What are you canning today? Part 8

[The WE2's]

Criminy...found another small package of white beans. Just put them in my tote here at the house and I'll just cook them up for us to eat...not planning to can any more beans! Then...get a call that a friend of ours went to a Mennonite farm where they were getting ready to turn over their tomatoes...so he picked about 50# for $5 and "just knew we'd enjoy a 5 gallon bucket full"...so...even though I really thought I was though canning for awhile, I still ended up putting up 5 quarts of quartered 'maters and 6 pints of spiced tomato sauce. Two things I don't like to do...throw food away...and turn down food that's free :-)

[Jeepers]

I thought I missed going to Amish country yesterday because I thought it was Thursday. Turns out today was Thursday so I got to go after all. I got quite a lot of meat. It's all Angus, grass fed, no chemicals... .

 

I'm not good about knowing cuts of meat but I got something that looks like 'medallions' and some big hunks of meat. I also got some 90/10 ground beef for chili.

 

I picked up some of the free-range, no chemical etc. chicken breasts.

 

I also got some mild sausage to can. I'm not sure how it will taste after awhile but I guess I'll find out. I just hope it doesn't get bitter from the sage after time.

 

I came home and mowed the grass. It wasn't bad but it's supposed to rain for the next week so now I don't have to worry about it.

 

I guess I have my work cut out for me this weekend.

[Jeepers]

I've got 10 pints of steak in the canner. It smells so good. I won't be disappointed if one of the jars doesn't seal.

 

I marinated them in mesquite stuff and then grilled them to rare. I was going to do half in mesquite and the other half in a garlic herb marinade but one package did all of the meat so I just went with that. I didn't need any of the liquid smoke after all. I opened the bottle to taste it and the smoke part tasted pretty good but it had a real sour taste. Don't know if that's normal or not? I had plenty of smoke going from the grill though so I wasn't going to chance ruining the meat. The steaks were so big I had to cut them in half to get them in a pint jar. Hope they don't shrink too much.

 

I'm not sure grilling in the garage would be a good idea. I did mine out back on the patio and there was a lot of smoke.You couldn't sneak around cooking on a grill that's for sure!

 

The match light charcoal really didn't need any lighter. It caught fire right away. Finally, something that does what it says it's going to.

 

Edited: Left out a word.

Edited October 24, 2015 by Jeepers

[babysteps]

Grape juice I was given a wonderful opportunity to glean from a local vineyard. Grapes everywhere! I'm getting them all turned into juice as fast as possible, and then will work on jelly and whatever else I can think of.

[Jeepers]

I just canned 23 pints of chili and all of them sealed. I'm not sure how with all of the 'chili juice' left in the canner. But I heard them all PING. Love that sound.

 

It takes so long for my canner to build up pressure. By the time I see a steady stream of steam and wait 10 minutes, put the weight on and then wait for the pressure to build up, then wait another 75 minutes (pints), hours have gone by. And of course my timer...doesn't. Worth it but I need a nap.

[The WE2's]

Good girl Jeepers! Canning meats will become one of your most favorite things to can...I can attest :-) When you have "seepage" in your canner (it can happen often) don't worry much. My TRUE test is the next morning. I remove the rings. Wash each jar in very warm soapy water and then rinse. IF that lid stays sealed, then you've probably got 'er done :-) I've had a few "false seals" in all types of canning projects, so that's why I ALWAYS remove the rings, wash the jars in soapy water and then rinse. Just what I do :-)

Edited October 26, 2015 by The WE2's

[The WE2's]

What kind of canner do you have Jeepers? Mine are both Presto's and believe it or not, I can start them both at the exact same time and one will reach temperature for venting before the other :-( So...when I have them both going I have to use my microwave for one and my stove clock for the other. Canning meats does take awhile, but absolutely NO shortcuts. Both of my canners (if starting with cold or warm water) will take about 20 minutes or more to come to vent temperature so I can put the weight on. Then it takes at least that long for it to come to canning temperature for the weight to start "dancing". I'm not one to rush things so I seldom use a high burner setting. I prefer to start at mediium/high and then I turn it down another notch or two (so long as it hold the temperature) to finish the job. Again...that's just what I do. Makes me feel safer with my canning equipment and my canning pruduct.

[Jeepers]

All of my chili lids sealed! I was wondering if they would after I saw all of that greasy red liquid in the canner.

I got them all de-banded and washed up nice. Now I have sausage going. Probably another greasy mess.

 

Speaking of a false seal, I was going through my pickles a month or so back and I ALWAYS give the lids the press test on top to make sure they are still sealed AND I tap the lids with my fingernail. One didn't have that pingy sound that the others did when I did the nail test. It was sealed. The jar even made the 'whish' sound when I opened it. Pickles were bad. I have no idea why one jar went bad after all of the others were fine. Just one of those things I guess.

 

Anyway fellow canners, be sure to check your jars for spoilage multiple ways not just if the lid is sealed. I've found the fingernail tap on the top of the jar is one pretty good indication that something is 'off'. A good jar will have tinny sound and a bad jar will have a dull thud sound. I don't know if that will work with the Tattler lids or not?

[Jeepers]

I have a Presto 23 qt. canner. It's only a couple of years old. That's the one I use most often. I really like it...after it finally gets going.

 

I also have a 1970's Mirro that I like too. It's smaller and only holds one tier of jars. I think it's a 16 qt. size. Maybe because it's smaller, and what I'm used to, I just notice how long it takes the bigger Presto. The Mirro doesn't have a gauge, just a weight. I thought about retiring it and getting another Presto only smaller. But every time I can, I seem to fill both tiers of that big boy.

[Jeepers]

I did 9 pints of sausage today. I drained the grease off of it but it looks like half of the jars are grease. I opened one and the grease is only around the inside of the jar; it isn't solid. So that is good because I need a little grease when I make it into sausage gravy. Looks funky but tastes really good.

[The WE2's]

Yep...you gotta have the grease...especially should something catastrophic happen. Every time I've dumped a jar of our sausage into my skillet, the gravy or omelet taste wonderful! If there's more grease than what I want I just spoon a little of it out :-)

[Jeepers]

I saved the grease from the pan after I cooked the sausage. I put it in my freezer to use when I make the gravy but now I won't need it. I got less than a cup; closer to 1/2 a cup. I'm going to pitch it because I have plenty of bacon grease to season with. Besides, there was about as much water as grease. Not bad really for around 12 pounds of sausage.

[The WE2's]

We picked up a few chubs of hamburger and stuck them in the frig freezer. We want to try canning some of it in patties. I'mstillworkin (I think?) has a youtube vid and the recipe to go along with it.

[Jeepers]

I canned 8 pints of beef, onion and mushrooms together. I wouldn't mind canning some more of them. I precooked the meat in the electric pressure cooker so I could add broth. I cooked it for 10 minutes and next time I'll cook them for only 5 minutes. The chunks I so lovingly cut into nice size pieces...were falling apart. It looks like there is enough broth to can up about 2-3 quarts. I'll see tomorrow after I let it cool off so I can skim off the fat.

 

I can use them over noodles or rice or add a spoon full of sour cream and call it stroganoff. Or make open face sandwiches. Or eat them as is. I had enough meat left over for 2 roast beef sandwiches for supper and they were sooo good.

[babysteps]

I finished the grapes, so now I'm starting in on cranberries. Cranberry juice is AWESOME, of course, but with Thanksgiving coming up I'm going to work on canning some cranberry sauce/jelly type stuff, too.

 

And for the first time EVER I'm running low on jars.

[Jeepers]

I broke down and canned another 8 pints of beef, mushrooms and onions. The first batch came out so well I figured I'd do some more while I was in the mood and have the canners out and going. The mushrooms and onions will probably be mushy but thats fine with me. They are still in there. I'll eat them over noodles, rice, mashed potatoes, stroganoff them or have open faced sandwiches over Texas toast.

 

I had a NEAR disaster with them last night though. The darn lid on the pressure cooked got stuck on and I couldn't get it off for over 3 hours. The cooker not the canner. It budged but wouldn't release. I think I over filled it and the beef 'stuff' clogged the release valve and wouldn't let the lid go even though there wasn't any pressure in it. I finally stuck a knife in the hole and the lid came off. Sheesh. I don't know how that worked because the pressure was long gone. All over the inside of the lid was that scummy stuff from the beef. I thought I was going to have to throw away all of that meat and the cooker. Lesson learned. There is a 'fill' line on there for a reason.

[The WE2's]

Jeeps...that's one of the reasons I wanted (and we bought) the HUGE turker roaster. I was able to do 20# of chicken in it. On separate sessions I was able to do 1) 20# of hamburger and 2) 20# of sausage. It's big and takes up a lot of counter/table space but so worth it :-)

[Jeepers]

I canned 16 pints of that 15 bean soup today. I still have 3 pints in the fridge that wouldn't fit in the canner. I'll either can them with something tomorrow or else make some cornbread and start eating them.

 

The 'juice' is really dark. Probably from the lentils in there but it will be good over cornbread. I don't really like lentils but by the time I pressure cooked them and then pressure canned them, they sort of disappeared and helped thicken the juice. They have a lot of protein so I'm good with it.

[The WE2's]

Good job Jeeps! I told MrWE2 that "Jeepers is a canning maniac right now!" LOL You absolutely will enjoy having your comfort foods already cooked and ready to eat when the snow if flying and you don't want to do anything but start your car, open the garage door and let the battery charge...and say "I went shopping today"...:-)

[Jeepers]

 

I really do like canning. It's hard work but the rewards are really worth it. It doesn't take that much longer to do a big load instead of a small one. It's starting to really bother my back these days so I'd rather just keep going and get it over with instead of dragging the pain out. If I ease up then I'm done for it. My kitchen is a MESS! I enjoy looking at it as much as I do eating it. I always get the canning bug starting around the end of October. Nesting in I suppose. I still have the chicken chunks to do and then some soups. Having a full pantry makes me feel secure...and happy.

 

Yep, that's my kind of shopping in the wintertime. I don't mind the cold and snow so much but it's so hard to push a grocery cart in the parking lot full of snow and slush. Even worse are those frozen slush ice ruts.

[dogmom4]

Made a half dozen jars of grape jelly...oh wait...no grape syrup because they didn't set.

[The WE2's]

Made a half dozen jars of grape jelly...oh wait...no grape syrup because they didn't set.

 

I've found "sometimes" it can take up to a week for them to set. Was really a surprise to me!

[The WE2's]

Hmmm...this must be a duplicate thread or ??? Anyway, got some turkey jarred up earlier today and then lotsa stock. Don't know if the stock sealed or not. I've never canned stock and they were really making a racket, popping up then down, then up, then down. Guess we'll see in the morning :-) If not, guess we'll buy some ice cube trays to pour it into and freeze it.

[dogmom4]

 

Made a half dozen jars of grape jelly...oh wait...no grape syrup because they didn't set.

 

I've found "sometimes" it can take up to a week for them to set. Was really a surprise to me!

 

 

They actually did set...just not super hard. Turned out really tasty though!

[Homesteader]

I'm cooking up the bones from the turkey and will can a few quarts of broth later today. I stopped at a charity shop while visiting family in Wisconsin this past week. The pints were .30 each. I bought a dozen. I would have gone after some quarts but a new canning lady was looking at them. We talked about canning meats, and I think I finally convinced her to buy a canner. She just needed a nudge, without throwing her off the canning cliff.

Edited November 29, 2015 by Homesteader