mmccolloch
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2015
- Messages
- 159
Hey everyone, I wanted to post up my experience from my first attempt at pressure canning meat. Overall, I'm very happy with the results and the finished product is extremely versatile & delicious!
Batch #1: Hot Pack
Batch #2: Cold Pack
Results:
In total, I used 16lbs of meat for the first batch & yielded 16 jars, so from my experience, it takes about 1lb of meat per pint jar. This was valuable information to figure out so that next time I pressure can meat I can approximate how much meat to get out of the freezer and how many batches I can do, etc.
The hot pack turned out just okay. It was somewhat crumbly & seemed dry. the flavor is really good & it would suffice on sandwiches, tacos, etc., but it wasn't as good as I'd like it to be. All that prep work, meat browning, making broth, etc. & it was just okay. Kind of a pain in the butt...
The cold pack method turned out fantastic!!! The meat has really good flavor, & is fall apart tender & moist. The texture is also MUCH better than the hot pack method. Another thing that is great about the cold pack method is that it is also MUCH easier from a prep standpoint. You just cut up the meat, put it in jars, & can it. This will definitely be my go to method from here on out. I kept the seasonings to salt only on this batch so that the finished product was more of a "blank slate" to work with for various dishes when we decide to use it. The one advise I will give on this method is to be careful with how much salt you add... If you brine the meat first, I would suggest that adding something like a half a teaspoon of salt to each jar instead of a full teaspoon. My final product is plenty salty.
This was my first attempt at pressure canning and I got some very good direction/advice from a couple fellow Roksliders. I need to give a special thanks to Becca & Rayporter for their help & advice!!!
Batch #1: Hot Pack
- 8lbs of miscellaneous trim meat cut up into 1"- 1-1/2" cubes.
- Meat was seasoned with salt, pepper, & Cavenders Greek Seasoning
- Very lightly browned in a pan on the stove. The meat was left extremely rare to try and maintain as much moisture in the meat as possible.
- Meat was packed into jars with 1" headspace & covered with beef broth.
Batch #2: Cold Pack
- 8lbs of miscellaneous trim meat cut up into 1"-1-1/2" cubes.
- Meat was brined in cold water for an hour prior to packing
- Meat was packed into jars with 1" headspace. I added 1 tsp of salt to each jar. NO broth was added.
Results:
In total, I used 16lbs of meat for the first batch & yielded 16 jars, so from my experience, it takes about 1lb of meat per pint jar. This was valuable information to figure out so that next time I pressure can meat I can approximate how much meat to get out of the freezer and how many batches I can do, etc.
The hot pack turned out just okay. It was somewhat crumbly & seemed dry. the flavor is really good & it would suffice on sandwiches, tacos, etc., but it wasn't as good as I'd like it to be. All that prep work, meat browning, making broth, etc. & it was just okay. Kind of a pain in the butt...
The cold pack method turned out fantastic!!! The meat has really good flavor, & is fall apart tender & moist. The texture is also MUCH better than the hot pack method. Another thing that is great about the cold pack method is that it is also MUCH easier from a prep standpoint. You just cut up the meat, put it in jars, & can it. This will definitely be my go to method from here on out. I kept the seasonings to salt only on this batch so that the finished product was more of a "blank slate" to work with for various dishes when we decide to use it. The one advise I will give on this method is to be careful with how much salt you add... If you brine the meat first, I would suggest that adding something like a half a teaspoon of salt to each jar instead of a full teaspoon. My final product is plenty salty.
This was my first attempt at pressure canning and I got some very good direction/advice from a couple fellow Roksliders. I need to give a special thanks to Becca & Rayporter for their help & advice!!!