Would have made killer sandwich meat too but mine didn't last that long. Could probably have left the salt out since the concentrated stock has salt too. Didn't seem overly salty though.

Whichever method you use, I'd say it is worth doing with a portion of your haul as an alternative to ground meat.

I used to can a couple of hundred pint jars each year, mostly reds and silvers because we didn't get a lot of kings. I also did some smoke-canned but the rest of my family didn't like smoked so I only did a few dozen of those each year.

I cooked at 10 psi for 100 minutes and got good results, I know some folks use 9 lbs for 90 minutes happily. Some people add a teaspoon of salt and some flavoring to each jar, but I always did a light brine and then rinsed before stuffing the jars. Once in a while I would add a dash of flavoring such as sesame oil.

You can can the chunks with skin on or off. I started out leaving the skin on but after a few years I usually did them skinless. The pressure cooking process nearly fills up the jar with fish oil. Most of our silvers and reds were taken from salt water and seemed to have abundant oil.

If you are smoke-canning, try just a light smoking with 1 pan of chips for about 15 minutes. Then can as usual. The canning process intensifies the smoke-flavoring greatly, so adjust the amount of smoke as desired. I just used a cheap "Big Chief" electric smoker.

I am Alaska spoiled for fish, have not eaten any salmon in three years, except rarely a frozen red salmon half from Alaska.

Best of luck with canning, I really enjoyed it and miss the quality fish we used to get in Kodiak.

J,

Mr. Johnson beat my lazy azz to the punch. His advice is soild, but I will add that there are two things worth considering: (1) will it be eaten straight out of the jar?, or (2) will it be emptied out and used as an ingredient for a bigger meal?

If (1), then you'll want to prepare it like a stew and add onions, potatoes, carrots, peas, spices, etc. If (2), then you'd go pretty basic - salt, broth or bullion, and some spices.

You definitely want to give it a try.

Joel you gotta can some venison. It comes in handy when you forget to thaw something out for dinner. It works in a lot of different recipes. I do mine plain other than a little salt and it's as easy to can as salmon.

Not DIY, but I always enjoyed the products marketed by 10th and M out of Anchorage...