When you run out of freezer space.

[forktender]

What do you do when your buddy drops off two 145 qt coolers full of Elk meat? The Elk was his Father's from last fall, bot he and his dad killed a 6x6 bull in New Mexico. well, it ended up being his father's last hunt, he passed away from pancreatic cancer a short time after. Fu<c cancer.

Well, of course you go through your freezers and get rid of things you really don't need, and things that went bad.

So I did that and still didn't have nearly enough room, I was temped to go buy another freezer until I remembered how good cold packed canned meat is.

So I got after it yesterday, man what a job, between thawing everything with a water hose running into each cooler with the bottom drain plug open. It took 2 1/2 hours to thaw out the meat. Which gave me time to go through my jars, lids, and rings. Crap, I'm not gonna have enough, so off to the hardware store to buy two cases of widemouth quart Ball jars and two cases of widemouth pint jars.

Now the fun begins, when I'm pressure canning I don't boil the jars, instead I use a product called Star San, which is what beer, winemakers, and bars use to sterilize their bottles, glasses, and equipment. You use one oz to 5 gallons of hot water. I put all the jars into a big ice chest and let them soak for 30 minutes. Star San, is a no rinse sanitizer, but I always rinse with hot water. Then put them in a 250* oven.


Then the fun begins, time to start packing jars full of Elk stew meat, 28 quart jars to be exact. And 12 qts, and 18 pints of burger meat, leaving 1" of headspace. I used Minor's beef stock to top off the jars, then add 1 tsp of fine sea salt per qt, and 1/2 tsp for the pints.

I don't boil my lids and rings, I wash them in Star San, rinse then toss them into the oven on a cookie sheet.

Get the pressure canner up to temp, add the jars, seal up the lid, and wait for a steady stream of steam. I give it 15 minutes of steady steam, then put the weight on 10 lbs, lower the temp until the weight barely jiggles, maybe once or twice a minute. Set the timer for 90 minutes, then grab a beer and hit the recliner. At this point, it feels like I have a hot knife stabbing me in the low back.

I'm getting FRICK'IN OLD!!!!

After a few beers and a quick nap, the timer goes off, so It's to me to shut down the heat. I let the pressure cooker cool for an hour before opening the lid, rack the hot jars onto a towel and let them cool, then wipe them down with paper towels and white vinegar.


I repeat this process six times, HOLY CRAP, I can barely stand, my back and legs are screaming at me. Clean up most of the mess, before my wife gets home from work at 1:30AM.

It's are 25th anniversary, so I grab a nice bottle of Pinot, cut up some melon, cheese, prosciutto, and seed covered baguette. Find a movie on Netflix and melt into the couch with the little princess. I was so tired, I couldn't tell you what movie we watched. Woke up at 3:30 AM and went straight into the hot tub. The moon was sweet looking, I saw 6 satellites, and 4 shooting stars.

It was a productive day, with a nice ending.

Now I have to pack everything up store it in the cellar, clean the kitchen, wash the floors, and take another nap, did I already say that it sucks getting old?

Here are a few pictures of my last run of canned Elk meat.

Cold packing meat is a great way to save freezer space, and the meat is shelf stable ready to eat, and extremely delicious, nothing like store bought canned meat, try it sometime, I promise you'll be hooked.

Thanks for reading, sorry for all my mistakes, I'm too tired to fix them right now.

Sorry for the long winded post.
I hope you enjoyed the process.
Dan.

 

[pineywoods]

A new freezer would have been easier
Great job a lot of work I know

 

[voyager 663rd]

Sometimes hard to get one delivered quickly. Our chest freezer died recently and I had to borrow three neighbours freezers to take it all. AND I did buy a little chest freezer that I could pick up the same day. Still lost couple hundred $ worth but most was saved.

I've got WHAT in here? and how long was it in there? I see the advantages of uprights but so much room lost.

BUT with a chest freezer, stuff goes in there and it's like the outer limits---never to be seen again.

 

[forktender]

A new freezer would have been easier
Great job a lot of work I know

Much, much, easier!!!

 

[forktender]

Sometimes hard to get one delivered quickly. Our chest freezer died recently and I had to borrow three neighbours freezers to take it all. AND I did buy a little chest freezer that I could pick up the same day. Still lost couple hundred $ worth but most was saved.

I've got WHAT in here? and how long was it in there? I see the advantages of uprights but so much room lost.

BUT with a chest freezer, stuff goes in there and it's like the outer limits---never to be seen again.

So true about the chest freezer abyss.

I could have picked up the freezer, same day, but I already have a garage refer, stand up freezer, and chest freezer. So I decided that I didn't want to pay for the power monthly consumption. After all, there are only two of us in our home, and I have enough meat to supply a small village for a month or more.

It's comforting to me, to have a freezer full of good $h!t to eat whenever I want it. It's my O.C.D. without it, I feel empty inside.

 

[Fueling Around]

Like big wow!
I have never pressure canned anything. Got my mother’s unit in The garage and helped her can many jars of corn and beans
You read the label on Star San. First application needs to sit for 30 minutes. Repeat clean offs can be a few minutes

 

[forktender]

Like big wow!
I have never pressure canned anything. Got my mother’s unit in The garage and helped her can many jars of corn and beans
You read the label on Star San. First application needs to sit for 30 minutes. Repeat clean offs can be a few minutes

Thanks, John.
I have read the instructions before, I basically us it like we used it in the family restaurant. Which is a back up to make absolutely sure thing are sterol, even though the pressure canning temps really do the brunt of the sterilizing process. You really don't need to boil jars or lids when you're pressure canning, although I still do. It's the way I was taught many yrs ago, clean, and clean again just to be safe.
The length of time, heat and pressure kill all the baddies, it's an autoclave after all.
"An autoclave is a sterilization device that uses high-pressure steam to kill microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, and spores. It is widely used in healthcare, laboratories, and various industrial settings for sterilizing equipment, liquids, and waste. The process involves heating steam under pressure to achieve high temperatures, which effectively eliminates microbial life".

 

[Smoking Allowed]

Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. It seems that maybe you ended up with more good than bad and maybe you won't remember the bad when you are enjoying the fruits of your labors. Nice work.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Wow that was work! Canning meat is something i been wanting to try. I know the feeling about full freezers!

 

[02ebz06]

My youngest son cans meat. I don't need another hobby.

 

[Winterrider]

Nice work . . . very sad about your buds father

 

[forktender]

Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad. It seems that maybe you ended up with more good than bad and maybe you won't remember the bad when you are enjoying the fruits of your labors. Nice work.

So, so true.

Thank you.
Dan

 

[forktender]

Wow that was work! Canning meat is something i been wanting to try. I know the feeling about full freezers!

If you have a pressure canner, and jars, it's really one of the easiest things to can, Brian. Clean and pack the jars with raw meat, leave 1'' headspace, all I add to each jar of meat is salt. Then process them for 90 minutes at 10 PSI for your location, which is the same pressure used here in CA. It's really time consuming, so start in the early AM and plan on hanging out around the house all day.
My back is still killing me. I have no idea how my Noni did stuff like this into her 80s, she was one tough lady, that's for sure, they don't make them like that anymore. Give it a shot Brian, it's actually pretty gratifying, and the meat turns out great. And it's perfect for quick meals, heat if you choose to, add seasoning and bingo, you're good to go. I've been known, to open a jar of burger meat, and eat it cold right out of the jar in the early AM or middle of the night. LOL!!!
I haven't tried the canned Elk yet, as I had a bunch of leftovers in the refer that needed to be eaten before they went bad, as I hate wasting food.

Give it a try Brian, you're good at baking, which is so much harder than canning.
I can't bake for $h!t, because I'm not good with sticking to recipes, but for some reason I am good at canning stuff, which you pretty much have to follow the recipe as well. I think it's because I've been canning stuff with my Noni, and Mother since I was a little guy. I wish I was more comfortable with baking, as I'd really love to be able to make a good sourdough bread.

 

[forktender]

My youngest son cans meat. I don't need another hobby.

I had to give up so many of my active hobbies because of my spinal injury.
Now I have to find things to keep my mind busy, without doing so, I'd absolutely lose my $h!t.

 

[forktender]

Nice work . . . very sad about your buds father

Thanks man, it was really unexpected, the man was in great shape, he could run circles around men 30 yrs younger than him. At least he didn't suffer too long, he found out he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer, and was gone in two months.
Same thing that happened to my Mother in law three yrs ago. That $h!t is brutal, you typically don't know you have it until it's stage 4.

F**K Cancer!!!