More info., please.

Canning meat was a big game changer for us. IMO the easiest and most practical way to process a lot of game.

Neat.

There was a time that a large pressure cooker was mandatory for every farm family. Not so much any more.

Yep we always have a pantry full of canned bison or moose on hand. Its great for tougher cuts.

Always have a bunch of canned venison on hand. I also have a dozen or so jars of canned squirrel meat. When boneless, skinless chicken breast is on sale, try canning a bunch of that. Makes for quick, easy sandwiches, soups, tacos etc..... Shame that canning is becoming less common. I figure my wife and I could live about two years just on what we have canned.

How long do you expect the shelf life of your canned venison to be?
Thinking this is something I need to know more about.

Heres a link to another site I used when I started. Most pressure cookers come with a how to booklet. It's super easy and delicious! If the lid is still sealed I wouldn't be afraid to eat 10yr old canned venison.

http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/DCForumID48/87.html

2 years is what most people say

I suspect that the "experts" would say 6 months to a year. I had hot venison sandwich for lunch one day this past week. I had canned the jar in 2014. It was perfect. As long as the seal is good, home canned food will last a long time. Honestly, I don't know how long......but long.

That's the official line. In actuality, if canned correctly, and then stored correctly, I have read of it lasting up to 100 years. I have no personal experience with that time frame, but I have eaten some that was 10 years old, and still fine.

Easily


I made chili with some 9 year old tomatoes last week.

The official line is 6 months to a year, but like others have said it lasts a lot longer. I keep a few dozen jars at the trapline and some of it is 5-6 years old and still perfect.

Properly canned stuff at home is no different than properly canned store bought stuff.

I'd say the shelf life is indefinite. Just like a can of green beans or or raviolis.

I'd bet theres some vets on here that'll tell you they've eatin 20 or 30yr old canned food while serving!

Canning deer meat was a revelation for me. Great for use in lots of recipes and it also let's me use tougher, nastier bits that never got used before.

Keep it dark, dry, and cool.
A basement shelf would be a revolutionary idea!


If it's sealed, it's good.
Quality may deteriorate. But it will be safe.
Vegetables will get soft, but they are still good.


How?
Get a Ball cookbook.

Canning salt, meat,
In jars.
Process.

Some like to be fancy and add chitt.
That limits your choices later.

We would fry it. Add to noodles. Add soup ingredients.
Make a ragout type dish.

Mom uses it as a cooks TV dinner.
If we came in a 8 O'Clock, we had fried canned meat sandwiches. With a side.
Company showed up and she didn't have enough out for supper?

Something based on canned meat.

Back in the 1950's my mother served us canned pheasant that had to have been shot by her father years before. I think she put it up, and she was a home economics major in college at what is now North Dakota State (preparing, as they did in those days, to become a housewife).

It was completely fine. He died in 1944 and didn't 't do any hunting at the end, so you do the math,

Norm

We cut up the meat....2 deer quarters

Cleaned and filled the jars within an inch of the top and added salt and pepper

Screw on the lids and cook for 90 minuets with a 10PSI weight

Cool off and store

What is old becomes new again. Up until the thirties, and freezers became common place, a lot of meat was canned. A family certainly can not eat a 1000 lb beef carcass before it spoils, so much of it was canned.

County agents provided instructions and requirements, as well as Kerr or Ball canning books Proteins last a lot longer than fats in storage. Fats chemically decompose over time and become rancid. The rate of decomposition is dependent on temperature. Frozen fats remain tasty much longer than those stored at room temperature.

So trim all fat from meat before canning. And store in a very cool place to extend shelf life.

Mom used to can a lot of prepared stews or soups containing venison in half gallons. Just pour out and heat.

My mom and grandma would add some beef tallow to lessen the gamey taste of the deer and antelope that my dad would get in Wyoming when I was a kid. We loved it with gravy on bread. Dave

Do you screw the lids down real tight before boiling? Do you boil lids and jars first.

Its hard to beat canned peaches and pears.

We just washed the jars and lids before filling and cooking. As the lids go....we just tighten them up "finger" tight before cooking and re-check after they come out of the cooker.

When we cleaned out Mom and Dad's house in 1998, we found some green beans that she had put up a long long time ago. Finally found dates on a couple: 1944-1945. It looked good but none of us were brave enough to try it. 50+ years! Stored in closet in basement and never touched. I don't kn ow if she even remembered they were down there.

My mom canned everything. AS Ted mentioned, finger tight on the rings when you put the flats on. The flats should have a little dimple in the middle that is "up" before you cook them. The dimple should be "down" (vacuum sealed) when you take them out of the cooker. The flat should make a little snap or pop sound when you open the jar due to the dimple popping back up. IF the dimple is up, or, no "snap" when you open the jar, either it did not seal, or, it started to spoil. It gets pitched. With a good "snap", cook on...

Lets find out. This thread made me hungry.




If I don't report back tomorrow, you'll know 8 years was too long.

(BTW - that one on the left was actually pickles that are even older. The lid rotted out on it. All the others still look fine, but they probably need dumping.)

Are ya dead yet??

Can you cook it in BBQ sauce before canning so it opens up ready to go?

Yes. Ball even includes recipes in their canning book.

My Grandfather was 92 when he killed his last Wisconsin whitetail twenty some years ago. He canned the entire deer except the back straps. It made some mighty fine stew.

The real beauty of canning is that energy is put into the canning process once. Grandpa didn't care if the power went out for a while! He had his stew meat, and it wasn't going to spoil...

A friend used to can Thanksgiving dinner.

Use gallon jars i bet😄

I will have to get the Ball canning book. I always wanted to try canning meat but was told by the old folks that it was more dangerous unless you knew exactly how. Is there anything special to watch for other than sealing just like any canning.

I had the same fear RH, it's really simple and safe with a modern pressure cooker. Multiple relief valves. Just follow the simple directions for your altitude, cooking time and pressure. If you pull a jar off the shelf and you can pop the lid before opening chuck it. The thing I found interesting is it'll continue to boil in the jar after pulling them out of the pot for half an hour. Let the pressure drop on it's own before opening the cooker lid, I guess would be an additional tip, but it's really all in the booklet you get when you buy a cooker. Check out that link I posted earlier, pretty informative.

Zero danger.

No.

Amazing this thread popped up today. I spent the morning cutting up my Colorado elk and the wife just finished her canning. We love it. We'll grind the hamburger tomorrow. Steaks are wrapped and in the freezer. Going to be a good Winter.

Venison is good. Smoked salmon is really good too.

I ate some as a teen that my mom had canned several years before. 7 or 8 years? Just ate a jar of fish from '08. Wish me luck.

We only brine the salmon and smoke it about 1/2 done. Then can it and it finishes the cooking. Fantastik!!

We do a cold smoke. Makes the best and easiest salmon patties

People up here used to can meat using buffalo schit to fuel the fire.


Safe and easy today.

That sure sounds good.

bbassi get gets the most points since he's putting it all on the line. Nice pics as well.
Appreciate all the comments and guess I'll spend tomorrow rounding up the canner and a bunch of jars.
Deer season starts next weekend for me and my grandsons, and they are hot to get to it. It looks to be a good one here as I am seeing exceptional numbers of bucks.
Younger one helped me make 117# of sausage after last season, canning appears to be a little less work, so the idea sounds better and better, more so since I recently filled my freezers with a moose.
Why didn't I think of that?

(In my best Monty Python voice) I'm not dead yet! Although I really needed a nap after that one.

Seriously, If you do it correctly, it's just as safe as any other canned food. The trick with any meat or none acid food is to get the heat/time kill high enough to destroy any of the nasties that can cause you ill. That's why you NEED a pressure canner for meat. You can't get the jars hot enough without it to be absolutely sure IMO. I'll also plug the Ball canning book. tons of great info in there.

I've been canning the tough cuts of deer & elk for years. I have some on the shelf now that's probably 6 years old & I looked at it last week & I'm sure it's good. Just mash up some taters, heat up your canned meat & make a meal. Sure saves freezer space & those tough cuts are super tender. I like to add a small wedge of onion in each jar along with a bit of salt.

Dick

I just ate a canned venison salad sandwich, YUMMY

time and temp, or more precisely time and pressure.

Gotta kill the botulism and other nasties which live in stored low acid foods and which will kill you deader than hell.

Yup. Put your spices, if any, on top of the meat in the jar and process for 110 minutes at 10psi. It will keep for years.

We made moose meat brats one year and couldn't get enough fresh casings so we canned about 25 lbs of it. Came out great!

Ed

I ate some sure enough “tin canned” rats, that were old as hell, the last one I ate was the last one I ate. It was some kinda egg omelette that took two days for the can taste to pass.

You smoke it in a smoker? Smoke it 1/2 done?

Is the meat fully cooked prior to canning, or does it go in the jars raw?

Totally new stuff to me!!

Usually when you PRESSURE-BOIL something for 25-35 mins, at a few extra atmospheres

I'd say it's cooked.


As it cools, the vacuum is created and the seal

Pressure boiling in the pressure cooker allows you to exceed the 212 temp

Up to 230-240

Autoclaving your meat

Grewd up on "buckmeat" sandwiches. Thanks or posting, haven't canned anything in a few years... My freezer is full!

Folks in western N.C. still can meat using the water bath method. Today this is considered a dangerous method.

Here is very recent USDA information on meat canning. They set the standards for time and temperature/pressure that all the other reputable publishers try to follow. Free good info, courtesy of the US taxpayers.

Files are pdf, ready to print.

https://nchfp.uga.edu//publications/usda/GUIDE05_HomeCan_rev0715.pdf


--Bob

Nope, put it in raw, do not add water. I like beef bullion cubes and hot chili peppers.

Those numbers change with altitude. Just FYI.

I've heard tell before. Figured there'd be a few here.

Yes they do!

USDA says 90 minutes for quarts at sea level, but we do all meat and fish for 110 minutes using 10# weight, so altitude doesn't come into play. Just remember one setting and go for it!

Ed

I'm at 6k ft where its 14lbs for 90 minutes with quart jars.

Old science trick to get kids thinking was to boil water in a flask by pouring hot water in the flask and rubbing it with snow (or ice) and watching as the snow makes the water boil...

The boiling point of water is pressure dependent (the old P=V/T formula) and the lower the pressure the lower the boiling point. Theoretical boiling point of water in a vacuum is something on the order of -46 degrees.

Several points... I have found a huge difference between the flavor of meat that has been browned before canning and canned raw. I will not can it unless it has been browned, even though it is a PITA extra step.

I have also gone to retort bags instead of jar. They are the same as MRE bags. Put your food in the bag and seal it in a vacuum packer. Then it is packed in the canner and cooked just like jars. Because the bags fit better in the pressure cooker you get a WHOLE LOT more bags in there than you would jars. No more storing huge quantities of jars and lids and you can just drop the whole bag in boiling water to heat it up.

There are lots of YouTube videos on retort bag canning.

Left out the critical step of putting in a stopper after pouring in the hot water.

Guy 57 cans venison
a few weeks ago he came over with some mixed in a bowl with miracle whip and onions on crackers it was awesome
He has given me cans in the past its very good

I need to start doing it myself also
Hank

Dad told me when he went into Africa the rations they were eating were from just after the end of WWI.

The most important fact about canning venison is that the better the meat you put into the jar, the better the meat will be that comes out of the jar. You need to trim all of the tallow, as even a tiny piece will taint the whole jar, tendons and blood shot meat will do the same, take your time and use good quality clean meat and you will not be disappointed.

A simple and delicious stew.

Place your meat in the bottom of the qt. jar, about 1 1/2 -2 inches high. lightly pack with canning plunger to remove air.

add:
potatoes
onions
carrots
celery
seasonings
whatever you like in your stew.

Fill with water or broth.
Can according to directions (12 lbs-90 minuets)

A couple questions for you canning guys.

1) After the 90 minutes, do you follow the directions and let the pressure reduce naturally, or do you remove the weight and release it immediately?

2) All canning instructions say to never add starches like Rice or Noodles, or even flour as a thickener. Why. all the instruction say is "don't, it will not hold up", whatever that means.

I find that following the directions helps your survival rate while canning and reloading. So yes, I leave the weigh on. Botulism is not your friend. We've canned many many batches with nary an issue for many years. Usually August is canning time when we get the previous years remaining venison out of the freezer and on the shelf. Highly recommend.

Good stuff TT, Wifey cans deer venison just like that, I drained a jar a couple weeks ago, dumped it into a skillet, poured in some homemade vinegar bbq sauce she makes, warmed it up and dumped it on a big slab of homemade wheat bread toasted, then covered it with another slice of toast, it's the kind f sandwich you have to build and eat in a bowl, a really good, fast hot supper, two cold beers, a few whole jalapenos and a fork is all it takes!

I have enough home-canned goods in my basement to carry me through a nuclear winter.
One of our favorite quick dishes is a pint of canned venison warmed in a pan, add a pkg of brown gravy mix and water, pour over rice, noodles or bread.

I can half of it plain with just meat. 1/4 of it with a spoonful of Weber garlic and herb and I'll do the last 1/4 pretty hot but I'm the only one who enjoys it that way.

This winter I plan to can a bunch of chili and stew in addition to lots of meat. The heat and serve convenience during the busy summer months is appealing.

I have always let the pressure reduce naturally and not remove the weight. Wanting to be sure my meat is safe to eat, I followed instructions. Cutting corners is not worth getting sick over.

I have read that too about starches. I have never experiment to see why. If they say it does not hold up I follow their advise.

This is so true. Same with smoked salmon. Brightest freshest fish make the best smoked salmon. As far as the canning goes, yes we brine it and do everything like we are smoking it. Put it in the smoker and when it about 1/2 of what you think is done, take it out and can it.

I just told the wife we should do this and she wrinkled up her nose like a cow farted in her face. She said she used to have a neighbor that canned meat and it "looked disgusting."

"Did you try it?"




"No"




Wimmin...

He left stuff on his meat that I cut off but the meal he made looks good.

This thread motivated me to go run my last bag of odds and ends from last deer season through the canner in half pints. They’ll be lunch with some spicy crackers on the mountain next week during the CO third rifle season.

I haven't "froze" anything deer meat, save for a few neck roasts, in years. I cut out the straps and loins, cube and can the rest. The heart, liver, tongue, kidneys, straps and loins usually get eaten within a few days to a week. I cube it, do a rinse to rid the meat of excess blood, cold pack with no water, and into the pressure canner they go. I do pints because it's more practical, but my buddy does quarts as he has more mouths to feed. He uses a tablespoon of salt, I don't.

A few weeks back, I cracked the seal on a pint from 2012 (must have missed it in the rotation.) It was just fine.

I can a lot of potatoes, tomatoes, corn and peppers from the garden, along with jams, soups, sauces and just about everything else. My problem is, I run out of places to stow it in my little cabin.



Care to share your technique for canning the squirrel? I've always wanted to try it, but never have.

I've been thinking about getting into canning as well, but know "0" about it. Are there any pressure canners that are recommended? Any to stay away from? Looks like there is one by "All American" that are USA made, but a little pricey. They do have fantastic reviews though.

we have canned a lot of stuff, this goes back generations in my family always afraid of not having something to eat. And there have been times it was a good thing.
we have cases and cases of canned apples from the trees, and other vegetables. Quite a few years ago i saw a recipe of canning hamburger, supposed with a shelf life of over 8years. Every once in a while i will open one of those jars and it's still good.
In college at the cafeteria i liked something most didn't called sheppard's pie. A casserole dish filled with mashed potatoes, some meat, and vegetables.
So:::::
I have dehydrated mash potatoes in gallon cans i bought at a survivialist oriented store, gallon cans of dehydrated butter, our own vegetables and beef.
it works.

Well, after reading through this thread, watching a lot of videos on canning, and talking to folks who do can, and reviewing canners, I decided to jump into it with both feet. I bought an All American 30 qt canner, ball jars, extra lids, canner kit, ect. ect..

I thought why the heck are my freezers always stuffed so full, even after going through a 6 day period of power loss last year (late, heavy wet snow took down lines). I lost too many lbs of hard earned Elk that could have been saved by canning!

So, I want to thank you all, for what i learned from this thread!!

Respects,
Richard

or a basic $400 generator

Or a dc-ac power invertor hooked to your truck battery

I did buy two generators, 1 is a 15,000 wt for the main house, the other a 7,000 wt for the barn. Nither has any bearing on canning.

Thanks for your input!

I canned a bunch of rabbits a few years back when I was overrun with em. Just quartered em up, added chicken bouillon and hot peppers. Most tender rabbit I've ever eatin! I bone my old layin hens when they stop layin. Bone em out and a whole chicken fits in a quart jar. Excellent in soups and burritos! A chicken flavor you can't find in stores.

I spent the summer of 1973 up in the wilderness of Canada living and working with a big game guide. Lived in a log cabin with his girlfriend, a real mountain man.
We ate moose meat every day. Now, you whack a moose you got about 400 pounds of meat to deal with. These guys were off the grid to say the least.
They canned the moose meat. They had a root cellar dug down into the ground and they had many, many quarts of that canned moose meat. And that damn meat was just delicious!

when my son and nephew were little we made dried buffalo chit fire at Yellowstone, they were amazed you could burn chit. Good times.