Pressure Canning Venison - Lessons Learned

[mmccolloch]

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

• 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!!!

 

[dble07]

I borrowed a pressure canner to do some deer and elk trim for the first time a few months ago. It turned out much better than expected. We just put raw meat into some wide-mouth jars packed tightly to within about 1/2 inch of the top. Then seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, beef bullion powder, and a little vinegar. Meat is tender and moist. For our first go at it I was pretty impressed with the results and will definitely be doing more next year.

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[Zoo Keeper]

Might need to try this


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[Tod osier]

I canned meat 20 years ago, but can other stuff all the time. Cold pack meat must take forever in the canner. Roughly how long did you do?

 

[mmccolloch]

If I remember correctly, it was 75 minutes at around 11 PSI. Probably worth verifying that to make sure I'm remembering correctly before you try it.

 

[Becca]

Awesome! So glad you gave it a try, and are happy with the results! Your experience was the same as mine...cold pack is the way to go, way easier in my experience and as good or better tasting. Just sometimes less visually appealing, but I eat it not look at it

 

[hodgeman]

I cold pack venison but leave off any seasoning... just about 1/2tsp of canning salt.

When I open to prepare it I can season it in any manner the dish calls for- garlic, chipotle, chili powder or taco seasoning. I use it like a ground beef in a lot of recipes.

For instance, I shred it for tacos and just heat it through with taco seasoning....done in 10 minutes

 

[Tod osier]

If I remember correctly, it was 75 minutes at around 11 PSI. Probably worth verifying that to make sure I'm remembering correctly before you try it.

Thanks, I was thinking over an hour.

 

[hodgeman]

Depends on the reference for time and pressure- mine says 11 pound (dial) and 75min for pints and 90min for quarts

 

[VernAK]

I put a layer of moose burger on a smoke house screen and smoke for an hour and then jar it....fill the jar within 3/4" with peppered gravy mix and I usually pressure cook at 10# for 90 minutes. This makes incredible biscuits and gravy. More gravy will have to be added.

 

[durangobrad]

I cold pack venison but leave off any seasoning... just about 1/2tsp of canning salt.

When I open to prepare it I can season it in any manner the dish calls for- garlic, chipotle, chili powder or taco seasoning. I use it like a ground beef in a lot of recipes.

For instance, I shred it for tacos and just heat it through with taco seasoning....done in 10 minutes

Im interested in trying this as I have about 20 lbs of "grinding meat" in the freezer. When you say you use it in place of ground, do you think its better than grinding or do you guys do this because you dont have a grinder? With a grinder you will yield quite a bit more because of the added fat. interested in some opinions on this vs grinding?

 

[bwlacy]

I've been canning venison for years. But I've never tried to cold pack it. I might have to try that this year. Would save a lot of time. How much did the meat shrink? I notice with the hot pack a lot of the shrinking is done when you precook the meat. It does take a lot of prep time. I do quarts at 10lbs for 90 minutes.

I've done taco seasonings, bbq seasoning, and just salt and pepper. We prefer just the plain meat so that we can do what we want with it.

 

[mmccolloch]

I will always grind some of my meat. I love having ground meat on hand for burgers, soups, casseroles, etc., but I find the canned meat is much quicker in a pinch if you forget to take something out of the freezer, or if your want to throw together something quick and healthy for lunch. It also keeps for a long time, which is a good way to store meat and not have to worry about the freezer quitting, or a prolonged power outage ruining all your hard earned game meat. One other thing I'm going to try is adding it to DIY dehydrated meals for my backpacking trips and my upcoming fall hunts.

 

[mmccolloch]

I've been canning venison for years. But I've never tried to cold pack it. I might have to try that this year. Would save a lot of time. How much did the meat shrink? I notice with the hot pack a lot of the shrinking is done when you precook the meat. It does take a lot of prep time. I do quarts at 10lbs for 90 minutes.

I've done taco seasonings, bbq seasoning, and just salt and pepper. We prefer just the plain meat so that we can do what we want with it.

Here is a photo of the cold pack recipe after it is done. It doesn't look the most appetizing, but it's really good. There is some shrinkage, but it isn't too bad. The jar in the photo is a pint jar. I don't have any first hand experience with quart jars.

 

[Grundy53]

Love canned deer/elk meat. I cold pack mine.

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[Grundy53]

Im interested in trying this as I have about 20 lbs of "grinding meat" in the freezer. When you say you use it in place of ground, do you think its better than grinding or do you guys do this because you dont have a grinder? With a grinder you will yield quite a bit more because of the added fat. interested in some opinions on this vs grinding?

I don't know that it's any better or worse than ground. It basically has the texture and taste of pot roast. I make sure I have both.

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[IA Monsterbuck]

I canned meat 20 years ago, but can other stuff all the time. Cold pack meat must take forever in the canner. Roughly how long did you do?

Hot pack or cold pack the time is the same.

 

[IA Monsterbuck]

I just canned some last weekend for the first time in years. Previously we cold packed but this time was the first time I did it on my own and I decided to try hot pack. I used one jar this week (the only jar out of 18 that did not seal) and the flavor was quite good but I am wondering if it was as tender as I remember the last time. I think next time I will try the cold pack method again. Should have a good basis for comparison by then.

 

[IA Monsterbuck]

Im interested in trying this as I have about 20 lbs of "grinding meat" in the freezer. When you say you use it in place of ground, do you think its better than grinding or do you guys do this because you dont have a grinder? With a grinder you will yield quite a bit more because of the added fat. interested in some opinions on this vs grinding?

For me it is not a replacement for ground meat. The texture is more like roast beef and I prefer to ue it in stews, stroganoff, sandwiches, fajitas, etc. For items where you would use a ground beef typically (tacos, chili, spaghetti, etc) I don't prefer it.

 

[camping1601]

Cold pack all the way. Just so dang easy.