canning venison without pressure cooker ?

jimbires

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Aug 16, 2011
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Can anyone tell me if you can do this without a pressure cooker. I have seen some recipes using the oven at a low temp for several hours. Has anyone done that? I'd appreciate the info if you have. thanks denise
 
I have never heard of doing it without a pressure cooker/cannner. You can sometimes find pressure cooker/canners at flee markets or second hand stores. You can often find them for less than the hundreds that they can cost new. I have had really good luck with the presto canner with the dial on top. You can find them online for $70-$80 dollars. It will last for years and is a worthy investment.
 
You can cold pack it and cook for three hours. Pack meat in Ball-Atlas quart canning jar, table spoon of salt and fill with water or beef broth. Seal jar and place in boiling water in a cold packer place lid on cooker and cook for three hours take out and let cool. Do not over fill jars but make sure meat is covered. You can use pint jars if you want but the process is the same.
 
Our "canning" guide says not to add water to the jars because the meat had enough natural fluid in it. We tried it and found the jars full of fluid, when we took them out of the pressure cooker.
 
I didn't say pressure canning. I said cold packing it is a different process. But it is possible you don't need to add fluids. It has been a long time since I canned meat.:mrgreen:

Quick note the with just pulled out the Ball Blue Book for canning it it clearly states to add gravy or juice to the jars before sealing and placing in the pressure cooker. We don't use a pressure cooker because she is scared of them even though I own three that were my mothers and my father ran them for her, she just filled the jars with what ever she was canning. Canning day at our house was several days long depending what veggy was in season. Anything that we grew was canned except potatoes which was stored in the root cellar. (y)
 
fellas I'm bringing this thread back up . Rodger , instead of PM'ing you again , I thought I'd just post it on here for all to see . thanks for your time , I appreciate it . I will buy the ball blue book of canning before next time .

this past weekend we gave canning vension a try . I did buy a pressure cooker . we had the meat prepped at home and took everything to Denises' camp to actually do the canning . she wanted to use the stove she has at camp ,instead of mine . I wanted to finish a project I had going on there , anyways so it worked out well . we did make a couple mistakes but it all seems to be ok . I think we boiled the cooker to hard . it boiled out of water with about 10 or 15 minutes cook time to go . I thought I could smell the venison towards the end of the cooking , but I'm not sure , it could have been the cooker running dry ?? the jars all sealed and it all looks good . we had to sample some tonight . it's very tasty and tender . there is work involved , but I'd say it's worth it . she packed the jars fairly tight and left about an inch of space at the top . only thing added was a teaspoon of salt . I'm not sure if it's normal to cook down this much .







tasted great .






don't mind the mess , it's really cluttered up . I've got the place a disaster . I've been changing the screened in back porch in to a living room area with a woodburner .took screens out, put windows in .

first fire !

 
Looks delicious and homey! Nicely done - should be delicious! Makes me sad andf home sick. (sorry not to high jack a thread) My Grandmother used to can beef in the canner, not a pressure cooker. I would give a $100 bucks for a quart of her beef. Venison was Grandpas department. He brined and dried a ham or two each fall we had deer. By Christmas there was a ham hanging in the cold bed rooms upstairs. Home made bread and butter and sliced dried venison is better than any thanksgiving turkey. Thanks CL
 
not a high jack at all CL . I know just what you mean . the guys will post things that take me for a walk down memory lane too . I don't think I've ever had dried vension , it sounds good though . I had a Grandmother that did it all , I wish I paid more attention .
 
Jim, I'm glad it worked out for you next time ad some water and the jars will be full.

CL sounds like Grandpa did what we do with hog hams. We would take a ham and pack it with salt and pepper place in a cloth bag and hang in the smoke house to cure. It's what most Southern people call country cured ham or Va cured. Curing meat in this manner has been done for ever.
 
The condensing down of the meat is fairly normal. Though next time when you pack the meat into the jars really PACK it in. Try to get all of the air out, a small spatula or plastic knife run around the edges will help immensely in this. You never want to let the canner run out of water in the process though. Two reasons. One it will ruin/warp your canner and you're out a fair investment. Two, you won't be at pressure/temp any longer due to loss of steam which could make the product unsafe to eat after a short time. Just because a jar seals doesn't mean it's correct. You can take a jar of hot liquid and stick it in the fridge and it will "seal" as the liquid cools, though it's definitely not canned or shelf stable. Normally I fill the canner about 1/2-2/3 the way up the side of whatever size jars I'm canning in. It's more than recommended but it doesn't hurt anything and is better than the alternative of running dry. It's a learning process but follow the published rules and you'll be safe. After a while it'll be second nature. When you really get into it I recommend upgrading to an All American canner like the one pictured. No gaskets to worry about and replace and a much higher quality item. It's an investment but your grandkids will be using it 75 yrs from now if you take care of it.
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Stroganoff looks great. That's a go to with a lot of the canned moose/caribou in my house. Legendary

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thanks for the tips fellas ! if I remember right we used 3 QT of water in the cooker . D21Alaska , your canner is a lot better built than the one I got . mine warns against using it over a burner like you are doing . I'd bet a burner would ruin mine quickly . your canning looks great .
 
Thank you for the compliments Jim. It's an All American canner and the biggest one, 41.5 quart, that they make. It weighs roughly 25lbs. empty and will last a lot longer than I will. Like I said above its a sizable investment but if canning is something that you want to get into more often than the odd occasion then it's well worth it. They also offer multiple size options over a range of prices that are all just as heavy duty as mine, just smaller. I typically can a couple hundred pints at least and about a hundred quarts of different stuff throughout the year so I went big to cut down on overall processing time. It looks like yours is a Presto? Those are absolutely fine and there's nothing wrong with them for more occasional use. I know plenty of people who use them. Just keep an eye on your gaskets and replace when necessary. Have fun with it and don't be afraid to experiment.

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Oh and don't worry too much about measuring the actual volume of water you add to the canner. Do the 1/2-2/3 up the sides of the jars and keep your pressure correct/consistent and you won't have any problems running out of water in it again.

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thanks again for the tips on canning . you are correct my canner is a presto .
 
I need to try some of this this year with elk and deer. Great stuff. Thank you
 
Scotty , the canned venison is fantastic . a little worked involved , but well worth it .
 
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