Presure cooking

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

We are into pressure canning meat. It all started long ago when I brought 3 big ice chests home full of tuna filets. I found that a normal person can only eat so much tuna no matter how many ways you cook it. After giving 3/4 of it away I still had about 70 pounds so I started canning it. The ones I like the best is the ones where I added habanero peppers to the mix. Then there was a sale on chicken breasts at a church type dealio so I ended up with 120 pounds of butterflied breasts. Like the tuna you can only eat chicken so much chicken so on a whim I canned a batch and really liked it. Now anytime I can get chicken breasts on sale I can up a bunch.

This leads me to the beef and pork stories. I canned both beef and pork. The pork is ok but not my thing as it seems dry. The beef is so freakin good and so tender that you can cut it with a spoon. Anyway I ended up with about 60 pounds of beef roasts and trimming and decided to can it. Saving the steaks for the freezer. All of the pieces that have too much fat are canned for REX. Then there is the fat. I used to toss it out but was told I have enough of this stuff to make tallow. I never heard of tallow until this point. I jarred it up and its really good for cooking grease. Potatoes fried in tallow is like wow. Tallow is supposed to be good for a person unlike lard. Some one on another forum says its a really good skin cream and can be scented.

I only make about 6 pounds of this tallow at a time in a big crock pot. Its in the other room cooking right now and it smells so good.

I now think I could can about anything. So far this year I did 40 pounds of asparagus, 30 pounds of pinto beans, 120 pounds of chicken breasts, 12 pounds of pork which is off my future list, 25 pounds of tuna, 18 pounds of pink salmon and about 60 pounds of beef. Now Im running out of room in the pantry and have started the over flow into the game room.

Bill

[CarolF Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close CarolF]

It has never occurred to me to can my own meat or fish. I haven't had time to do anything other than jam for a long time but you've inspired me to get bottling again. We have a thriving tuna, fruit and vegetable industry yet it is quite difficult to purchase canned local produce and equally difficult to identify exactly where the food is grown. I bought canned Italian tomatoes for a long time until I heard that the tomatoes are purchased cheap elsewhere, then shipped and canned in Italy and sold as Produce of Italy.

Do you 'can' your meat and fish in glass? I would like to have a go with Tuna. Any tips, recipes?

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

Well I keep it easy. With tuna fillets I cut them into 3 inch chunks and add a teaspoon of canning salt to the bottom of the jar and start stuffing the jars full. Everyone seems to eat this up. I like placing a habanero pepper between the chunks as I stuff the jars. Its a bit hot and the wife and grandkids don't like hot but the grown kids do. I use wide mouth quart jars for everything. Someday I might do pints but for now the quarts don't last long, especially the beef and chicken. These quarts are mostly used for chicken noddle soup, chicken chow mein, chicken sauce over rice, chicken enchaladas, tacos and sandwiches. The beef is good by itself on crackers with habebero jelly or in all of the other recipes. I usually make beef tacos.

My son does vegetables and grows all kinds of stuff but I only like his tomatoes. Im not into squashes yet.

Bill

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Fascinating.
Is this all for personal consumption, or do you sell it?

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

We use what we presure can ourselves. When I say ourselves Im describing the entire family. Its so easy to go on extended adventures like mountains or fishing with canned jars instead of fresh food because it doesn't need to be in the ice chest.

My wifes sisters family makes really tasty antipasto, salsa and hot sauces. They use Bartalli recipes.