Someone on a group was offering a new Presto Canner to anyone who needed and wanted. She even paid the postage from across the country. I was the first to respond. It arrived today via FedEx. Happy Day!
The Presto holds 23 quarts of liquid or 7 quarts or 20 pints or 24 half-pints. Tomatoes will be the only thing I will put up in quarts. My first goal is to cook and can the ground pork filling my freezer. I will put that up in pints or maybe half-pints.
The ground pork is made from pork chops three days from the end of their life in the grocery store. There is only 1/8 inch of fat on the pork chop. The first time I tried to cook ground pork in a cast iron skillet, I had to add oil so it would not brown.
Finally, I just put the frozen ground pork in the crock pot to thaw and cook it. Next morning there was one huge chunk of cooked ground pork. Thankfully, it easily broke and crumbled. I just use it in jarred spaghetti that contains no beef.
Maybe I will make my mother's delicious spaghetti recipe that I have faithfully used without changing one ingredient. I never share this recipe EVER. It is the only recipe I don't freely share.
My only concern is the diameter of the canner and the smaller diameter of the largest eye on my stovetop. Yes, in the South, we call they eyes!
Before I go to bed, I will put four packages of ground pork, about six pounds, in the refrigerator to thaw. I have a recipe I want to try when exbf comes here on Thursday--potatoes, onions, white sauce and grated cheese and spices. I think I will add one of the packages of ground pork to that concoction. I want to cook it tomorrow, Tuesday, and serve it on Thursday.
The rest of the ground pork will go into the canner in pints or half-pints. I've read that canned, cooked ground meats have the consistency of cat food. We will see.
Although I have canned for many years, I have never canned meat. I will be holding my breath on this session.
For a long time I have wanted a new canner. My canner was from a yard sale about 1978. My mother bought it for me. It has a jiggler on top, not a dial for the pressure. I am confident it works, but others have frightened me about the dangers. The new-in-the-box canner should work well. The owner wanted and acquired and All American canner. It has no gaskets, just metal to metal sealing action.
Your turn
Do you own and use a pressure canner? Have you ever canned cooked, ground beef or pork? How was the consistency?
I have two pressure canners and use them all the time. Canning is such a good method of preserving meat I get on sale.
ReplyDeleteI have canned ground beef and ground pork two ways - with liquid in the jar and without. It is a personal preference, but I find that the ground meat canned in liquid resembles cat food, while the meat canned without turns out like you just cooked it fresh.
My method is to brown the meat like you would if cooking it for use in a meal. I drain off any grease and pack the cooked meat in jars. A clean cloth or paper towel dipped in vinegar (vinegar cuts the grease) is used to wipe any grease or meat bits from the rims of the jars and the lids and rings are added. Pints and half pints are both processed for 75 minutes at whatever pressure is correct for your altitude. Your instruction book should have that information.
Canning meat is one of the easiest foods to can. I really like the results. Hope it works out well for you. :)
I have a pressure canner/cooker. I bought it at a hardware store on clearance. It has a weighted dial. It has a valve on the back that will release if the pressure is too high. I have canned cooked meat before. Never had any problems with it. I havent used my canner since we moved, my oven is a glass top. We are going to purchase a stand alone camping stove for me to can on. One of my friends did her canning using it. It was amazing. I have read conflicting reports on using a canner on a glass top. My stove manual says you can, but must be careful on the weight. Its not worth it to me.
ReplyDeleteMichelle,
DeleteDo you have a link for the stove?
Linda what a wonderful gift! I do not currently have stove with a super burner so I am careful not to cook big pots. But the camping stove sounds I intriguing.
ReplyDeletecarol,
DeleteThe heat would kept outside!
I have never canned but watched my mother and grandmother can together. My grandmother canned her home made pork sausage. She cooked them in patties and dry canned them. I wish I had some in a biscuit right now!
ReplyDeleteJanet,
DeleteWhile I don't make sausage. I will can some sausage patties.
I am glad you are back to blogging.
ReplyDeleteI have a gas stove, but my largest eye is much smaller than my canner and it does not cause a problem at all.
Happy canning.
Patti from CA
Patti,
DeleteThanks for that info!
I would not trust anything I have canned. Although I like the british word 'tinned' better than canned.
ReplyDeleteUrspo,
DeleteThen,i won't eat your canning either! lol Don't the British use "bottled," too?