Spent some time this week canning most of what I bought. The bacon went in to the freezer. There are some blogs that reportedly have had success with canning bacon. But it's not recommended by the USDA so I just freeze mine. As long as you use it within about 6 months, you don't even have to re-wrap most brands. And I always try to have bacon on hand.
I purchased a 15 # turkey, a 5# pork loin, 2 packages of pork tenderloins; a family pack of ground beef & 4 packages of sweet Italian sausage. With the exception of the turkey, which I baked yesterday, everything has been canned. I only had quart jars left and I filled 13 jars. Each jar will provide enough meat for 2 meals for Papa & me.
From L - R: pork tenderloins, pork loin chunks, Italian sausage, ground beef, whole brats
Here's what I did. First, I prepared all the meat. Trimmed the pork, cooked the ground meat, etc. Then I filled all the jars. I poured in the boiling water and then cleaned the rim/mouth of each jar really well. It is really important to clean the top of the jars because any grease at all will prevent them from sealing. Finally, I put on the lids and loaded them into my pressure canner. I vented the canner, brought it up to pressure and processed for 90 minutes. Be sure to read & re-read not only the canner manufacturer's directions but also an up-to-date Ball Canning Book or the USDA's online Complete Guide to Home Canning http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/usda/INTRO%20section%20Home%20Can.pdf before canning meat. The thought of opening a jar of rotted food or poisoning my family makes me pretty vigilant when canning and especially with meat. One other note about canning meat. It can be "dry" canned, with just the meat in the jar. It can be canned with the meat and boiling water. Or it can be canned with the meat and broth. I find the "dry" canned meats to be dry and don't taste a big difference between using broth or water. I use broth with turkey because it is very useful when making dumplings, soups and gravies. Otherwise, I use water because it is easier.
So, I had 2 packages of tenderloins. There were 2 tenderloins per package. I cut off all the fat & connective tissue. Each tenderloin was cut in half. I laid the clean jars on their sides and slid 2 pieces into each jar. After standing the jars back up, I got them ready to process.
I cut the pork loin into 1/2 inch chunks after cutting off all the fat & shiny connective tissue. The chunks went into the jars leaving plenty of head space. Then I finished getting them ready to process using boiling water.
The Italian sausage was in links. I cut off the casing and put the sausage in a skillet. I added some cold water because it helps to break up the sausage. I cooked the sausage until it was mostly done. I drained off the remaining water and as much grease as possible. The meat went into the jars which were then filled with boiling water. While the sausage was cooking, I also cooked the ground beef using the same methods.
Finally, the brats. I turned the clean jars on their sides and slid the brats into wide mouth jars. Then I stood up the jars and filled with boiling water. This was the easiest one to process.
Well, tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I'm going to wrap this up and start thinking about baking yet another turkey. And canning the turkey I baked yesterday and more sausage and more brats.
God is good. Blessings from our tiny farm.
Mare
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