Here's a response to the past few canned/bottled meat threads. Our family has been doing this for generations and while I recognize it may be thought of as old school...I just don't care. This is one of our favorite ways to use game meat! I shared a bottle with a friend a few years back and his wife said it looked like "death in a bottle", we got a kick out of that and the name has stuck. May look or sound odd, but I'm telling you this stuff is just down right awesome! For those of you who have tried it, you know what I mean. For those of you who haven't tried it, here's how I do it, now go give it a try.
This is where it all starts. Totally different topic, but the better the field care, the better the final product. We took this lope yesterday mid-day, had the meat on ice with in an hour or so and fully processed less than 24 hours after the kill. I've done elk, deer, and now today this doe antelope.
When you're the butcher you know what you're getting and I KNOW my quality control is better than a turn-a-buck commercial guy! Dice into 1"-2" cubes. Throw in the tougher front shoulder and lower leg cuts too. The cooking process will tenderize everything.
Any size mason type jar will work. I did mostly pints this time, but quarts is what we usually do.
Fill the jar all the way to the bottom of the neck. Really pack it in there tight cause the meat will shrink some. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT ADD ANY LIQUID!!! The meat itself holds a suprising amount of water. Any added liquid will make the bottles boil over. Add 1 beef bullion cube per pint or 2 for a quart, and that's it!
You can't add liquid, but you can play around with other flavorings if you like. I tried a bottle with minced garlic and a jalapeno this time. We've done garlic powder, onion powder and a touch of liquid smoke, all those are good too. (All these are in addition to the bullion)
Make sure to wipe the rim of the bottle. Any little piece of meat or added spices could affect the seal.
Put the lids on and the rings. Hand tighten the rings fairly snug. Here's the batch ready to go.
Place them in a pressure cooker and and a couple inches of water. Really the only thing important here is to make sure the water level is below the tops of the bottles, as that too could affect sealing.
You can use any pressure cooker that will pressurize to 15 psi. Your standard run of the mill kitchen pressure cooker will work fine like the little one in this pic. I use the bigger one cause I can do more bottles at once. Cooking time is 90 minutes at 13.5 psi. The standard kitchen pressure cooker uses a 15 psi rattle, so that will work just fine too.
And here's the final product! Meat gravy, tacos, BBQ sandwiches, steaw, soups, use it any where you'd use beef in any recipe. Add a can of cream of mushroom soup and have it over mashed potatos. Or warm it and enjoy just like tender pot roast with a side of horseradish, which is one of my favorites. Shelf life is years, but I gurantee you'll use it up in a hurry.
Hope this helps anyone considering giving it a shot. Give me a holler if you have any more questions. Enjoy!
This is where it all starts. Totally different topic, but the better the field care, the better the final product. We took this lope yesterday mid-day, had the meat on ice with in an hour or so and fully processed less than 24 hours after the kill. I've done elk, deer, and now today this doe antelope.
When you're the butcher you know what you're getting and I KNOW my quality control is better than a turn-a-buck commercial guy! Dice into 1"-2" cubes. Throw in the tougher front shoulder and lower leg cuts too. The cooking process will tenderize everything.
Any size mason type jar will work. I did mostly pints this time, but quarts is what we usually do.
Fill the jar all the way to the bottom of the neck. Really pack it in there tight cause the meat will shrink some. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT ADD ANY LIQUID!!! The meat itself holds a suprising amount of water. Any added liquid will make the bottles boil over. Add 1 beef bullion cube per pint or 2 for a quart, and that's it!
You can't add liquid, but you can play around with other flavorings if you like. I tried a bottle with minced garlic and a jalapeno this time. We've done garlic powder, onion powder and a touch of liquid smoke, all those are good too. (All these are in addition to the bullion)
Make sure to wipe the rim of the bottle. Any little piece of meat or added spices could affect the seal.
Put the lids on and the rings. Hand tighten the rings fairly snug. Here's the batch ready to go.
Place them in a pressure cooker and and a couple inches of water. Really the only thing important here is to make sure the water level is below the tops of the bottles, as that too could affect sealing.
You can use any pressure cooker that will pressurize to 15 psi. Your standard run of the mill kitchen pressure cooker will work fine like the little one in this pic. I use the bigger one cause I can do more bottles at once. Cooking time is 90 minutes at 13.5 psi. The standard kitchen pressure cooker uses a 15 psi rattle, so that will work just fine too.
And here's the final product! Meat gravy, tacos, BBQ sandwiches, steaw, soups, use it any where you'd use beef in any recipe. Add a can of cream of mushroom soup and have it over mashed potatos. Or warm it and enjoy just like tender pot roast with a side of horseradish, which is one of my favorites. Shelf life is years, but I gurantee you'll use it up in a hurry.
Hope this helps anyone considering giving it a shot. Give me a holler if you have any more questions. Enjoy!
