13 Canning of meat

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Canning Meat, Poultry and  Game

  • Low-acid foods
  • Processed in a pressure canner to ensure safety.
  • It is important to precisely follow the procedures specified for each type of product.

 

Safe and Quality Canned  Meat

 

• Check dial gauges on pressure canners annually.

• Use only good quality poultry, red meat, and game for canning.

• Chill meat soon after slaughter to 40°F or lower to keep it from spoiling.

• If you are not able to can the meat within a few days of slaughter, freeze it. Keep frozen until ready to can it, and then thaw in a refrigerator.

• Keep all work areas sanitary and meat clean.

• Trim gristle, bruised spots, and fat off meat before canning.

• Vent the pressure canner for 10 minutes before starting the canning process.

 

Procedures for Canning Meats

 

Chicken or Rabbit

  • Choose freshly killed and dressed animals ØLarge chickens are more flavourful than fryers ØChill dressed chicken 6–12 hours before canning.
  • Soak dressed rabbits 1 hour in water containing 1 tablespoon of salt per quart and then rinse. Remove excess fat.
  • Cut the chicken or rabbit into suitable sizes for canning ØCan with or without bones

 

Hot pack :  Boil, steam, or bake meat until about two-third

 

• Add 1 teaspoon salt per quart if desired for taste. Fill jars with pieces and hot broth, leaving 1¼ inch headspace.

 

Raw pack : Add 1 teaspoon salt per quart if desired for taste.

 

 Ground or Chopped Meat

  • Choose fresh chilled meat. With venison
  • Add 1 part high quality pork fat to 3 or 4 parts venison before grinding.
  • Use freshly made sausage seasoned with salt and cayenne pepper (sage may cause a bitter off-flavour).
  • Shape chopped meat into patties or balls or cut cased sausage into 3–4-inch links.
  • Cook until lightly browned. Ground meat may be sautéed without shaping.
  • Remove excess fat. Fill jars with pieces.
  • Add boiling meat broth, tomato juice, or water, leaving 1 inch headspace

 

Meat Stock (Broth)

 

Beef: Saw or crack fresh trimmed beef bones to release their flavour.

 

• Rinse bones and place in a large stockpot or kettle, cover bones with water, cover pot, and simmer 3–4 hours.

• Remove bones, cool broth, and pick off meat. Skim off fat, add meat removed from bones to broth, and reheat to boiling.

• Fill jars, leaving 1 inch headspace.

• Wipe jar rims with a dampened, clean paper towel.

 

Chicken or turkey

 

• Place large carcass bones in a large stockpot

• Cover bones with water, cover pot, and simmer 30–45 minutes or until meat can be easily stripped from bones.

• Remove bones and pieces, cool broth, strip meat from bones, remove and discard excess fat, and return meat to broth

• Reheat to boiling and fill jars, leaving 1 inch headspace.

• Wipe jar rims with a dampened clean paper towel.

 

Safety Checklist for canning

 

• Over-packed jars do not heat as evenly as correctly packed jars.

• Boiling water canners or steamers do not produce temperatures high enough to kill botulism

• Never can in an oven (electric, gas, wood-burning, or microwave).

• Be sure the pressure canner dial gauge is accurate.

• Each time you use a pressure canner, check to see that the petcock and safety valve are not blocked.

• Always exhaust (remove) air from a pressure canner for 10 minutes before letting pressure build.

 • Increase pressure at altitudes above 1,000 feet for weighted gauge canners or 2,000 feet for dial-gauge canners to reach the (240°F) for pressure canning.

• Never can meat products for which processing times are not done.

• For an extra guarantee of safety, boil home-canned meats before eating them. At altitudes below 1,000 feet, boil for 10 minutes; add an additional minute of boiling time for each additional 1,000 feet of elevation.

 

Process Times for a Dial-Gauge Pressure Canner

 

Suggested Readings

  • Complete Guide to Home Canning, USDA Agricultural Information Bulletin 539, December 2009, and Home Canning Meat, FN188, North Dakota State University, 2009.
  • Originally compiled in 1999 by Val Hillers, Washington State University Extension Food Specialist. Updated in 2010 by Lizann Powers-Hammond, WSU Extension Area Educator; and Karen Killinger, WSU Extension Food Safety Specialist.
  • Reviewed in 2010 by Sandra McCurdy, University of Idaho Food Safety Specialist; and Carolyn Raab, Oregon State University Extension Food and Nutrition Specialist.