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How to Pressure Can Meat

I've been canning meat for all of my married life--mostly beef and pork. My mother taught me how. I love taking canned meat with us when we go on vacation--no need for refrigeration, as long as the jar is sealed. I love coming home on those days I've forgotten to plan, and being able to pop open a jar, knowing we can have something hot and nutritious in 30 minutes or so. I love the taste of home canned beef or pork, fried* in a cast iron skillet until it's on the edge of crispy. Nothing better.

Granny Miller is a blog written by a down-to-earth libertarian who does great tutorial posts. She's just done a post on pressure canning meat that I would recommend. I notice she doesn't give instructions for how long to pressure can meat--trust me, it is a long process. Consult your pressure canner's instruction book for time and pressure settings specific to your canner.

Oh, and if Granny's politics or rhetoric offend you, don't let me know about it. I'm posting a link because she's one of the few bloggers I've found teaching the old, simple ways.

*Basically all you're doing is heating up the already-cooked meat. But there's something about cooking away all the meat juices in a cast iron skillet that makes it taste so much better! Takes about 30 minutes, depending on how hot your skillet is.

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Comments

  1. MulchandmoreMay 16, 2011 at 6:23 PM

    Brings back memories, I've enjoyed canned fish, chicken,beef and venison. Once raised chickens that just the drumstick was too tall to fit a quart jar, so ended parboiling and deboning. Have an old canning book from grandma with instructions on how to arrange the chicken pieces to fit a whole fryer in a quart jar-it can be done!

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  2. Cary ~ My Wool Mitten at Serenity FarmsMay 18, 2011 at 7:21 AM

    Especially fried in butter, right Lona?

    You've got my stomach growling this early morning just thinking about it! By the way, I enjoy Granny Miller, too!

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  3. LonaMay 18, 2011 at 5:53 PM

    Mulch, a whole chicken in a quart jar? Must not be the plumped up overweight broilers we see in the stores (oh, yeah, you did say "fryer").

    Cary, never thought to fry it in butter. The way I can it there's fat enough to spare without the butter. Shhhh, don't tell my sis-in-law, the dietician...

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