Canning Everything But the Cat---How to Pressure can Just about ANY Pork Product You Can Think Of...

Admit it.

You love bacon too.

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Its so so bad for you...supposedly. 

But personally, I dont think I would want to live in a world without bacon.

Or sausage.

Or a chunk of ham in split pea soup.

Or country style ribs, smothered in sauce.

(Although I could do without the pork chops.)

I love sweet and sour pork, stir fry, kabobs.......

So I thought to myself a few years ago: since meat is getting SO EXPENSIVE to purchase, I really need to find a way to preserve it that will make it just as good in a year as it was the day I bought it.

And cheese. I dont think I could make it without cheese........

But that is a post for another day. :)

So today is ALL ABOUT bacon.....I mean, Pressure Canning pork.

Pork, as a fattier meat, requires just a little more care than say, canning up a ton of chicken or turkey.

You must be sure that everything stays free of the grease when it comes to your utensils, the lids and rings, the inside of the canner, etc.

But other than using a good dose of vinegar full strength to help with that, it is the same as canning the other two types of meat we have covered this week: Beef and Poultry.

   First of all, pork is one of the easiest meats in the world to raw pack, although you can cook it the same way as I showed you during the beef  posts a couple days ago--where you cook it first, and then pack it. When it comes to using chunks of pork in pressure canning, I am relatively new at this, which is unusual. For whatever reason I was nervous that pork would just plain NOT CAN UP RIGHT and I would be left with a mess on my hands.

I couldnt have been more wrong. Seriously.

    I had a blast walking my way through this post and taking some new steps in The Welcoming House kitchen.....which is admittedly unusual since I do so much canning each year. Normally it is a soup I am trying out or something, but this, well, this was FUN!

    To raw pack pork and can it up there are a few simple steps.

• Trim out any visible fat on the meat that is sitting on the side or bottom of the piece you will be canning. Pork is fatty enough in most places that you will still have plenty of flavor and marbley-goodness. :)
• Cube it up into what you will be using it for---country style ribs, pieces for kabobs, etc.
• add 1/2 tsp salt per jar if you want, pack in the meat, wipe the rims with strong vinegar solution, put on the heated lids and rings, and place into the canner which has a good shot of vinegar from the bottle already in it.
• pressure can for 75 minutes pints, 90 minutes quarts. It will look like the meat has shrunk, and the jar is not totally full (sorry I did not have pics of this, the camera was on the fritz). But that is normal and totally okay. You will store them just the same.

   And then, of course, you can pressure can pork that has already been cooked, such as a roast that you shredded for BBQ, place it in a thinned sauce that will flavor it such as sweet and sour sauce, or smoky barbeque sauce. You can just can it up plain, with boiling water, and salt, so it is versatile, or you can make meals in a jar, all depending on your family's tastes and preferences. I would encourage you to head on over to the Canning and Preserving for Christians Facebook page if you are a person of the Christian faith and want to meet a great group of folks who love to can, and have a zillion recipes to share with you. Otherwise, there are many canning groups all over the internet, such as Yahoo groups, or even other large canning pages on FB. I just know the people over there are amazing, helpful, and creative. :)

    So now that we have covered the BORING part of canning pork, lets talk about canning bacon.

Seriously.

Did you hear me???

Canning BACON!

Simple, easy step by step he shows you how (and it works, I am telling you)

Yes, if you use the thick cut bacon, you can pull it right back out in nummy strips when you want to crack open a jar for breakfast, BLT's, Etc. Now some of you may be saying: "WHY would I want to can bacon??"

Because you can.

Because it is going to be outrageously priced (not like it isnt now, but you wait and see in a couple months).

Because you can use it a zillion ways, flavoring, soups, stews, meals, casseroles, etc.

Because you wont be paying a crazy electric bill and risk losing all your freezer stuff if there is a power outage.

   Or how about sausage? You can use sausage that is canned in just about anything you would normally use sausage for. I drain mine, and use it for making spinach sausage quiche, or browning for adding to omlettes. But the best way to can it is in sausage patties, and that is the picture tutorial I have for you today.

I started with three tubes of ground pork sausage.....

just brown them lightly. They dont have to be fully cooked since they will cook while canning...

five yummy sausage patties in a pint jar---you can get more in a quart jar if you have a larger family

half full with "juice" from frying up, top off with water to the bottom thread of the jar

DONT FORGET THIS STEP---wipe the rims with that cloth and vinegar!

and shelf stable for a full year. More if kept in a dark place with constant temp below 65*.

   Writing this blog post made me hungry, and the kids are always hungry, no matter the time of day, so I went and cracked open one of these and fed everyone eggs and sausage. We all have happy tummies now, and I hope that you are happy realizing that you can take advantage of the sales on ALL meat products and put them away without worrying about freezing them.

   I talked with the meat manager a couple days ago, and he was clear they are already hearing about the major spike in prices in meat in a couple weeks. Right now, there are some great sales out there due to the glut on the market, and I would encourage you to seriously TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM. If you dont want to can meat, and would rather freeze it, invest in a food saver and start stocking. 

   You can dehdyrate all these meats with the exception of pork unless it is really lean. Click the "contact me" button and I can tell you how to do that if you want. I might even do a series on it.

Right now the only meat I dehydrate (because I love the convenience of just cracking open a jar and using it) is hamburger. It is cheap, easy, and stores for a really long time, PLUS takes far less space than regular canning. So, like I said, want to talk about it, please just ask me. :)

   I am praying for many of you who have contacted me in the last couple days and are worried about feeding your families. I applaud you for taking a step of faith and getting started on learning how to do this stuff. I pray you will be frugal, smart, and creative when it comes to putting some food in your pantry. Get off the convenience stuff that will suck your wallet (and your health) dry, and learn how to do things on your own.

Come back tomorrow and Monday for recipes on how to use ALL of this meat, as well as a few canning recipes for the different kinds of meat that end up being "meals in a jar".

Many Blessings to you and yours,

Heather

she is still just fine...............