Investment Cooking - Canning Raw Beef, Pork & Chicken

 

I’ve canned a lot of various meats this year.  I like to keep meats canned in pint jars and half pint jars on the shelf to help me prepare a quick meal.  I also like that I have an alternate shelf stable method of keeping meat in my LTFS without the need of a freezer.

 

On the left is beef roast

One of the ways I can my meat is to raw pack it and then process it in my pressure canner.  Since meats are low acid foods they must be pressure canned in order to be safely stored in jars.  As always, I encourage you to do your own research and follow proper canning methods.

 

I begin by washing my jars and rings in hot soapy water.  I place the lids in a bowl and cover them with boiling water.  Then I will cut up the meat I am canning into one inch pieces.  It is important that the pieces are the same size so they cook and can at the same rate.  Once the meat is cut up I place it into the pint jars leaving one inch of headspace and add a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon for half pint jars.

 

Then I boil some broth and fill each jar up to that one inch space.  I use chicken broth to can chicken or pork and beef broth for roasts and stew meat.  You can also use vegetable broth in place of the meat broth or just boiling water.  Next I de-bubble each jar with a chopstick to remove any air gaps and top up the broth if necessary.

 

I wipe the rim of each jar with a clean wet cloth before place a lid on top.  Then I add a ring and tighten just finger tight, careful not to over tighten the rings, and place them into the pressure canner.  I fill the canner with warm water until it reached about a quarter to a third of the way up the jar, place the lid on and secure it.  I process my jars for 75 minutes.

 

A nice assortment of canned meats on these shelves

My preferred method of canning raw meats is with salt and homemade broth.  I find it tastes better and retains its color.  I also know exactly what I have in that jar, no unknown ingredients.  Have you canned and put up any meat this year?