Last fall I took the plunge and started canning meats. After a couple years of experimenting with purchasing and using canned meats from the grocery store, it was time to introduce some variety by canning my own.
Soups, beans, lentils and casseroles all lend themselves to using canned meats. I've used canned hams, turkey, beef, tuna (yes it is fish not meat) and Spam. Chopped Spam is very useful in a pinch but it's not something I would want to eat 3 or 4 days a week. We try to keep a variety of canned meats at both houses just in case. Due to my chicken allergy, you will notice an obvious lack of chicken in this discussion. Remember that you can pretty much interchange chicken for turkey or pork & vice versa.
There were 2 reasons for beginning to can my own meat. The first was based on reading a blog where the writer lost electricity for 2 weeks. All their meat was in their freezer. Since the loss of electricity was due to a storm, they knew they were not going to get it back on anytime soon. So they immediately began to can all the meat in their freezer. They were able to save almost everything. While our electric service is pretty reliable, it has been off a number of times due to severe weather. The second reason has to do with the instability of our country. What would happen if we needed to be more self sufficient overnight, if there is a weather emergency or civil unrest? While there are many ways to preserve meat, one of the easiest seemed to be canning. We'll get to the others eventually in other blogs.
So last year, I purchased extra meat for several months and tried my hand at canning a variety of meat using different methods. Things that turned out well included pre-browned ground beef, pre-browned ground beef and onions, dry packed pork loin cubes, dry packed beef cubes (used a variety of cuts all successful), pre-browned Italian sausage crumbles and pre-cooked turkey. Things that were not so successful were boneless dry packed pork chops and Italian sausage crumbles. The pork chops fused into a large hard block of meat in the jar. Not sure if I'm even going to try pork chops again. The success of pre-browned Italian sausage crumbles seemed to be dependent upon the brand which is likely due to the spices used. Johnsonville Italian sausages, removed from the casing, was our favorite.
Not only was the canning successful but the quick dinner prep is a real plus. Any recipe calling for ground beef or sausage crumbles can be fixed much more quickly. We've used the canned meats for tacos, Sloppy Joe's, spaghetti sauce, pizzas, casseroles (like Shepherd's pie), soups, stews, lentils, beans and the list goes on & on. It would be so convenient to have many jars to use this summer when the bulk of my time will be spent outside. Just don't forget to check the seal, check the smell/appearance and boil the meat for 10 minutes (or the equivalent) before serving.
Which brings up my really big fail from last year. I made beef broth and turkey broth to use in the hot pack method of canning the meat. What was left was canned to use as broth for soups, etc. There are so many recipes that call for a cup or two of chicken broth that I thought it would be great to have 1/2 pint jars of turkey broth on hand. I removed as much fat as I could and canned 10 of the 1/2 pint jars of turkey broth. In addition, I did several pint jars. After 24 hours, all the jars looked sealed so I removed the rings, wiped down the jars, tested the seals and put them in the guest room closet with a lot of the other canned goods. Several months later, I pulled out the first 1/2 pint jar when I needed some "chicken" broth. On inspection, the top inch or so of the liquid was fairly cloudy. To my dismay, the lid came off easily so it was evident that the seal had failed. I pulled out the entire box and all the 1/2 pint jars were in the same condition. Fortunately, the pint jars were OK. So I had to throw out the entire batch of 1/2 pint jars.
Has anyone had success with canning broth in 1/2 pint jars? If so, did you do anything special? More on canning meats in the next post.
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
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