Canning of Meat

Canning Of Meat

Canning

Canning is a method of preserving food in which the food contents are processed and sealed in an airtight container

What Are the Essential Steps in Canning’ Meat?

Preparation of Canning of Meat

1. Use only good clean, sound, fresh meat for canning.
2. All meat should be thoroughly bled and cooled. Allow at least 24 hours after killing for beef, veal, pork or mutton, and 6 hours or more for poultry.
3. Wash meat, if necessary, but never allow it to soak in water. To do so dissolves meat juices and renders meat stringy. Wiping it off with a damp cloth is usually that is necessary.
4. Cut meat into convenient, uniform pieces for packing in jars. Trim off excess fat. Some fat is desirable; too much is wasteful and unattractive. Small bones may be left in. They seem to improve the flavor and aid in heat penetration.
5. Meat should be precooked. When glass jars are used, meats should be precooked in the oven or in water before being packed in the container.

When tin cans are used, the meat may be precooked in either of these ways and packed hot, or it may be packed raw and precooked in the cans while they are being exhausted before being sealed. The latter method gives a little better flavored product and the liquid is all meat juice, but it takes more time and stove space. Frying is no longer recommended as a method of precooking meat for canning because it makes the meat more hard and dry and gives it a less desirable flavor.

The length of processing time remains the same regardless of the method used for precooking. Meat precooked in the oven resembles roasted meat while that precooked in water is more like boiled meat in texture and flavor. The water method of precooking, commonly referred to as parboiling, is the quickest way to precook a large quantity of meat. It is also used with chicken.

The following method is used to exhaust air from tin cans packed with cold meat. Place the filled but open cans in a bath of boiling water that comes to within 1% to 2 inches of the top of the can. Cover the bath to retain steam and heat, being careful that water from the bath does not bubble into the cans. Heat until the meat is steaming hot (170· F. at center of cans) and has lost most of its raw color. This will usually require 40 to 50 minutes for beef and less for chicken.

Packing Jars

1. Have ready a supply of clean, hot, wide-mouthed glass jars or tin cans and lids.
2. Pack meat loosely into containers, either raw or precooked.
3. Add one-half teaspoon salt to a pint jar, three-fourths teaspoon to a No.2 can, and 1 teaspoon to a quart jar or No. 3 can. When tin cans are used, place the salt in the cans before packing them with meat. If salt is placed on top of the meat, the lids sometimes rust.

4. Add pan drippings or boiling water to fill cans, leaving sufficient head space.
5. Be sure there is no fat or grease on the mouth of the jar or lid. (Grease causes rubber to weaken and thus the seal may be destroyed).
6. If glass jars are used, adjust lid and rubber, After processing, the cap is immediately screwed down as tightly as possible.
7. Tin cans packed with hot, precooked meat may be sealed immediately. Cans filled with raw meat should be sealed as rapidly as possible after the exhaust and then processed while still hot. Tin cans are never sealed cold.

Process of Canning Meat

Pressure cooker processing is recommended over any other method from the standpoints of health, keeping quality and economy of time. Always observe these precautions when using the pressure cooker:

1. Be sure there is sufficient water in the bottom of the cooker-l pt. for the 12 qt. size, 3 c. for the 18 qt. size, and 1 qt. for the 25 qt. size.
2. Do not close the petcock until steam has escaped for at least 7 minutes from the 12 qt. size, 10 minutes from the 18 or 25 qt. size.

3. Regulate heat to maintain a steady, constant pressure. Fluctuating pressure causes loss of liquid from glass jars and uneven cooking of contents. Time carefully and do not remove from heat till full time is up.

4. For glass jars never open petcock until 5 minutes after the pressure gauge has registered zero. To do so causes loss of liquid from glass jars. For tin cans the pressure can be gradually exhausted by opening the petcock a little way.

5. Never unlock the cooker until after pressure has registered zero and the petcock has been opened wide.
6. Let glass jars stand in the cooker till violent bubbling ceases. Then remove them, complete the seal and set apart to cool away from drafts. Jars sealed with composition self-sealing type of lid should never be tightened either while hot or after cooling.
7. Tin cans may be removed as soon as the cooker is opened and plunged at once into cold water.
8. Process all meat at 15 lbs. pressure:

Pint glass jars …………….85 minutes

No.2 plain tins ……………85 minutes

No. 21/2 plain tins …………..110 minutes

No.3 plain tins or qt. glass jars……… 120 minutes

These times are for plain meats.

Caution:

Pressure corrections should be made for altitude, i. e; increase the pressure 1 lb. for each 2000 feet altitude. Thus at an altitude of 4000 feet, process at 17 lbs. pressure instead of 15 lbs. pressure.

Also Study:

Chemical and Physical Properties of Meat

What is Curing of Meat and Meat Curing Methods

Irradiation of Raw Meat

Chilling of Meat

Smoking of Meat and Smoking of Meat Process

Preservation of Meat by Salting