Pressure cooker operation

xpc

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OK who does website maintenance on a Saturday afternoon when I'm on a virgin run with a dangerous contraption.

First thing was that I wanted to try 3 different meats, I bought beef, pork, and chicken.
The beef was cubed lean stew meat and packed raw in 2 -1 pint jars no liquid.
The chicken was boneless thighs, parboiled until pink was gone diced and filled 2-1 pint jars using broth to an inch of top.
Italian spicy sausages, parboiled, 1 pint diced and 1 pint left hole filled with the boiled water to an inch of the top.

I did not add anything else, it said salt was optional. I didn't have any canning salts anyways.

First mistake I forgot to poke and prod to remove air bubbles from the meats once packed in the jars.
Second big mistake was the misunderstanding of the pressure regulator, I figured it just lifted up to let steam escape which it was kinda doing as little bubbles would seep out of it. The air vent cover lock was solidly pushed up, I even pushed it back down a few times.

As it was timing down the 75 minutes I was re-reading the instruction book, found out the pressure regulator was suppose to do a slow wobble which it did for a few minutes causing me undo distress I turned the heat down and ran screaming from the house looking for the root cellar I forgot to dig this morning.

Anyways I still had 20 minutes to go and turned the heat up to where it did its slow dance, it was not much higher than where it sat for the previous 55 minutes so to be on the safe side I restarted the timer and it will have now cooked at 5psi for 50 minutes and 10psi for 75 more minutes. Since this was just a test to see how meats turn out I was gonna open them soon anyways for a taste test.

Will this overcooking turn the meats into mush?
Do I need to add salts? or anything else?
I did not wear a shirt the whole time I tended to this hissing hydrafireserpent, should have I?
 

framing fowl

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xpc said:
I did not wear a shirt the whole time I tended to this hissing hydrafireserpent, should have I?
I thought you were gonna wear your scuba gear or firefighters getup or some such thing? I think wearing a shirt is optional unless you're frying bacon ;)
 

xpc

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framing fowl said:
I thought you were gonna wear your scuba gear or firefighters getup or some such thing?
My Self Contained Breathing Apparatus is the same fireman use and unlike SCUBA is missing the Underwater part. The last time I wore mine was 20 years ago when doing maintenance on large ammonia refrigeration systems. It may protect my face but not any nippleage.

I just made a third mistake by letting the pot sit for 10 minutes and removing the pressure regulator, it hissed for 30 seconds then removed the lid. Afterwards I read that you should let it lose all the pressure on its own or it could break jars and seals.

It also smelled pretty good when I opened the lid is that normal? I may just send these out as Christmas gifts.
 

TanksHill

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"nippleage." ????? Oh, yes I have this problem when canning as well!!! :lol: :lol:

I am sorry I do not have much advice. I read all of my canning directions twice before I did the practice run on water alone. :p

The only meat I have canned was chicken. I used a broth and canned pretty good size chunks so they did not get too over cooked.

They turned out great.

I hope you post your results. I look forward to seeing how things turned out.

G
 

xpc

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OK, the 6 jars are fairly cool to handle. 1 failed to seal as the lid popped, there was also about 1/2" of liquid missing and was obviously in the canner as it was reddish pork fat juice. The jar manufacture said put the rings on fingertip tight, I snugged them up but could of been much tighter.

3 of the 5 sealed jars had some serious bubbles streaming from bottom to top for 15 plus minutes?
Is this because I forgot to push on the meat with a stick to drive the air out after filling with broth?

The 2 jars of raw beef chunks rendered down to about 2/3rd of the jar and only halve full of liquid? the book said not to add any to raw meat?
Do you need liquid to the top for all meats and things to seal correctly?

I tried to pull the top off of one jar, how hard should it be to remove?
I put them all in the refrigerator for now as they were still a bit warm.
 

Blackbird

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xpc said:
es.

I did not wear a shirt the whole time I tended to this hissing hydrafireserpent, should have I?
The less clothing you wear, the less peeling of melted clothing you have to do when it explodes on you.

Yoo dun goot, Xpc!
 

pioneergirl

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you should be able to pick the jar up by the lid (no ring) without the seal breaking. I need the sharp "beak" of a can opener to get the seal to break on mine...they are 2 years old. :)
 

SKR8PN

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The bubbles streaming are normal. Remember, those suckers are HOT and were under pressure to get them that hot. It takes the jars quite awhile to cool down.

Never, and I mean NEVER let the pressure off! Let that sucker cool down on it's own. THAT is the main reason we have TWO pressure canners. While one is cooling, we are cooking in the other one. ;)

We always fill the jars to within 3/4 inch of the top no matter what we are cooking. If you had "juice" in your canner and half empty jars, then you prolly didn't get the rings down tight enough ( I crank mine down more than finger tight, more like hand tight) or you had the jars TO full.........
When we are canning meat I NEVER worry about any trapped air in the jars because we use broth or water. Ain't no way there will be any "trapped air" in the jars.


Sounds like you survived your first canner episode and you still have your nipples, so, it's all good!!
:thumbsup
 

SKR8PN

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pioneergirl said:
you should be able to pick the jar up by the lid (no ring) without the seal breaking. I need the sharp "beak" of a can opener to get the seal to break on mine...they are 2 years old. :)
Yup.... same here.......... and one more tip: We ALWAYS check the seal by pushing down on the center BEFORE we open any jars. If that lid "pings" or "oil cans" then we toss the contents of that jar because it AIN'T sealed!!!!!

ALWAYS check your seals!
 

Farmfresh

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Lordy! I am so sorry I did not post my dissertation on aploding canners earlier. To think a man could have lost his nipples due to my hesitation. :hide (shame)

From now on it is upwards only. You have fought the newbie battle and won ... and you still have the nipples to prove it!!

After this all canning will hold no fear and you will bravely stock your shelves for years to come. I applaud you! :clap :clap :woot
 
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