One of the things like about pressure cooking something is that it takes the toughest hunk of meat and turns it into -cut-it-with-a-fork tenderness. Pressure is also how you can meat. So, if you can meat you are going to , de facto, turn whatever meat you are canning into nice, tender chunks.
I went ahead and bought a tray of stew meat from CostCo the other day to experiment on. First off, I’m never doing that again. It would have been about a buck a pound cheaper to have bought the base meat and cut it up myself.
However, the results were rather nice. I had two jars that did not seal properly so I’m using those over the next few days and I’m pleased with the results. I had browned the meat rather thoroughly before canning and I snuck a chunk or two for my own immediate consumption. And it was…tough. Chewy. Not exactly what you would call tender. After the canning process, however….perfect.
So, I guess I’ll keep my eyes open for deals on roasts or other cuts that can easily be cut up into pint-jar-sized bits for stew, stir fry, and the like.
By the by, I used my supermegaawesome All American Canner. Bought it new years ago and in has never given me a lick of trouble. And it holds a lot of jars. Yeah, you can pay a lot less and get the Presto or something similar. And it’ll work. But for capacity, quality, and long-term, the gasket-less AA is the way to go. Pay once, cry once, and then go can all the things.
Speaking of, as you know, canning lids are a bit hard to find these days (or they were, anyway).And while canning lids should be something you have in, literally, case quantities, don’t overlook the fact that those jars don’t last forever. If the rim gets nicked? Can’t use. And they do break. While they are obviously quite reusable, and a bit bulky to store, you really do need hundreds of them. If you canned something in a one-pint jar…which is not a huge amount of food…you’d need 365 of those jars for just one year. And thats assuming no jars get nicked, broken, or otherwise damaged. On the bright side, the jars store well – stick ’em in a cabinet and forget about them.
I like commercially canned meats for long term storage simply for convenience and durability…I’m more comfortable throwing a ‘tin can’ of meat into a pack and running out the door than a glass jar. But thats an expensive way to live and for a static location that has good storage space, why not use the glass jars?
And for those of you with no canning experience…it isn’t rocket science. The technology was developed for Napoleon’s armies so that means it’s so simple a Frenchman can do it. Go get the big Ball book of canning and give it a read.