For those that know...... you know. This is thee ticket, real deal, killer cuisine. Great way to store and make some of your lesser cordy, scrap cuts awesome. I will use roasts even. It all doesn't have to be sausage. I grew up on this stuff and chances are if any of you Linkes have had it, you love it. It's sooo good. My "non venison eating" wife will eat this.
This is how we do it. Maybe some old timer's head will explode when they read this and say its all wrong, cuss me out and want to throw things at me. Happened before on other things. I am banking they can't use a computer so I am fairly safe. We have done it this way forever and it has been safe and tastey. It's the only way I know how.
Add raw venison(as much fat and tendon removed as you see fit) to pint size mason jar. Mostly full but leave room at the top. Fill with water until the bottom ring of the jar. Be sure to get all the air out from inbetween and under the meat. VERY IMPORTANT. Use the handle of a wooden spoon or a butter knife to move meat around to get the air out. Again, make sure the water level is to the bottom rung of the jar, not the threading.
Top off with 1/2tsp salt. That is it.
Really, that's it.
Put your lid and ring on and do it up in your pressure canner 1 hour at 12 or14 lbs, I can't remember which one but it's on my canner, it's on yours too. Quarts are the same except you use a full teaspoon of salt. Just be sure to follow the directions with proper pressure canning procedures. Don't flip on the stove and walk away. You do have a potential steam bomb on your range top. Use your head. Dumb people do not try this.
This recipe is obvioulsy for plain, you can add all sorts of crazy seasonings when you use it. If you feel you have to season it further during the cooking process you can put onion, jalapeno, garlic, celery, dried herbs, marinades, seasoning or soup mixes, etc in the bottom before you add your meat. Make what you want. I prefer to leave it all plain and suggest you do too. I find much more use and versatility for it then. Kinda stinks when you are wanting to make stroganoff for the wife and kids, you are out of beefy onion and all you have on the shelf is spicey cayanne venison, smokey, bbq, teriyaki, or italian. Done it before. I learned. Experiment with one or two cans if you want but for the first time I recommend you keep it all plain jane.
Canned Ven can be used in chilies, stews, soups, pastas, noodle dishes, pot pies, stromboli's, stuffed baked potatoes... Limitless almost. My personal favorite way is I take the jar, all the liquids except any fat that may have came to the top, dump it in a pot, add some flour and water to make a thickener for gravy. Add in a little bit of seasonings, pepper, and finish it with cut of butter and serve over boiled taters. That's a trip down memory lane besides a meal for me. You could serve it over rice, garlic mashed potatoes, egg noodles, baking powder biscuits, bread, whatever, but that is my favorite.
Lastly, when you pull the jars out of your canner and look at it.......... you will think you screwed up badly and think it looks like death. Yup, all part of the process. Don't be scared, it is going to look that way. At least half the cans will, all pending on what cuts of meat you just used. The rougher the scrap the rougher it looks with "floaties". You just broke down all the connective tissues, protein and collegen in these tough pieces and made them spoon tender. The things that make that all up have to go somewhere, so it comes out of the meat. It's normal, safe to eat, doesn't have a off taste, it doesn't even show up in your dish. But it just looks kinda bad in the jar, that's the truth. No worries.
If you need further help or are just a little apprehensive just post on this link. I or fellow Linkers will help you out as much as possible. Walk you through it if you want. DON'T BE INTIMIDATED. It is very easy. I was lucky and had people that crossed the Red Sea with Moses show me the ways years ago. I was intimidated at first too but got over that quickly. It is very simple and very good.
Odds are if you try this it is going to be part of your yearly butchering process immediately. Been a part of ours my whole life. Enjoy Gents..
