That's a neat document, Journey, thanks for sharing the link.
I totally agree April...canning is like a drug, LOL. You start with the "soft" stuff....making a small batch of jam or jelly with some excess fruit, and before you know it, you're doing everything!
r4e, I know what you mean, meat seems like a whole different ball game, and it is a bit different...certainly from making a batch of jam. However, once you start with pressure canning veggies, it's just a small step to meat. The first I ever canned was chili. We all love it but it takes so long...takes me a whole day to make a good pot of chili, and even 2 or 3 cuz it's better after it sits. So, I decided I wanted to make a big ole batch and can it in pint jars...that way if we had a hankering we could just do a heat and eat...no big mess in the kitchen, no waiting, no huge pot that has to be eaten or frozen in a short amount of time.
For the meat I did in the fall, I learned a few things I'll put into use for the next canning session. I found we prefer ground beef or stew beef. For the ground, I cook it thoroughly, pack it in the jar, top with some beef stock and process as usual. For stewing beef, I cut it into the size we like and browned it all...didn't cook it through, just gave it a good brown. Then I packed it, topped it with stock and canned it. I also did strips of roast which I'm not really all that crazy about. It tastes great, but it's just not the same as having a roast. I did a cold pack...cut it into large pieces and stuffed the jar leaving headspace. Then I sealed and processed. As it cooks in the jars, it creates its own juice, which can be used to make gravy. But it still comes out of the jar in pieces...it's so tender it falls apart so you can't really get out a "slice". It's a personal preference, but when I have a roast beef dinner, I like to slice the meat to have it with my spuds and veggies. So, the next time we have a good sale on beef, I'll just grind and can a lot of it and make stew beef out of the rest. We've found we really like that as well for making all sorts of soup and stew. Since it has the stock in it, we just dump the jar into a pot and add stuff we want. I also can beef stock so if I need more liquid, I can open a jar of that too.
We found a good deal on chicken so I canned that as well, with much the same result as the beef. I skinned the chickens and cut them into pieces...put them in jars added a bit of salt and let them cook in their own juice. It also comes out in pieces. I didn't de-bone it before processing and also discovered that pressure canned chicken bone becomes really soft. If I try to pull a leg out of the jar, it tends to just break into pieces. The next preservation session I have with chicken will be, I think, a bit different. I think I'll grind some to make sausage or patties or as a substitute for ground beef. I'll can at least a few pints of the ground stuff for soups and casseroles. I'll also cube some like I do the beef for soups or stews. I'll dehydrate some as well...it dehydrates and rehydrates quite well for crock pot meals. I won't freeze many as whole chickens because we seem to clean it up better when it's in pieces...DH likes the white and I prefer dark, so I can cook a couple pieces of each and it all gets eaten. So, I will likely just skin and cut up a number of them and freeze them. I definitely save all the bones and stuff for stock.
We just got some rabbits that we plan to raise for meat, so I'll be experimenting with that later on as well. I suspect it'll be like the others...can for soups and casseroles and such and just freeze the chunks you want to eat that way.
One reason I really started canning a lot is space. Freezer space always seems to be at a premium, so the more I'm able to put in a jar in the cupboard, the better. Of course, we're now running out of shelf space, but that's easier and cheaper to remedy than the issue with the freezer, LOL. Dehydration is also a very efficient way of storing things in less space.
