[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Jars (now with 106% more venison) (Page 2 of 12)
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Quoted: Quoted: The whole deer?  Most of one...still leave some stakes out, but wonding about doing it this year...need to do more research on this before I really jump on it.. Blacktails yield 40-60 lbs of butchered meat IIRC. We were putting about 3/4 lb of meat in each pint sized jar. Ground meat or cubed meat would allow you to put a bit more in each jar. As mentioned earlier in this thread, canned venison is very good eating. The stuff I've eaten the most of was done in pints, cubed meat, 3/4 tsp of salt per jar, and water. (follow your canners directions for the rest) Good eats! Good luck! |
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Something I do a little different that I have found works very well is to actually smoke the fish in the jar just before canning. I use a dry brine overnight, rinse and let glaze. Pack into jars then smoke until desired level. Wipe the surface where the lid will seal then can as usual. This works very well for salmon and albacore.
Looks mighty tasty! |
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Quoted: Something I do a little different that I have found works very well is to actually smoke the fish in the jar just before canning. I use a dry brine overnight, rinse and let glaze. Pack into jars then smoke until desired level. Wipe the surface where the lid will seal then can as usual. This works very well for salmon and albacore. Looks mighty tasty! Very interesting. That would have saved a huge mess in the smoker. I'll keep that in mind for next time. |
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Quoted: OdT, if you're interested, I've got a recipe for pickled asparagus. Seems pretty simple, but I've never tried doing it myself. I've tasted it, though, and it's damned good. I just sampled some pickled asparagus that my step-mom brought back from a place near Whistler, BC last week. Phucking phenomenal!!! The ingredients are on the label, but they won't share the recipe, (family recipe of a few generations back, I hear). Swear to any god.... may be the most delicious thing I've ever tasted out of a jar. No shit. Funny part is, I didn't even want to taste them.... never really a big fan of asparagus, ...until now  Excellent!  Please post it. I'm considering a pickled salmon recipe for our next venture.... I did it "right" once, back in my early 20s, but can't remember much about it except for how fast it disappeared. Mouth waters every time I think about it. |
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Quoted: I just sampled some pickled asparagus that my step-mom brought back from a place near Whistler, BC last week. Phucking phenomenal!!! The ingredients are on the label, but they won't share the recipe, (family recipe of a few generations back, I hear). Swear to any god.... may be the most delicious thing I've ever tasted out of a jar. No shit. Funny part is, I didn't even want to taste them.... never really a big fan of asparagus, ...until now Excellent! Please post it. I was the same way. I hated asparagus when I was a kid. One of the guys at welding school brought in a jar of pickled asparagus that his wife made and I tried some. Ended up eating all of it! I love asparagus now (especially steamed and with a little hollandaise sauce).  Here is his wife's recipe. Pickled Asparagus Using 5 lbs. asparagus, wash well and soak in ice water while you are preparing the 6 1-pint jars. Place ½ clove of garlic, 1 tsp. dill seed, 1 tsp. mustard seed and 6 peppercorns in the bottom of each jar. Place asparagus, tips up, in jar. Don’t waste the tender ends. Can them also for bite-sized treats. Bring 8 cups water, 2 ½ cups white vinegar, 3 tbsp. pickling salt and ½ cup white sugar to a boil. Pour over asparagus. Process in hot bath for 5-6 minutes. Like I said, it seems pretty simple. I'd be tempted to put 1-3 dried red peppers in each jar to give them a little kick. |
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The beef, and apples, look very delicious in my opinion.
I can recall that my grandmother, and mother, would can and jar many things. I can remember salsa, and soups/stews, various vegetables, and the like. When I went into my grandmothers basement when I was young, there would be shelves upon shelves of these things. This memory is one that has not escaped me yet, and yet I remember all instances of it- I never heard of my grand parents talking of the depression, but they never forgot what it was like due to the observations that I had observed and remembered as a child. |
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Quoted: This is making want to get into canning. What is the pressure cooker that you are using? How long will canned meat last and do you have to refrigerate it or will a cool dark basement room do? The brand name is Presto, but I didn't really pick it out.... I just got the biggest one that the store had. ($99 IIRC) If I were to buy another pressure canner, I'd look for the largest one available, assuming that they make larger ones for home cooktops. According to one canning manual I read, all canned foods can be stored safely for up to one year. Ideal conditions are a dark and dry place, within 50-70 degrees (F). Thanks for everyones kind words  . If you're on the fence about it, jump right in. It's a rewarding and fun thing to do, and it's a wholesome way to bring couples and/or families together. We've gotten where we now watch for sales on meat on weekends, (some we vacuum seal and freeze, others we can), and it beats our old routine of spending money at movie theaters on hollywoods latest trash, or some other mindless BS. |
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Somewhere around here is OdT's vacuum packing thread...now if only I could find it...
edit: I found it on Google...it is in the archive though so I can only see the first post. I seem to remember there only being one important photo, so at least I saw the good stuff. One of these days I'll pony up some money.
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Quoted: OP this thread was one of the major reasons I got into canning. Please continue to update/post with your canning adventures. Thanks! That's as fine of a compliment as I could recieve. Thank you I'll be sure to update any new stuff as we do it. I mentioned in another thread that I did a batch of beef not long ago, and used water and salt only, instead of the garlic cloves & broth. I also charred the meat a bit longer on the grill/smoker* before processing. We tried some of it the other night in a spanish rice dish, and the entire family agreed it was a drastic improvement in natural flavors. Both recipes are good, but the latter is better, in our opinion. FYI. *On the grill/smoker thing mentioned in this thread several times, but never fully explained- This thread was started in the Washington State Hometown forum of this site, so it wasn't really meant to be here, in an illustrative format. Had I known where the thread would go, I'd have started it here, and would have been more serious about showing and explaining it all. In that arfcom forum, we've all discussed outdoor grills many times. And, most of the people posting in this thread have been to my home and eaten off the grill..... so I've omitted the details on the grill/smoker used. Anyhow, we use the Traeger Grill. It's an awesome tool, and it's extremely easy to use. Google will turn up all the info anyone needs about them, but I just want to clarify that a large part of the flavors that we're enjoying are attributed to the use of a the Treager, rather than a conventional gas or briquette BBQ. Basically, you can add as much or as little natural smoke flavor to the meat as desired. The same could be achieved with a conventional smoker obviously. The charred flavor however needs higher heat, so this is part of where the Traeger grills shine. If we didn't have one of them already, I'd still be tempted to throw meats on any grill prior to canning. The flavors achieved on outdoor grills would be sorely missed, IMO. Hope that all makes sense. |
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Quoted: Somewhere around here is OdT's vacuum packing thread...now if only I could find it... edit: I found it on Google...it is in the archive though so I can only see the first post. I seem to remember there only being one important photo, so at least I saw the good stuff. One of these days I'll pony up some money. I had forgotten about that thread. But, I think the pic you're referring to is on page two of this thread. It's the only one I have left over from when we did it. Short update on that; I'm not sure when we did that (early 08 maybe?), but all of those foods are holding up very well and they taste just as fresh as on day one. We've gone through well over half of the rice, and maybe 1/3 of the whole wheat flour and pinto beans too. We'll be doing another run of those this Fall to re-stock. The kidney beans and the navy beans have been more difficult to work in to our normal daily use, since I haven't found a decent chili recipe to get really excited about, and I seem to be the only one in the house who gets excited about navy bean soup. Gotta explore some new recipes I suppose. |
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Quoted: OdT - Which vacuum sealer do you have? I am in the market for one..... It's a Foodsaver V2490. It has held up, but has also been somewhat temperamental. Sometimes it overheats, and you have to take a break. Unfortunately, the commercial type units that would allow you to hustle through the work, are much more expensive. |
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Quoted: Quoted: OdT - Which vacuum sealer do you have? I am in the market for one..... It's a Foodsaver V2490. It has held up, but has also been somewhat temperamental. Sometimes it overheats, and you have to take a break. Unfortunately, the commercial type units that would allow you to hustle through the work, are much more expensive. Good info. Thanks. I was contemplating a commercial unit earlier this year, but I just couldn't justify that kind of cash for one. |
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Todays efforts, with another dinner prep pictorial using the original beef. A picnic ham, and some boneless skinless chicken thighs.  Needs less bone and fat.  Done.  Slicing the grilled chicken for better jar packing.  Pressure canner in progress, fresh bell peppers out of the garden precooking, and some rice steaming  Dinner: Stuffed bell peppers. Yum.   Ready for the oven. With lotza mozzarella, and some more chili powder on top.  Chicken on the left. Ham on the right. Blueberry muffins in the center. (convection toaster ovens make 'em look weird, but they taste just right ) |
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Now that the ham has cooled, it's apparent that it has more fat than any of the rest of the meats we've canned, (notice the layer of fat at the top of each jar). It's also interesting how much the ham darkened while in the cooker. None of the other meats changed nearly that much, as the ham was very light pink before processing.  We added water only to the ham, and heated it in the oven instead of the grill. (1.5hrs at 325 degrees, after slicing) |
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How much of this have you actually gone back and eaten later?
I would be curious to see how much of it is good. I'm not doubting you, rather, I'm curious if you've eaten any of what you've put up (and if it has been good). I would just hate for you to do all this work, and then find out a few months later that it tastes horrid. 
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Quoted: How much of this have you actually gone back and eaten later? I would be curious to see how much of it is good. I'm not doubting you, rather, I'm curious if you've eaten any of what you've put up (and if it has been good). I would just hate for you to do all this work, and then find out a few months later that it tastes horrid. We've eaten about a dozen each of the chicken and beef, two of the pork, and 5 of the salmon. We've posted some pics of some of the meals we've made with the product here in the thread, and there are also some recipe changes written out in a few of my prior posts in this thread. But to answer you more directly, it's all turned out very good. We have found some improvements along the way, but none of the first batches will go to waste by any means. I'm curious to try the ham that we did yesterday ASAP too. |
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That fat layer looks interesting on the top of the ham jars. Reminds me of the BBQ sauce I canned awhile back.
That recipe has butter in it, and after the cans sit for awhile the butter rises to the top. Personally I don't think it looks particularly appealing  so the next time we make that BBQ sauce I'm going to do it without the butter. I doubt it will make much difference in the taste, and cutting out that amount of fat will be a good thing.
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After reading dozens of recipes for pickled salmon yesterday, here's what we settled on. Pickled King Salmon- 15 1/2 pints Pickling Ingredients:
 Mix salmon with brine ingredients listed above. (These were switched to a large stainless bowl after the pic was taken, for easier stirring) Refrigerate for 24 hours and stir several times. Complete curing can be verified by slicing a larger piece in half, and viewing an even and slightly opaque look across the entire cut.  Next day. Ingredients ready.  Rinse the cubes thoroughly with cold water. Soak salmon in a bowl of cold water for 1/2 hour then rinse thoroughly again. Repeat both once more.  Lightly boil the pickling solution ingredients, (all above in the list, except the lemons and onions), for 1/2 hour. Allow to cool to room temperature before packing jars. (I put the open pot on a cooling rack and pointed a portable fan at it)  After complete rinsing of the salmon, place on towel and allow to dry for 1 hour. A slight glaze will form on the pieces.  Slice Lemons and onions  Layer as pictured, in any alternating order you prefer. After this first jar, I discovered that the pickling spices will all be trapped on top if some of the pickling solution isn't added before stacking the ingredients. Stir the pot before each scoop of solution, to ensure even spread of the spices in each jar.  15 jars, ready for the refrigerator. Most recipes say to refrigerate for at least 48 hours before eating. I'll share the results later in the week.  |
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Great post OdT
How much I like to smoke,cook and experiment with food I can't believe I don't own a pressure cooker by now. 
I'm going to work on that. ETA: I helped my son-in -law butcher chickens a few weeks ago and kept all the gizzards and pickled them. Still waiting to try them. GM |
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Great thread. This is our second year doing a garden and we are planning to can this year, I never really thought to can meat. I definitely want to do some apple sauce, pickles and tomatoes this year. I always cook with low sugar too, everything is too damn sweet! I also got a vacuum sealer so I think I may blanch and vacuum pack some squash and zucchini, I may try canning it too though. I tend to like frozen veggies better then canned but it may be better being "home canned" I would imagine. Great info here thanks for sharing. What other stuff do you can? Just getting started with the canning really, and haven't decided where to stop at yet. We're not too terribly crazy about all the vegetables, (prefer frozen with most stuff), but we'll do some green beans and some tomato sauces later on, when they ripen. We'll also do some pears and apples then I think. The vacuum sealer is a lot of fun. We played with that idea a little last year too. http://media.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=2940 How do you keep your bags flat? Mine always bunch up with a big lump in the middle. |
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Quoted: Great post OdT How much I like to smoke,cook and experiment with food I can't believe I don't own a pressure cooker by now. I'm going to work on that. ETA: I helped my son-in -law butcher chickens a few weeks ago and kept all the gizzards and pickled them. Still waiting to try them. GM Thanks GM. I think you'll enjoy the having the pressure canner around. It's sure been a lot of fun for us. Pickled gizzards is a new idea to me. Please let us know how they turn out. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Great thread. This is our second year doing a garden and we are planning to can this year, I never really thought to can meat. I definitely want to do some apple sauce, pickles and tomatoes this year. I always cook with low sugar too, everything is too damn sweet! I also got a vacuum sealer so I think I may blanch and vacuum pack some squash and zucchini, I may try canning it too though. I tend to like frozen veggies better then canned but it may be better being "home canned" I would imagine. Great info here thanks for sharing. What other stuff do you can? Just getting started with the canning really, and haven't decided where to stop at yet. We're not too terribly crazy about all the vegetables, (prefer frozen with most stuff), but we'll do some green beans and some tomato sauces later on, when they ripen. We'll also do some pears and apples then I think. The vacuum sealer is a lot of fun. We played with that idea a little last year too. http://media.ar15.com/media/viewFile.html?i=2940 How do you keep your bags flat? Mine always bunch up with a big lump in the middle. We put a thick cutting board up next to the vacuum sealer so it matches the height better. Then with the bag ready to seal, and in the sealer, we place a smaller (sames size as bags) cutting board on top of each full bag, and tap & wiggle with downward pressure until the desired shape is achieved. A rolling pin worked better than the second cutting board on the finer stuff. Especially with the flour. |
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Waiting on the vacuum sealer to cool so we can keep working at a normal rate has been a drag lately. So today we looked at the commercial units for $499. But to be honest, that's more equipment than I want to own. Maybe we'll end up regretting it, but we decided just to double up on the home models, and alternate between the two machines as we work to prevent overheating. We also picked up 75 lbs of food to process today, so we'll give our idea a whirl this afternoon. The new unit (V2830) also came with a mason jar sealer as one of the accessories. We just tested it and it worked like a charm. That'll be handy for all sorts of things since we already have plenty of jars to work with.  Post-use edit; The two machines worked very well together. Way faster processioning. In fact we're already done with all 75 lbs. (25 lbs ground beef. 50 lbs white rice.) We still managed to overheat both machines a few times, but we were getting after it pretty aggressively. Overall, the pace the two sealers can run at is acceptable with two people working them. Somebody asked earlier about getting the packages flat so they can be stacked easily. On ground meat, we vacuum seal the portions and then place a cutting board over the package with downward pressure. Then I spread them around the freezer as much as possible to ensure the meat freezes quickly. After freezing overnight, I'll organize and stack the meat packages in one of the freezer drawers. Pics    |
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Have you ever had any of your FoodSaver bags lose their seal/vacuum?
My mom has one of the early FoodSaver units (at least 7ish years old now) and she'll occasionally give some frozen foods to my wife and I. Every now and then one of them will lose the vacuum so they just look like normal bags rather than vacuum sealed. |
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Quoted: Have you ever had any of your FoodSaver bags lose their seal/vacuum? My mom has one of the early FoodSaver units (at least 7ish years old now) and she'll occasionally give some frozen foods to my wife and I. Every now and then one of them will lose the vacuum so they just look like normal bags rather than vacuum sealed. I've had commercial stuff do the exact same, (seafood from Alaska in each case), so we always use up any loose bags first. But no, we haven't had any failures of our own, with anything frozen anyhow. On the dry goods we have though, for two known reasons; Rice is exceptionally sharp, and it doesn't take much handling to puncture a bag. Treat them with care. And, we also first mistakingly stored many sealed bags where pets had access to them. The kittens had their way with many of them, while clawing. Lesson learned. |