Pressure canning pork~ideas, tips and recipes please

[big brown horse]

Free you mentioned you were going to be pressure canning some of your pork. I am new to pressure canning and will be getting tons of pork back from the butcher soon. My hog was well over 325#'s so I'm expecting a lot of meat. Most will be put in the freezer however I know I'm sure to run out of room.

Free or anyone else, please share your ideas, tips and recipes on pressure canning pork. Things like what cuts of pork work best and how you plan to use them when you open the can later...soups, stews, etc?

Also, how long will pork be good for canned?

(Please keep in mind, I'm still a newbie pressure canner.)

 

[freemotion]

I take a fairly simple approach (I think) to canning meat. It is mostly in chunks, plain, or in soups/stews.

For chunks, I cut any cut of meat into bite-size pieces (or larger in the case of turkey, which might later be sliced for sandwiches) and add water and process it. To use it, my absolute favorite is to reheat it in a pan with a jar of FarmerLor's cream of mushroom soup, and serve that over rice or noodles or whatever, or just as is with a couple of veggie sides, depending on how low-carb I'm eating that day.

I also will make it into soups or stews using any veggie that will hold up in a crock pot all day...it will also survive pressure canning. I like collards, carrots, rutabaga, turnip, mushrooms (especially dried), onions and garlic, etc. Kale works, but I don't care for the taste as much.

Grind some up, mix with beef, and make canned meatloaf. Yum! I got the recipe from www.canningusa.com. A half pint jar makes one generous sandwich.

Tougher meats that do well in the crock pot do well with pressure canning. That being said, I have canned lots of pork loin that I got on sale.

 

[freemotion]

Oh, if you like bay leaves in your stews.....I make a very strong tea by simmering a leaf or two or three, depending on the size of the batch I'm canning. Then I add it to my stew. You definitely do not want a bay leaf ending up in one jar of stew!

I like my soups with a good broth flavor, so I make lots of traditional bone broth in advance to use when canning a big batch. Chicken broth goes will with pork. But you will probably have lots of pork bones to use, right? I hope to have some. The neck bones make a lovely soup or stew. I can buy them locally and have used them. I feel that canned soups/stews made with boneless meat need some bone broth added for a rich flavor and the health benefits of the broth.

 

[Dirk Chesterfield]

I like to can pulled pork this way.

Pressure cook pork in 3 inches of water until it is tender enough to pull off in strips. Usually 45 minutes for a whole 10 lb. pork shoulder. Allow meat to cool and pull all the meat from the bone. Refrigerate broth and skim off the fat after it becomes solid.

Pack pints with pulled pork and add hot pork broth to fully cover the meat, leaving 1 inch of head space. Pressure can for 75 minutes @ 10 lbs. pressure (check your altitude chart for your area)


I use the canned pulled pork for a number of different dishes:

For BBQ sandwiches I drain the broth (saving it for soup or gravy), heat the pork, add my favorite BBQ sauce and serve between slices of homemade bread or a bun. I do occasionally top it with coleslaw and hot sauce to make it into an authentic North Carolina BBQ Sandwich.

For a rice dish I use the broth as the rice cooking liquid with onions, garlic, celery and black pepper added. Cooking the pulled pork in with the rice.

For open faced pork gravy sandwiches I add onions, celery and black pepper to the drained pork stock, boiling it until the onions are tender. I thicken the stock to make gravy with all purpose flour mixed with water. Add the pork after the gravy is thick and allow it to swim in the gravy until it is heated. Serve over lightly toasted homemade bread. Alternately serve over mashed potatoes, rice or couscous.


I also raw pack pork chunks for use in stews and soups. Packing the raw chunks into pint jars leaving 1" head space and not adding any liquid at all. The pork will make it's own liquid while pressure canning. Pressure can for 75 minutes @ 10 lbs. pressure (check your altitude chart for your area).

I personally never add spices to meats prior to pressure canning, especially black pepper or sage. The canning process has a tendency to extremely intensify the spices flavors. I rarely add salt but instead salt to taste at the table when it is served. Salt is not necessary when pressure canning meats.

 

[freemotion]