Canning deer meat?

[esshup]

Does anybody have any tips on canning deer meat? I'd like to try doing it this season. I have all the equipment to do it, just have never done any meat canning before, juse vegetables.

[throbak]

ONE cube Beef Bullion in each jar for seasoning

[deadeer]

esshup, I have it all down to a science now for several years. I'll post it tonight when I have some more time. Very easy and the best way to eat venison by far.

Jay

[steve46511]

Of interest to me as well. I've eaten it but never done it myself and do agree that it is VERY tasty and really handy for a couple of different types of quickie meals. Cooking for one person is a pain and I end up eating too many sandwiches so, planning on canning some myself this year.....if I shoot any, LOL.

God Bless

[esshup]

Sept 13, 2014 15:26:50 GMT -5 deadeer said:

esshup, I have it all down to a science now for several years. I'll post it tonight when I have some more time. Very easy and the best way to eat venison by far.

Jay

Thanks Jay. I'll be looking forward to reading it.

I usually shoot enough to carry me thru the year, and this year I want to have the freezer stocked before Thanksgiving, rather than wait 'till late archery/muzzleloader season to top it off. I'm running out of ways to prepare venison that is quick and easy, so I'm ready to try something new. Same as Steve, cooking for one sometimes is a chore when looking at variety.

[deadeer]

Alright fellas, here goes. You can either cut the meat into 1" cubes or long thin slices like a pickle. We prefer the cubes because it packs in the jar more uniform, but once in a great while cut them thicker so they don't break apart so easy if you need to stir them up in a soup. Using wide mouth jars makes life so much easier both filling and then emptying them. Prepare jar, band, and lid as usual. 1/2 tsp canning salt for pts, 1 tsp for qts. Then as throbak said, 1/2 bullion cube for pts, whole cube for qts. We also use beef base powder, Au Jus powder, Italian dressing, Teriaki sauce, and I have even seen Bloody Mary mix. Then fill jar with meat, use spoon to pack meat tight, leave one inch headspace, wipe sealing edge, install lid and band, and only tighten lightly. Do not add water, the meat will make it's own juice when it cooks. The top will usually be about one inch shy of juice, and some guys say the meat will get darker and drier because it is exposed to air, but we have had it 2 years after making it and it is fine. We have tried to add one inch of boiling water to the jar after adding the meat, but it always boils out of the jar and gums up the canner. Yuck. Put jars in canner, add water to line, 1 or 2 inches from bottom of jars, heat on high until canner vents air and then time for 10 min. Install weight and build pressure until it rocks, turn down heat to keep weight rocking. Process at 10 lbs pressure, pints 75min, and quarts 90min. When done, remove from heat and let cool naturally until pop up valve falls on it's own. Remove and let jars seal at air temp, no draft. Make sure all lids pop or suck down to seal. Nice to hear them all pop to be sure you did everything right. We let sit overnight to cool to room temp, then check bands for tightness, which are usually loose at that point. Yes it takes a while with the heating and cooling part of the process but we have never had a bad batch, so we continue to do the same routine. When done the meat is 100% cooked and done, it can be eaten right from the jar. You only need to warm it up in a pan, DO NOT use the microwave. We have tried it a few times but always dries out. As for eating, there are several things we do. We make mashed potatoes, form into a bowl, warm up meat and juice in pan and dump in middle. OR make a pot of noodles, and dump the room temp meat and juice right into the noodles. It will warm itself up. It can be dry so we add a can of gravy or beef stock if in a hurry. OR we make Zatarans or Uncle Bens rice, dirty rice, jumbalaya, or whatever you like, and dump a jar of meat in when done. OR drain juice, put meat in a pot or crockpot and add favorite bbq sauce to come out like pulled pork for sandwiches. BUT, my absolute favorite now is to warm meat in a skillet, remove meat, mix some flour and hot water in a cup to dilute, pour into skillet with juice, add butter and milk, heat until boiling, add salt and pepper, return meat and mix. Add to anything or eat alone. Absolutely the best! Please feel free to ask any questions or suggestions. We are a few years into this now and my wife first said there is no way it's venison. Crazy good.

Jay

[esshup]

Thanks! It's been copied/pasted/printed and put in the Wild Game Cookbook.

Just to be clear, the meat is put into the jars raw, not parboiled with the brown scum strained off first, them picked out of the water and put into the jars?

[drs]

Sounds like a good way to use (can) odd pieces of venison used for making venison stew, or other venison dishes.

[deadeer]

Sept 13, 2014 23:37:28 GMT -5 esshup said:

Thanks! It's been copied/pasted/printed and put in the Wild Game Cookbook.

Just to be clear, the meat is put into the jars raw, not parboiled with the brown scum strained off first, them picked out of the water and put into the jars?

YES, RAW! It is called the RAW pack method. There is a hot pack method also, but we have never even tried it because it is just more steps. THIS WAY WORKS GREAT. To add to the recipe of the pulled pork type meal, we also sautee' onions and add them to the meat and bbq sauce. Once again, don't cook the meat with the sauce and onions, just warm it up without the juice in this recipe and serve on buns. Unreal how good!

esshup, btw, pposey from Dougs is the one that got me interested in canning. He walked me thru it just like I wrote here. There are some posts on Dougs where guys talk about their favorite ways but I have most of them covered here. Why not follow their good advice? Hope it all goes well for anyone interested. It is so worth it!

Jay dougsmessageboards.proboards.com/thread/6657/recipes-canned-venison

[esshup]

Thanks again Jay. I started following that forum when the Savage ML was in it's infacy, when I bought my first one (ML-I). I pop in there from time to time, but not often. I have a ML-II that RB modified - that one isn't going anywhere!!