Pressure cooker operation

[freemotion]

Woohoo, great start! You are now ready for a deer, a pig, a bunch of turkeys, or a super-duper sale!
Ok, how can I say this politely....aw, nevermind....read the directions first, buddy! Read them thrice, then go to YouTube and watch all the canning videos six times, then go back and photocopy your directions so you can underline and notate them another half dozen times. Then put the cleanest copy with the minimum of highlighting into a new plastic sleeve and memorize it. Now you are ready to can.

Seriously...you need to let those jars cool in the canner, unopened, for a while after all pressure is gone, before opening the canner. When you do unload it, do so carefully and set your jars on a towel with an inch of space between them and out of any drafts. If they cool too fast, there will be more seal failures. They will continue to seal as they are cooling, and I find it works best if they stay in the closed canner for as long as I can stand it, or an least a 30-60 minutes after the pressure is all gone. I try to just leave the house so I am not tempted to peak.

Some seals will fail no matter what. We call that "dinner." You may not have wiped the jars properly. I use a different corner of my dampened cloth for each and every jar, and wipe it at least twice if there is visible food on the edge, once if it looks clean. The rings will loosen in the canner, that is normal. They are just there to hold the flat lids in place until they seal.

Yes, you were correct in re-starting your timer once you realized your error. They still probably will be good eatin'...

The jars will continue to bubble because the pressure lowers the boiling point. So it is not because they are still over 212 F, but because they are under pressure. It is not because you didn't remove bubbles. Removing the bubbles is so that your liquid level is correct and your jars will seal properly. Too many bubbles and you won't have as much liquid in the jars as you might think.

Don't touch the lids or jars, once lined up on the towel, for at least 24 hours. I give them a couple hours and touch each lid in the center to see if it is depressed or if it gives....if it gives, it is dinner. But I don't take the rings off or lift the lid until the next day. The next day I remove the rings and wash all the jars and lids with hot soapy water to remove meat juice and fat that may have seeped out into the canner water or from an exploding jar. Sometimes the jars "spit" and hiss if you open the canner too soon, too, and can spray you and each other with hot broth and fat. Since the point of the pressure canner is to get the contents to 240 F, you really don't want that on your skin.

Well, I think that is all I know about canning with a pressure canner! Hundreds of jars of catfood later, plus stuff for us!

 

[xpc]

I know its probably just culture shock as I have never actually seen pressure canned (glass) food in fifty years but obviously ate spaghetti with meat sauce and dinty moore type meat chili all in steel cans and even plastic tubs that are good for a year or 2, but seeing a jar with pork sausages or chicken chunks just doesn't seem right sitting in the pantry unrefrigerated.

I will be using these test meats up in the next few weeks and will do another more careful run but how does meat sitting in liquid for months come out tasting, is the texture mushy?

If I want a steak or chicken breast I will buy it fresh for that week but want to stock up on stew and soup meats for the long haul or to be used in stir frys, as said I will most likely not have a freezer.

When I do make soups I cook up a 2 gallon batch then freeze in single servings but have found that the noddles especially the wide egg ones tend to break up after defrosting, I have since been making it without noddles and cooking them only on demand when I defrost the stock mixture, do you also do the same with pressure canning or can you add the whole mess together in a quart jar?

 

[Farmfresh]

No noodles until you reheat. They go to mush fast.

It does take a bit of getting used to .. glass jars of meat, but remember the cardinal rule of canning.

Look, Listen, Smell and Heat BEFORE you eat! All low acid foods should be heated through for 10 to 20 minutes before you consume them. That holds especially true for meat items.

1. When you are ready to use that glass jar of yummyness first LOOK carefully at the jar. There should be NO obvious molds, weird colors or other when you take a good long look.
2. Next pop the top and LISTEN. You should hear that swoosh sound of air entering the jar and the lid should require some work to lift off.
3. SMELL stick your nose in a take a good whiff. It should always smell like appetizing food of what ever kind is in the jar. Any metal scent or flat off odor - pitch it. Remember animals CAN get botulism too, so don't even feed it to the dog. Then carefully decontaminate the jar like it was just full of poison - cause it probably was!!!
4. HEAT the food to a boil and make sure any weird bacteria that could sneak in are dead. Of course in TSHTF times I would trust MY canned goods over store canned goods even without extra heating.

Finally remember to take OFF those outer rings when you store your jars. I could not get my head around that one for a long time. Leaving those rings ON provides a place for moisture to gather - moisture = rust around the lid of the jar and a broken seal. Bad juju.

 

[big brown horse]

Sorry xpc, quick hijack...


Hey, FF, should I remove the rings of the water bath canned goods too?

 

[Farmfresh]

Yes mam. Same deal.

I had a horrible time making myself do that. I was just sure the lids would fall off without the rings when in reality they were way worse with the rings on. I had to have several rust open, some rust so bad the ring was stuck and way too many that were not really sealed at all just the ring holding on the lid before I finally saw the light.

Let them cool COMPLETELY off - maybe the next day, then remove the ring and try to pick up the jar by the lid. If it comes off - it wasn't properly sealed. Better to know now than to find a rotting jar later.

 

[freemotion]

I will be using these test meats up in the next few weeks and will do another more careful run but how does meat sitting in liquid for months come out tasting, is the texture mushy?

If you can crock pot it, you can pressure can it. Look for recipes that hold up will in the crock pot all day. That is what I do, as the pressure canning will give it a similar texture. I use veggies that hold up well to other methods of long cooking, like rutabagas, carrots, collards, and stew meats. But not limited to these.

When I do make soups I cook up a 2 gallon batch then freeze in single servings but have found that the noddles especially the wide egg ones tend to break up after defrosting, I have since been making it without noddles and cooking them only on demand when I defrost the stock mixture, do you also do the same with pressure canning or can you add the whole mess together in a quart jar?

No noodles or rice, but you can add about a tablespoon (measuring spoon) of whole uncooked barley per jar if you want some grain product in your soup or stew without cooking and adding it later. If you follow the standard safety instructions of boiling it for 20 minutes (!!! Even I don't follow these directions!!!) before eating, you can throw rice or noodles in at this time.

 

[xpc]

I broke every one of the cardinal rules, i pulled the jiggly bob off after 10 minutes and opened the top after only a few more, the jars did make some funky noise which caused me to back off but only for a moment and then grabbed the jars with a hot pad and set on a towel for a closer inspection. I had just mowed the lawn in 90 degree heat and took my shirt off to hang on the line to dry, I certainly wasn't going to dirty another one in the same week.

My little pit puppy dug this up in the backyard and considered making a finger mitten out of it as it was very soft and sent my spelunkerpit back out for 4 more. Does this qualify as wild meat?

I did not hurt it and put in a bucket to release on the pretty lawn the parson keeps at the baptist church next door but it seemed to have expired on its own before that could happen, just as well as they are really making a mess of my place right now.

 

[freemotion]

Wow! It is not even soggy! It would be a wet, chewed up mess had my pitpoodle gotten to it. If he hadn't eaten it first.

 

[Blackbird]

Aww. It's kinda cute. But look at those big ole maw paws!
Now was that ex-wife #1 or #2?

 

[xpc]

Wow! It is not even soggy! It would be a wet, chewed up mess had my pitpoodle gotten to it. If he hadn't eaten it first.

I was standing right next to her when she started acting strange pouncing on the ground like a polar bear digging up a baby seal, but there was no telltale mound and just dug straight down about 6 inches in a few seconds and then I pulled her away to find this little critter.

Believe me if I hadn't been there I would of found it in my bedroom along with all the mice and birds she brings me, I just burned the birds in the garbage fire an hour ago. She lays them near my feet then just sits there looking at me until I notice it then her tail wags like a steel whip.