Pressure cooker.

http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_displa...=3&tax_subject=358&topic_id=1610&level3_id=5942&level4_id=0&placement_default=0

 

Get a pressure cooker it is worth the time and effort to can meats.

get quart jars, your favorite BBQ sauce, and find chicken wings when they are on sale and can away.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by hot water bath but you don't have to use a pressure canner to can meat. It just works faster. This is how I can deer meat: Chunk up your meat put it in the cans, put in about a tea spoon of salt for a pint jar, or about a table spoon for a quart jar. Some people like to include beef bullion or spices. Put the lids and rings on them. The pot I use takes about an hour to bring to a boil on a wood stove. Lower the cans into the pot and cook for about 2 hours. Check the water level from time to time, and refill water to keep it up to the top of the cans. Keep'er a boiling.

Canned deer meat is a delicacy. I shipped some to myself in Iraq during last deployment.

 

I'm sorry, but this is not safe. Meats require much higher temps to kill all the microbes than do high acid veggies.

 

pressure cooker

 

Pressure cooker. Keep an eye out at garage sales or thrift shops. Then have the gage tested by the county ag office.

 

Pressure cooker. Keep an eye out at garage sales or thrift shops. .

But make sure dirt daubers and spiders have filled in the pressure relief hole.

When stuff like that is stored for a long time, insects like to make homes out of little holes.

 

If you do a Google search on canning meat you can find the USDA guides on best practices. They are available free as pdf download. All the experts agree that a pressure canner is a requirement for canning meat safely.

Hot water Bath canners only reach 212F which may not sufficiently kill all the Botulism spores. By raising the pressure of water it takes a higher temperature to boil. That is the purpose of pressure canning, higher temperature.

I notice that they suggest boiling your previously caned meat for 20 minutes before serving it as additional caution.

Sorry Rambo, but you were taking a large risk even if nothing has happened to you. Many things that old timers did have been found out to be unwise. Many of those old timers suffered for that learning.

 

Sorry Rambo, but you were taking a large risk even if nothing has happened to you. Many things that old timers did have been found out to be unwise. Many of those old timers suffered for that learning.

I know people around here who have lived active lives until ages 80-90 years. You can't ask for more than that. My grand pa is 80 and he still farms. His momma died in 1994 at age 94. She dipped snuff and worked her garden probably until up in her 80s. How did these people suffer?

Haven't you people ever noticed in this day and age that there is always some doctor or scientist with a study telling you that eating this or that, or doing this or that will kill you. Not to mention prescribing you pills that most of the side effects are worse than the reason they are prescribing it to you to begin with.

Just saying.

 

I just ordered a pressure canner from Amazon. There is NO WAY I would can low acid veggies or meat without one. My wife usually cans tomatoes (high acid) and puts up preserves. With my enlarged garden I will be pressure canning a lot this year. To recomend not pressure canning is irresponsible to say the least.

 

The best "how to" regarding canning meats that I have ever seen is the following link

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/clay105.html

 

As others said, definitely need a pressure cooker. You should be using a pressure cooker for tomatoes too unless you are adding some lemon juice or something to bring up the acidity.

 

Besides, they're just so handy to have around. I cook whole turkeys in them sometimes, then can the meat and the broth.

 

Another advantage to having a pressure canner is that you can use it as a boiling water method if you want. Alternately, you can pressure can fruits and other high acid foods in less time / fuel than a boiling water canner would require.

Personally, I only have a pressure canner and used to use that for all my canning of fruits and other low-acid foods.

I haven't done any canning since I moved to Kentucky (nearly 6 years now) -- you all are making me want to start up again!

 

I have done the same with my deer meat as John Rambo.....and lived to tell about it! Almost exactly the same. (processed 3 hours in the hot water canner)

However the more I know.......

like you can only reach 212 deg, and that's not quite hot enough to kill all bacteria.

And, with my pressure canner it gits a LOT hotter and only takes 90 minutes.

And, I will vote to be safe and not take unneccesary risks.

 

Buy a quality pressure canner that will last a life-time. You family is worth it!

There is a considerable difference between the pastured livestock and game that is home processed in sanitary conditions vs. livestock that have been feedlot fed, medicated, and processed in a plant that runs 2 shifts/day, nearly every day of the yr.

My theory is if the old timers canned the commercial beef the way they canned their own meats, they wouldn't have gotten along as well as they did.

 

I just bought a second pressure canner. So now I can go full bore.

 

Ya know, Im not convinced there is any reason to continue on in this argument. You can go to any discussion forum on the internet that deals with food preservation and you will find this exact same argument. Virtually word for word.

Im not the kind of person to recommend or follow what some "authority" says.. but in my mind food safety IS important. I have had food poisoning twice in the last 10 years. And no, not from my home kitchen, it was fast food. At any rate, it sucked beyond belief! I couldn't imagine what botulism would be like. You would probably pray to die..

If you care so little about yourself and those who might eat your food.. then by all means, do whatever you like. But don't recommend some process that has CLEARLY been shown to be incorrect to a newbie. Countless people HAVE died.. both now and way back then.

 

I didn't see a link for AAC yet, so here it is:

http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamericanpressurecanner.htm

Awesome product and good service.

 

I use the 25 quart model... excellent product. My grandkids will inherit it. It's a tank.

 

Local Amish can a whole beef per household each year.

Use basic canning jars and pressure cookers.

 

Not just a cooker, get a pressure canner. At some altitudes a cooker might do it. But they do not allow adjustment of the pressure. I have a presto canner which will hold 7 quarts, and 14 pint, and a big All-American canner which will hold 14 quart jars and 19 pints. This means I can can about 20 pounds of meat at a time in the big canner. Get a Ball Blue Book or there are numerous county agent sites that you can download canning info from. I love canning meat...I've canned chicken, beef, pork. I also can spaghetti sauce with meat, stew, chicken soup,....lots of stuff. If you can anything with meat, you should follow the guidelines for meat...not for the other ingredients. The only thing I haven't canned so far is fish..although I've had carp that others have canned. Works out really well, and is similar to tuna once canned. Canning makes the bones soft so you don't have to worry about them. And..while it's on my mind..you can get reusable lids that are safe to use with modern jars. The lids and rings are reusable although the rings will eventually wear out.

Here's a link...
www.reusablecanninglids.com/

 

Safety notwithstanding, you will lose more meat to failed seals, especially quart jars, simply because the boiling water bath canning will on occasion not get some small piece of meat hot enough. So why bother with something that can cause you to lose precious nutrition? Much less increase the chance of botulism? A big All American canner is an investment; costs between 2 to 4 hundred dollars, and is made in America, built like a tank, and will last a lifetime. It comes with weights, has no gasket, so is unlikely to need parts often if ever. An investment, yes, but worth it...IMHO. But each to his own....

 

My parents, grandparents, in-laws all canned tons of meat without pressure cookers. I did some too.

If there is any kind of bacteria left in the jar after canning it will start multiplying and producing gases. If the lid is tight after some time in storage is was always safe to eat. All that pressure cookers stuff if for perfectionists. Once in the while you get a bad jar with bulging lid.... dogfood. If dogs to not eat it throw it away. Big deal.

 

Botulism doesn't give off gas and the toxins do not smell, but are deadly.

 

There is a difference between a 'pressure canner' and a 'pressure cooker'. I see the words being used interchangeably here but they are not quite the same thing and the distinction can be important to someone new to canning.

Please don't 'can' in what you may call a pressure cooker unless it has BOTH a valve and a pressure guage. Many pressure cookers do not have the latter and should not be used for canning.

A pressure canner can be used as a pressure cooker - although it is generally very large and more unwieldy so for the smaller amounts you might want to cook for a regular meal most won't bother pulling it out - but not the other way round.

edit to add: Should have read the entire thread before I commented. My bad. Bontemps posted the same point on the previous page. He is right.

 

:Thats a SHE!....

 

Wow! Thanks!!! No hot water canning for my meats.

 

Something that may have gotten lost in this discussion is the fact that simmering botulism contaminated canned meat makes it safe to eat in the short term. Simmering breaks down the toxins in just a few minutes.

The way I see this useful in real life:

You buy 40 lbs of chicken hind quarters and can the leaner meat in a water bath.

When you open a jar to make chicken and dumplings you will recook the meat and neutralise any botulism toxins. The recook makes it safe for the usual left over time.

 

My pressure canner does NOT have a gauge. It has a weighted jiggler. You can tell if it's the right pressure by the sound.

 

Those work too! I've got several smaller pressure cooker / canners, some of them pretty old that belonged to my mother, and they've got jigglers. Two even have disk-like jigglers with three holes, each with a different pressure setting (5 lbs, 10 lbs, 15 lbs). They work perfectly - you get them to the point they jiggle maybe once a minute as you're cooking so you know the pressure's right - but because they're only 6 quart or so I can only use them for pint jars. When it's time to do quart jars, that's when I bring out the American 921... :

 

I guess I've just never understood these kind of arguements where someone will argue for a less safe method of something when a safer one exists.

To me, that's like saying "I've driven my whole life without seatbelts, and so have my family and neighbors and none of them died."

I've been driving for 35 years and if I had never worn a seatbelt, I would still be alive too. But that's because I've never been in an accident.

 

That argument is dumb'er than a box of rocks.