Sunday, February 6, 2011

Canning Hamburger

Ok I finally did it. I set some time aside and canned hamburger. I've been putting it off because I just couldn't imagine wanting to spend the time canning it when I can just throw it in the freezer. Well how WRONG I was! I'll tell you why later, but first let's get to the process.

First I fried up a bunch of ground beef from Costco. I'm not sure how much I started with but it was lean ground beef. You do not want to can high fat ground beef. I drained the meat well before putting it in the jars. You can cook this up with onions and other seasonings and can it like that. I did it plain just because then I can use it however I want later. Next time though I think I will fry it up with onions. I almost never use ground beef without onions.



Next I took sterile quart canning jars and I put one beef bouillon cube in the bottom. Some people use just water, some people use beef broth, but this is just the way I did it.

Next I added ground beef. I filled up the jars but did not pack them tightly. I think I might try packing in a little more next time because my jars didn't seem to hold as much meat as other people's. Once the meat was in, I filled the jars up with boiling water, leaving 1 inch of head room. Then I carefully wiped the rims and put the lids on.
Now I had read some people put raw hamburger in the jars since it cooks as it cans. I decided to try one jar like that. I packed it full of raw hamburger and then put a tsp or so or beef broth flavoring on top. There is no need to add liquid to these jars so I just put the lid on.

Next I placed them in my pressure cooker. I can fit 7 quart jars in my canner. This is the first time I have used a pressure cooker and I was a little nervous. I took my gauge into my local county extension office to get it calibrated but I have heard horror stories about pressure canners exploding so I made all my kids stay out of the kitchen. :)
When canning hamburger it needs to cook at 11 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes. If you are doing pints then it's 11lbs for 75 minutes. I had to pretty much stand next to the pressure cooker for 90 minutes as the pressure didn't stay completely steady the whole time and I had to make minor adjustments to the heat. This was the only really time consuming part.
After the 90 minutes are up you turn off the heat, however, it does take a while for the pressure in your canner to subside. You just have to wait, although you don't need to babysit it anymore. Once the pressure is gone, you can remove the lid and carefully remove your jars. They should sit on your counter for 24 hours to cool. You can see it the picture the difference between the precooked meat (on the right) and the raw meat (on the left). The precooked meat looked MUCH more appetizing and had a lot less fat in it. Still I was trying to reserve judgement until I tried it.

The next morning I checked on my jars and you can see that the grease had coagulated in a ring. The raw meat jar looked truly disgusting. I also wasn't sure it has sealed properly so I put it in the fridge to use right away. All of my other jars looked great!
Just FYI, I decided to do another batch of pint jars and to actually rinse the meat to see if I could get rid of that ring of fat. I suppose it doesn't really matter but it just didn't look very yummy. It worked since they had virtually no white ring but again, not sure it mattered other than aesthetically, and it might even have been a bad thing as some of the flavor no doubt washed away as well.

Ok, so, we did try to eat the jar that began as raw meat, and I say try because I never did manage to even get it out of the jar. It was a like a rock solid little meat loaf in there. After gouging at it with all sorts of implements with little success of dislodging the meat, I gave up and threw it in the trash, jar and all. Guess I won't do it that way again. It could have been extra hard because I had it in the fridge but it looked so revolting to begin with that I'm not even going to try it that way again.

I have also used some of the other meat. It's SO terrific! I couldn't tell the difference between that and meat cooked up fresh. Plus the convenience of just grabbing a jar, draining it, and fixing dinner was indescribable. I'm forever forgetting to take meat out of the freezer in the morning so this is a huge blessing to me. Plus if we ever lost power for very long, I would lose all of my meat in the freezer. Canned meat will last at least a year. Longer if stored correctly.

One other note. Most people say you can fit 1lb of hamburger into a pint jar, and 2lbs into a quart jar. I didn't get nearly that much into a jar. In fact I would say it was about half that. Maybe it's because I didn't pack it tight enough, or maybe they were talking about precooked weight, but just wanted to let you know that my experience was different.

I'm not going to can all my meat. After all, you can't use it to make hamburgers :) but I'm going to keep enough for my family for 3 months. I haven't canned any of my hubby's elk yet. I'm waiting for a month to go by, then I'm going to eat some more of this meat and make sure that the taste stands up over time. I'm hopeful though.

Give it a try if you are at all interested. It's just one more tool in your preparedness box!

55 comments:

  1. Wow Sherida, I think this is just one of many I'll need to try!

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  2. Interesting that you liked it, because I really didn't like mine. I wonder how much of a difference the broth made. Yeah, pressure canners are hard to keep regulated. I just work on preparing the next batch of jars while I'm watching it so I can easily turn around every few minutes to check the pressure. It looks like you have a gas stove and that's easier, because you see the difference pretty quickly. I have electric and it's taken a lot of getting used to for canning, plus my two big burners are broken and the little burners take forever to heat a canner.

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  3. I do have a gas stove so I was surprised how much I had to babysit it. It was ok though, I just found things to do in the kitchen.

    I will follow up when I try eating more next month. The jar I ate was pretty freshly canned so maybe that is why it was so good.

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  4. Nice post! I have canned burger and other meats for years, just for the convenience of pre-cooked food. And, you can can burgers--form raw patties 1/2 inch thick-exactly the same size as the top of your jar. Stack them up and do not add any additional liquid. After canning for 90 minutes they only need to be warmed up to make a burger. I would suggest a little more headspace for your next try, most meats and fish need a full inch.

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  5. Thanks for the tips Vic! I agree about the headspace, one of my jars overflowed and I had to use it right away.

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  6. I LOVE my canned hamburger and chicken. So so much. I only use that now, except for meatballs and burgers or meals that use a whole chicken breast.

    With that ring of fat I just scoop it out before I dump the jar of beef into whatever I'm cooking. I have used my beef in hamburger helper, tacos, spaghetti sauce, chili, etc. It tastes like fresh cooked beef to me and maybe has a nicer texture. I like smaller chunks of meat and it definitely breaks apart more easily than when you fresh fry it up.

    I boiled mine before I canned it and included onion flakes. It gave a slight flavor to the beef which has been fine in everything. Also, the one pound per pint and two pounds per quart is accurate if you do pre-cooked weight. At least it was for me. My chicken on the other hand was MUCH less, but I did frozen chicken.

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  7. does it hurt anything if some of the juices boiled out? Some of mine did but it looks ok. It is still ok to eat isnt it?
    As far as the fat goes, you can dump that out before reheating it.

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  8. i love making meatloaf in jars. i use the 1 1/2 qt straight sided jelly jars.

    just mix up your meatloaf mix the way you normally would (but without eggs) cram it in the jar and process.

    easy as pie. or meatloaf...

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  9. aHow was the hamburger after it has been canned a year.

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  10. I'm still using the hamburger after a year and it's still perfectly good. I LOVE canning meat!

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    Replies
    1. I keep/rotate our home bottled meats from 5 to 10 years depending upon what it is. The less fatty meats [such as cubed deer in beef broth] keeps longest. I rotate cubed chicken in water about 4 years. Never heard of storing it only one year.

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  11. I've read from backwoods home jackie clay. That it's a preference whether U want to add liquid or not to the jars. I would prefer no liquid as I think it would take away some of the meat flavor. Anyone else have any thoughts on this. I know what the cty extension office recommends.

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    1. My friend does all her meats without adding liquid. But for me, I add either hot water or broth/water or broth, depends upon what meat I'm canning. And I don't throw away the liquid if using bottled meat in a recipe where it doesn't call for extra liquids......in that case I save the liquids to add to soups. And we use the small amount of fats that are in the jar (except for deer meat], the fat has a lot of flavor.

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  12. When I researched it they said to add water to hamburger but not chicken. My hamburger was precooked so it did not produce it's own juice while canning. I cold packed the chicken so it produces plenty of liquid while in the canner.

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  13. I have a 'taste' question... I browned my hamburger by frying it. Then packed it hot, no water added, and no extra seasoning. I expected the taste to be similar to that of fried browned hamburger. It WAS NOT! It tasted much much different - like 'canned meat' you buy at the store. I didn't like the taste of it at all. Is there a way to preserve the 'fried browned' taste?

    On the other hand, I've made meatloaf, and while the taste isn't the same as 'baked' it's still very good.

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  14. Breast aesthetics, there is a lot I do not know about. There are those from Turkey you recommend Dr. Ali mezdeği. Do you have that information?
    Meme estetiği

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  15. This is a great post. I just canned ground beef for the first time and have been looking to see if anyone else had the same 'ring of fat' at the top of their jar as I did. I'll be checking to see if they sealed in a little while. Here's hoping!

    I know this is an old post, but I'd like to invite you to share this post and up to two others at Farm Girl Blog Fest #23, which is live right now. You would be a great addition to the wonderful posts that are shared!

    Farm Girl Friday Blog Fest #23

    Hope to see you there!
    ~Kristi@Let This Mind Be in You

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  16. I've canned HM two different ways and like #1 below better. It seemes to have better flavor since all the broth/fat is in jar.
    1- Just pack as much raw meat in jars called cold pack or raw pack.
    2-For this one I boiled the meat then packed in broth.Hot pack.Getting most of fat out of meat.

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  17. I want to reduce my breasts with breast aesthetics. Need a good plastic surgeon from Turkey.
    Meme estetiği

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  18. Will this work? The first day I cook the patties and keep refrigerated till the next day to can. At this point can I do "cold" pack the burgers since everything is cold or would that make a difference in pressure canning. I have done both but the cold pack is easier. If i do hot pack I would need to heat burgers up in oven/have hot jars then process. Tell me your thoughts.

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  19. I canned hamburger about a year ago, I checked on it today and the meat above the moisture line changed color...is that a problem?

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    1. No, it's just fine, It may be a little drier than the meat below, but it'll be fine to use.

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  20. I am just starting to canned meats. I have a question. What is a cold pack. Fresh meat put in the jar, with out cooking it?

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  21. I have been canning meat and fish for years, with or without water works just fine, i personally use a powdered bullion just to give a bit of flavor and add salt pepper and garlic powder if i cook it first. It keeps well and have used 5 year old jars and it is just fine.

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  22. I have not tried this but read a blog where they used a wide mouth jar with parchment paper in between and canned hamburger patties....I did can ground beef and stew size chunks which are DELICIOUS used later.

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  23. I have some interest in this since where I live the power goes out frequently. So far the power company has gotten out here fast and had us back on before the freezer can thaw, but I've often thought how nice it would be to have canned meat in the pantry. I canned chicken broth once, in quarts. It sealed well but when I opened the jars I didn't like the smell.

    I've had that problem with babysitting the pressure canner gauge and since I moved to an all-electric home that made canning almost impossible. Then I found a canner with a rocker gauge that keeps the pressure in balance and I was free. Amazon sells rocker gauges that you can put on your canner on the stem where the steam comes out and it works wonderfully.

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  24. I love canning hamburger, but I caution you about adding onion when canning. Onion and garlic both change flavor when pressure canned. I find it best to just add it when cooking. I dice up onions and freeze them so they are always on hand when I need them.

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  25. I have done hamburger. I also cooked it first and added some beef bullion. If I were hungry I would eat it and be grateful, but it smelled like pet food. Not doing it again. On the other hand, turkey and chicken both on the bone and off are delicious.

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  26. I have never canned burger, but I think I'm going to try it. I don't normally use bullion, so I won't be adding it, however. I have canned chicken for years. I always cook mine to get the broth, and slice the chicken for salad, pot pies, soups, etc., and add water to the chicken prior to canning. Rule of thumb, if canning raw, don't add water. If canning cooked, add water.
    I am concerned with the use of "pressure cooker" in your article, as a pressure cooker and a pressure canner are not the same thing (unless you are fortunate enough to have purchased the $200 product that works as such). Nothing can be canned in a pressure cooker. It is designed for cooking only. If someone has never canned before, they might assume from the way you've worded your article that a canner and a cooker are the same thing.

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  27. why can't I cook the ground beef have it very hot and put in jars out of boiling water and lids out of boiling water would it not seal this way?

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    1. The ground beef has to be cooked, and you need broth. The jars must be hot and the lids as well.
      What you are talking about is called open kettle canning. It is very dangerous and you risk serious food borne illness. Your food will rot and make you sick if you eat it. Meat must be pressure canned to be safe for consumption.

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    2. It would probably seal but would not be safe. It must be pressure canned 90 minutes. You are risking botulism and death.

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  28. If I am only canning 1 or 2 jars, i put them in my pressure cooker, and give them an extra few minutes under pressure. I only do pints that way, as my cooker is not deep enough for quart jars. i have canned turkey and chicken soup, and when I checked with the scientist at the research station, he said it would be ok as long as it was cooked under pressure.

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  29. I follow the directions from Linda's Pantry on youtube. I brown the ground beef and then place it in my jars, adding NO liquid except what came with the beef when I scoop it in. I use grassfed so I don't want to lose that really good fat. I add NO liquid and process accordingly. The meat comes out of the jar with the same exact texture as if I'd just browned it in the pan. I am glad to hear that I DON'T want to try it with raw meat, though :) You should give that method a try, I think you'd really be happy with it.

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  30. Canning Granny here I pre cook my meat by poaching, searing,roasting, frying, grilling etc steaks hamburgers hotdogs off the grill ummm the trick is no water if I want it boiled I add noodles! Otherwise wrap the meat in parchment paper pack your jars process (I'm at 5,500) so pre-cooked meats 15# 35 Min pints 45 min qts seared (to brown and seal) but still "raw"#15 75 pints 90 qts ground hamburger pre brown med pack in parchment packet no water can the parchment reserves the flavor and easy to remove I do meat loaf same way but pack in wm jars hope this helps can on folks...if you can eat it you can can it!

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  31. I've only canned venison as far as meat goes. I only cann it raw. It has a ring of grease on the jar that can be taken out with hot dishwasher or vinegar. No problems. It looks disgusting but, tastes amazing. Is great N stew or just warmed add a little cornstarch to the juice it makes you have gravy. Eat with taters. I add a bit of bacon, tsp salt and tsp dale seasoning to each jar.

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  32. I'm a year round canner and have canned ALL types of meat and fish for years, as my grandma's did. Nothing canned is going to taste the same as fresh. There IS a secret to GOOD canned meat... it is parchment paper! When I fry, grill, roast etc I brine my meat first then cook as usual. You can pre-wrap the meat or line the jar (I wrap parchment around a spice bottle for smaller jars, a empty parmesan bottle and make a tube then pack) when done I fold the top down and tuck it down the side of the jar for a "handle" for easy removal. Since the meat has been precooked or browned, I process for 45 minutes at 15 pounds. I am at 5,500 feet. The meat comes out tender juicy and delish! The "fat" can be easily removed. My "prime rib" pork and beef roasts taste ever bit as good as when fresh made! I just "crisp" them in the oven a bit, same with my fried, baked, or rotisserie chicken. Stir fry, fajita meat, hamburger is fried as for meal packed in papered jar and processed. I only add broth to meat for "boiled" meat. Bacon, sausage, etc is lightly browned rolled and packed with parchment, perfect EVERY time. For anyone wanting to can meat...try this. The taste will amaze you. A piece of baking parchment paper is a small miracle for very GOOD tasting meats and fish! Perhaps that is why store bought "good" food is so expensive! I use it for burritos, breads, cakes, cookies too! They can up wonderfully! Since I DON'T trust the "new" canning lids, I DO rotate and all canned goods so there is NOTHING over 3 years old on my shelves. Hopefully this helps...can safely and cleanly in your comfort zoneπŸ˜‹

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    1. I am interested in your method "There IS a secret to GOOD canned meat... it is parchment paper!" any pictures on how to?

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  33. I can hamberger for years and it is so convent.. I fill jars up with water after I drain it. After I fill it with water I put 1/2 tsp beef base in each pint jar. When I open it it taste so good. My family can't believe it is canned. I also do hamburgers precooked too. I fill jars with water and base also. When I do chicken I use chicken base. The taste is so good. Yes there is a little bit of grease ring. When I open the jar I put in microwave for 30 seconds to melt ring. That is a small price for canning meat. The convince is so great I don't worry about a small ring of fat for flavor.. I use the drained fat for buscuits too.

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  34. I'm just learning this techie stuff with posting pictures. I will take some of doing jars with parchment and how I pre- brown bacon and cut strips to size of jar then fold and roll. If you will send email I will be happy to send pictures as long as there is no conflict with this blog 😳

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    1. I would very much like to see your pictures. cmelton@potawatomi.org

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    2. I don’t know if you will see this years later, but I would like to see them too!
      Skasazdl@gmail.com 🀞🏼🀞🏼🀞🏼

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  35. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  36. First lady, I also precook burger but fry with beef bouillon instead of salt. I don't add water as I use it for many things and Mr. B doesn't like boiled meat in a jar. I line the jar with parchment paper. 1pint jar will hold 1# of burger. For chicken, I do brine in the jar, it's like poached chicken. I debone and pack in jars RAW,per Quart Jar I add: 1 TBS chicken Bouillon,1/8 tsp ground Turmeric 1 Tsp Sugar, 1 Tbs white distilled vinegar or 1/2 tsp citric Acid,1/4 tsp pepper 1/8 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp onion powder 1/8 tsp carrot powder, 1/8 tsp celery powder ( if you don't have carrot or celery powder just add a couple of carrots and a bit of celery stalk,1/2 tsp parsley flakes. Use 1/2 the amounts for pints. You don't taste the vinegar a bit either! It is so delicious! Makes my 69¢ chicken taste like a million! You should try, it doesn't turn out boiled, flat tasting or mushy either. Happy Day!��

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  37. First lady, I also precook burger but fry with beef bouillon instead of salt. I don't add water as I use it for many things and Mr. B doesn't like boiled meat in a jar. I line the jar with parchment paper. 1pint jar will hold 1# of burger. For chicken, I do brine in the jar, it's like poached chicken. I debone and pack in jars RAW,per Quart Jar I add: 1 TBS chicken Bouillon,1/8 tsp ground Turmeric 1 Tsp Sugar, 1 Tbs white distilled vinegar or 1/2 tsp citric Acid,1/4 tsp pepper 1/8 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp onion powder 1/8 tsp carrot powder, 1/8 tsp celery powder ( if you don't have carrot or celery powder just add a couple of carrots and a bit of celery stalk,1/2 tsp parsley flakes. Use 1/2 the amounts for pints. You don't taste the vinegar a bit either! It is so delicious! Makes my 69¢ chicken taste like a million! You should try, it doesn't turn out boiled, flat tasting or mushy either. Happy Day!��

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  38. Sherida:

    There is a method of cooking game meat. I don't know if anyone told you this or not but to get the game flavor out of your game of any type I always soaked it for at least 4-6 hours depending on the game type. Deer takes less time. Then soak the meat for about 2 hours draining and putting more water in every 45 minutes. Then you drain and I would always coat it in flour and then fry or however you want to cook it. If you plan to can it make sure you soak in vinegar and then the water before canning. I have never canned meat but my mother-in-law did when she was younger and she said that doing that with game meat made it taste better and it was more tender. I have a couple recipe books for canning chicken, beef, and hamburger on my nook that I got the books for free on Amazon. Just put the I can,can in the search engine and it will bring up the books Amazon has for canning that way. I always wait for when the books are free.

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  39. There is a lot of good comments on this older article, but there is also A LOT of really bad advise also. Please research canning meats with the National Center for Home Food Preservation first.

    I'm glad she didn't eat the raw pack jar in this article. It was packed way too densely for safe preservation. Raw pack ground meats need to be dropped into the jar in small, and I mean small, pieces.

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  40. Good to know about canning the meat raw! i have seen pictures of people who did that to experiment and they said it looked unappealing, but not read about anyone trying to get it out of the jar! yikes, i guess it makes sense though that it would make a solid loaf??? I can ground beef, so amazing when i forget to thaw something! I always get almost a pound in each pint jar. and i even add onions and garlic to it when i cook the ground beef. Thanks for your post!!

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  41. Oh, i always do chicken broth not bullions. The first time i did chicken broth because i was impatient and didn't want to run to the store. was so good! next time i did beef broth and we thought it tasted kinda like dogfood. So now i always use chicken broth. There was a big taste difference. weird that the chicken tasted better! do chicken too, we love it!!

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  42. You can can hamburgers! Pat out your burgers, fry them, drain the grease out on paper towels. In a wide mouth jar, I place slices of onions between the patties, placing one on the bottom first, layer burgers and onions, and top with onion on top. Add 4 Tblsps water and 1 to 2 bullion cubes in the water. Wipe,cap, band, and process 11 lbs pressure qts 90 min, pts 75 min. When you get ready to use, shake the jar gently to coat burgers with broth. Uncap, warm 1 - 2 minutes in microwave to make removal easier. The onions keep burgers from fusing together during processong. They can then be warmed in a skillet or on a grill.

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  43. You can can hamburgers! Pat out your burgers, fry them, drain the grease out on paper towels. In a wide mouth jar, I place slices of onions between the patties, placing one on the bottom first, layer burgers and onions, and top with onion on top. Add 4 Tblsps water and 1 to 2 bullion cubes in the water. Wipe,cap, band, and process 11 lbs pressure qts 90 min, pts 75 min. When you get ready to use, shake the jar gently to coat burgers with broth. Uncap, warm 1 - 2 minutes in microwave to make removal easier. The onions keep burgers from fusing together during processong. They can then be warmed in a skillet or on a grill.

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  44. I have bottled elk and deer meat. I brown the outsides with seasoning. I have also done chicken. Also browning the outsides with seasoning. WONDERFUL AND DELICIOUS. Great for salads (chicken) and the elk is great for sandwiches. My daughters enjoy the meat. Totally worth the time to have it on the shelve.

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  45. Hello and greetings from Cardiff, Wales,UK.I( have been into self sufficency for many nyears but only growing what is in season and what we eat at the time, But no storage. This year I have decided to try storing. So thank you for the article on how to can meat (we call it bottling over here)>I have always wanted to store the goodness of summer for the cold damp wet Welsh winter<but just couldnt get any simply written instructions. So many thanks and keep up the good work.

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