Canning BBQ??

[trolleytime]

I know we all have used vacuum sealers to seal barbeque and place it back in the freezer for storage. Is there any possibility of being able to put pulled pork and the juice in a quart jar and pressure can it like vegetables or sauces? I have the necessary equipment to can things like vegetables and such.

The reason I'm asking this is I have a cousin serving in Afghanistan right now and his girlfriend would like to send him some smoked meat. Shipping it in dry ice would definitely be too costly.

Any ideas or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

D. Moore
Trolley Time BBQ

[twinsfan]

I'm pretty sure that's a no. I bet others can chime in but I bet it'd already be discussed 100+ times if you could. Too much protien and scary stuff in meat to can. Good luck to your cousin though

[armor]

I have a brother who lives in Alaska. He is always canning salmon that he catches. He also cans smoked salmon (with jalapenos) in jars that we keep for months and years and is still good. Not sure how that would transfer to pork but it would be worth looking into. I have never canned anything but I hope others chime in on this.

[The_Kapn]

I never thought of canning meat and do not do canning anyway. :oops:

But, you got my interest up.
I used Google and found a plethora of articles.
One of the most authoritative articles was:

http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/yf/foods/fn188.pdf

Seems that pressure canning is the trick.

Let us know how it goes.

TIM

[jbrink01]

I grew up cannng meat. Nothing to it. I'll describe how we did beef, and it keeps for well over a year;
Cut up an entire steer into thumb sized cubes (I have big thumbs). Place cubes in an applebutter kettle with water, salt, pepper and garlic. Simmer several hours until tender with a nice thickened broth. Place in wide mouth mason jars, wipe rim and gently place lid and ring on top sealing LIGHTLY. Place in hot water bath on stove top for 15 minutes, remove turn lid tight and let rest until lids pop down. Overnight usually.

S0 - BBQ away and can it. You'll be fine.

[jbrink01]

We also did "fry down sausage" and it's awesome in kraut. Fry pork sausage, stuff a mason jar full, pour the grease over the top and pack as above.

[Teleking]

I grew up cannng meat. Nothing to it. I'll describe how we did beef, and it keeps for well over a year;
Cut up an entire steer into thumb sized cubes (I have big thumbs). Place cubes in an applebutter kettle with water, salt, pepper and garlic. Simmer several hours until tender with a nice thickened broth. Place in wide mouth mason jars, wipe rim and gently place lid and ring on top sealing LIGHTLY. Place in hot water bath on stove top for 15 minutes, remove turn lid tight and let rest until lids pop down. Overnight usually.

S0 - BBQ away and can it. You'll be fine.

You're lucky to be alive. All meat and low acid food can only be safe if processed in a pressure canner. Water bath not hot enough to kill botulism and definitely no long enough. Pressure canner get to 240 to 250 and takes 90 mins.

[Teleking]

We also did "fry down sausage" and it's awesome in kraut. Fry pork sausage, stuff a mason jar full, pour the grease over the top and pack as above.

Please get a ball blue book before you kill someone.

[Stoke&Smoke]

It can , as has been mentioned, be pressure canned, and be safe. We haven't tried it yet, but will be experimenting in the near future. If I remember to, I'll try and update how the texture works out.

That's my concern is if it's cooked "done" that is, to a stage of tenderness desired, will it turn to mush during the canning process, and if so, what stage should it be cooked to for it to be the desired texture after going through the pressure canning process

[WineMaster]

Smoke him up some awsome jerkey. That goes along way without being dangerous.

[Brother Matt]

No problem, I do this all the time with ham. I use the recipes found at the National Center for Home Food Preservation. They are tested, proven safe techniques.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_05/strips_cubes_chunks.html

[Kathy's Smokin']

No problem, I do this all the time with ham. I use the recipes found at the National Center for Home Food Preservation. They are tested, proven safe techniques.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_05/strips_cubes_chunks.html

Thanks for the link. I've been to a couple of canning demos put on my local Mennonites (Amish) -- they can meat but boil it in jars in a water bath for something like 4 hours. Too long for my liking. I'll do some googling about pressure canning, I'm not familiar with what it is but if it can reduce processing time to 75 and 90 minutes I'm interested again.

[NRA4Life]

I've pressure canned deer, beef, pork, chicken, and fish. All of it starts off packed in the jars RAW, yes raw, with some seasoning. Pressure canned at >10 lbs of pressure for 90 minutes. When canning raw meat, it produces it's own juice from the cooking, so you don't want to add much liquid (if any) to the jars. I've never canned cooked smoked meat, but there isn't any reason you couldn't, just follow the same time and pressure guidelines in the Ball Blue Book - book of canning. Canning meat is perfectly safe as long as you do it correctly.

Here is a website from Presto Canners discussing raw pack, or hot pack - http://www.gopresto.com/recipes/canning/meat.php

[bluetang]

http://canninggranny.blogspot.com/2012/02/canning-pulled-pork-barbecue.html

[Kathy's Smokin']

Does anyone know why the Presto write up says not to use any flour when pressure canning meat? I wouldn't have thought to or wanted to, the statement just made me curious and they didn't say why it was so.

[Brother Matt]

Kathy, I believe that mainly it has to do with density and heat penetration. No thickeners or dairy should ever be added to home canned foods before canning. They increase the density of the product and may insulate it enough that some of the product doesn't see the necessary temps for the appropriate time when following tested recipes.

The way to work around that is to just add the flour or dairy upon opening. I do this all the time with broccoli and cauliflower I can from my garden. I'll can a thin soup, and then add the cream or thickener while reheating to eat. That canned cauliflower soup makes an amazing base for curries, by the way!

That same NCHFP link has great info on pressure canner use and practices, as well as safe, tested recipes for canning things like salmon and tuna. I do hundreds of jars of those each year, and they are wonderful.

[IamMadMan]

The main issue is the safety of the food in canning.

The second issue is when sent to an APO / FPO box for an AE delivery, if any liquid or glas is detected in screening the package is pulled and discarded.

If it clears US customs it then has to clear Foreign Custom inspections.

My legion Post ships about 25 packages a week and have had to deal with many issues of loss from simple issues like shampoo and liquid soap.

Can't imagine a glass container filled with meat and juices getting through...

.

[trolleytime]

Thanks for all the information. I decided to hold off on attempting it now because my cousin's wing is set to come back early next month and I'd rather cook for his welcome home party. I may try this in the future and send some to a cousin in CA.

D. Moore