# Bought an All American Canner today!



## Wigglesdabum (Aug 7, 2011)

Ok so I did a little bit of reading on raw packing meat and canning in a pressure canner and I could not resist the temptation of buying a big nice pressure canner. I mainly plan to raw pack venison and chicken, but what are some things yall highly recommend me trying out? I am a college student so meals in a jar with meat is something I would be all about hah. I mainly made this to share my excitement, but also could use any suggestions you may have. Thanks for any info yall can give me.


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## katy (Feb 15, 2010)

First, Welcome to HT, a wealth of info on many topics.
Which size ? Does it have a guage and the adjustable weight ? The first recommendation is to read thoroughly your manual on the canner, paying CLOSE attention when it talks about canning vs cooking ! Worlds of difference in procedures there. 

Establish a note book for canning notes, 

Time to wash the manufacturing grease off that baby and get started with a run using water only and noting the stove burner setting and how long it takes to get steam from the vent. Continue to vent for 10 minutes. Then put weight on to start building the pressure, again noting how long it takes. Maintain the pressure for 15 minutes, then turn the burner off and allow pressure to return to zero, again noting the time in your notebook. This is in some of the manuals, and it can save you some guesswork and aggravation later on.

Recommend for your canning, whatever you like to eat ! Beef stew is a favorite for me. 

An All American, good for you and good luck with your ventures in canning.


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## Wigglesdabum (Aug 7, 2011)

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I will certainly be reading what material comes with the canner. A dry run with only water sounds like a good idea.


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

I just canned chili yesterday in my AA. Chili and stew come out really well being canned. Get a Blue Ball canning guide/book, it's a thin book/pamphlet that is the bible for safe canning and has recipes.


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## TripleD (Feb 12, 2011)

You will love the venison. I did 21 quarts of just meat and 21 quarts of venison stew last weekend. Mine is a AA 921.


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## Wigglesdabum (Aug 7, 2011)

TripleD said:


> You will love the venison. I did 21 quarts of just meat and 21 quarts of venison stew last weekend. Mine is a AA 921.


Awesome! The 921 is the one I ordered as well. Did you add any seasoning to your venison? Or just canning salt? If you could post your recipe I would appreciate it.


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## Homesteader (Jul 13, 2002)

We have recently canned angus beef roast. I got it as Sam's Club. A 5.36# roast gave a yield of 7 pints. I used 3 cans of commercially canned Swanson's beef broth too.

Trim fat off. Slice the roast first into 1 inch steaks. Then, cut those into approx. 3" chunks. I sear these in some hot oil.

As you fill the jars, stop once in while and cut up some of the pieces into smaller "filler" pieces. You can get more meat into the jars that way, to fit them down into some of the little spaces between the bigger chunks. Fill to 1" headspace with the beef broth.

Oh so good! You can whirl the meat up and add spices, beans, mushrooms, whatever you'd like to make sandwich spread.

Last night dinner for us was one pint beef, one pint potatoes, over noodles mixed with Campbell's Golden Mushroom soup. I've also made Beef and Broccoli, and the best ever beef enchiladas!

edited to add: Also, can up pork! I got nice thick boneless pork chops and cut them up same way, into 3" chunks. Used Vegetable broth.

Pork is on the left, beef on the right:


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## TripleD (Feb 12, 2011)

Wigglesdabum said:


> Awesome! The 921 is the one I ordered as well. Did you add any seasoning to your venison? Or just canning salt? If you could post your recipe I would appreciate it.


 Just canning salt on the venison. On the stew I added carrots ,celery and some onions. It took me 5 months to get my nerve worked up after I got the canner. Now I can get up and running after the fisrt jiggle on the weight I can do outside work for 90 min. I used to watch it the whole time.


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## Gretchen Ann (Aug 30, 2010)

Important - I have kept the original box my canner came in to store the canner when not in use. Just a little more protection.

ALSO - keep the instruction manual in the box so you always have it to refer to. Mine is 40 years old, the box has duct tape around it but I know where it and the manual are.

When someone gives me a recipe, if the canning time is different than what the canner manual specifies, I always use the canner manual time.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

watch for whole pork lion to go on sale chunk it up and can it comes out great when you make a pot of any kind of soup or stew you don't have to eat it every day till its gone just can up the leftovers and have a pantry full of ready to eat food . I can lots of things get the ball blue book on canning and get canning


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## campfiregirl (Mar 1, 2011)

One of our favorite canned meats is shredded pork shoulder (or roast). We discovered it when we made a large amount for a family gathering, and had leftovers. I was canning some chicken breast anyway (raw), so I just put the shredded pork in pints in the same load for an experiment. My husband LOVES it - tastes just the same as it did when it went into the jars. Pork is so juicy that it doesn't dry it out. I did put "juice" from the bottom of the pan in with the meat, but that's it. The pork had been cooked with some general seasoning & salt, no sauce.


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## homemaid (Apr 26, 2011)

I can beef, pork, chicken etc. I also can veg. Soup. Mix a can of beef and a can of veg. Soup together thicken it a bit and serve over cooked rice.. It s Wonderful... I have 5 pressure canners and I would not be without any of them...


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

And you don't have to use beef stock/broth if you don't have any. If you brown the meat first just make a little broth in the pan you browned it in. I tend to save time by raw packing meat to can and throw a little garlic powder in, it'll make it's own juices. Read about raw pack versus hot packing meat, there are pros and cons to both.


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## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

Welcome to the forum - and congratulations on your purchase. I canned for 20 or 30 years before I invested in an All American. I sure wish I had purchased it first!

Some of our pressure canned favorites are:
beef stew (from Ball Blue Book)
vegetable soup (from BBB)
12-bean soup - I make it up to the last simmering, can it at that point
pinto beans canned with refried bean seasoning - just heat and mash
ALL types of dried beans - so very much less expensive than buying already canned
And then in the summer, V-6 juice goes into the pressure canner

ETA: CHICKEN! With a case of pints in your pantry, you'll have the best of "fast food". It won't take any time at all to have chicken enchiladas, chicken & noodles, chicken quesadillas, chicken salad, etc. on the table.

Congratulations on your purchase. Wise expenditure.


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## Wigglesdabum (Aug 7, 2011)

Thank you for the welcomes and information. Marilyn if there is one thing I have learned the hard way already its 'buy once, cry once' haha. The Ball Blue Book may be next on my list that is for sure.


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## po boy (Jul 12, 2010)

Now is a good time to get the Ball Blue Book on Sale.
Couple years ao, I got one for $1.00 at Lowes


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## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

I'm with you Wigglesdabum, hate to buy anything twice. 

Could also apply to the BBB book  They have a 400+ page book, "Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving" that is to die for! When I first got it, went through it like a novel, stickied more than 50 recipes to try first. 

In this case, there is probably something to be said about having both. The thinner one that you can pick up with canning supplies is good to have on hand when you need a quick review before starting.....then crack open the 400 pager when you feel like sinking your teeth into something new :thumb:


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## mpennington (Dec 15, 2012)

Welcome! You will love your All American. I've had my 915 for about a year now and have canned 200+ jars. My favorites are beef stew (recipe in the All American manual), chili con carne (recipe in USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, available for free download @ nchfp.uga.edu/publications_usda.html), any type of dried beans, raw pack chicken, beef and chicken broth.

When I made the beef stew recipe, I used the exact measurments for ingredients but had enough left over veggies to fill 3 quart jars. I canned those and used later with canned chicken for chicken pot pie.


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## backtocolo (May 1, 2012)

my dd is a college student and canning saves her time. It gives her more options foodwise for when she has crazy times between school and work. she likes to cook up meat she gets on sale. 

She also does beans:
pintos with ham
red beans (to eat over rice)
southwest black beans (again over rice)

She cooks a big pot of rice, freezes it in meal size portions.

I can the chili by george recipe from allrecipes. It's wonderful. We use dried beans and half as much meat as it calls for. 

I can homemade sausage, soups, stews, beans etc. I too have an allamerican but I got mine at a yardsale. I LOVE it.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_home.html is a wonderful resource for safe canning guidlines.

Don't forget to put a little oil on the lid the first time you use it.


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## ChristieAcres (Apr 11, 2009)

I just canned 31 pints of Raw Pack Venison w/Chanterelle Mushrooms and 1 pint of Dungeness Crab (with my AA-921). I only use the canning guidelines established by the USDA and my own recipes. Typically, I can my Venison with fresh sliced Garlic, Onions, and Chanterelle Mushrooms. I add 1/2 t of water or beef broth per pint after adding the spices.


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## peteyfoozer (Nov 23, 2012)

Marilyn said:


> They have a 400+ page book, "Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving" that is to die for!


I concur. It is an EXCELLENT resource. I have canned a lot of recipes out of that book and it has pretty much all the info in the original BBB as far as waterbath and pressure canning. I can lots of meals. Stews, soups, chili, chicken, beef dip, beef chunks (great to throw BBQ Sauce on for BBQ sammies) a mexican shredded beef for taco salads or burritosâ¦there are SO many things you are able to can and save both time and money. We live 5 hours from the store so its a big deal to us to have it on the shelves. I prefer to can a lot of our meat because we had a freezer failure and I don't want to lose everything again. I love not having to thaw something every time we want to eat! Good luck. I just got my All American. It's a LOT better than the old Presto Canner I'd used for so many years!


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## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

Hi peteyfoozer: Welcome to the forums, I don't think I've run into you before. That is one amazing canning cookbook, that's for sure.

Purchasing the All-American gave me a huge push to accomplish even more along the line of keeping the pantry shelves full. It's only a half-hour to the grocery for me, but that means a full hour+ out of my day. I too, would much rather have it on the shelf.


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## Wigglesdabum (Aug 7, 2011)

Well I gave it my first shot this evening and it all went pretty well. I am going to outline what I did so if yall can tell me if you see any glaring mistakes I would greatly appreciate it.

This is in order: heated up lids and cleaned Jars, Cut up Chicken, Chicken in jars, bouillon cube and about half a teaspoon salt added, cleaned rims of jars, added lids, screwed on lids a little tighter than finger tight ( I feel this might have been a mistake), put 3 inches of water in the bottom of the canner (added some vinegar), jars in the water ( I had 2 layers, and the water came up to about the lids of the 1st row of jars), heated up water and waited for steam to purge for 10 mines, added 10lbs weight and maintained 10 lbs of pressure for 1:15 minutes, Turned off power to stove and waited for pressure to return to 0 before removing the 10lbs weight, the opened and removed jars.

Things turned out pretty well but the issues was the water was a little murky and I could smell chicken cooking. This lead me to believe that some of my chicken broth may have leaked out. All of the jars sealed but it still concerns me that there was an exchange of water (if that is indeed what happened). I would really appreciate any information from the more experienced members of this forum. Thanks so much for all the information so far.


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

Sounds good! I was also concerned when first canning meat that I could smell it. The jars vent (not sure if that is the right term), which is part of the reason you don't want to do more than finger tight. Sometime I lose liquid, sometimes not. I did discover that my idea of an inch of headspace was a little less than a measured inch and I've lost less liquid since then. I've also read that it is more common to lose some liquid with wide mouth jars as compared to regular mouth that have shoulders.

I have not stacked canning, but I wonder if that was a lot of water if it was almost to the seal. Hopefully someone else will know. 

My only concern would be salt. For me, a boullion cube and a 1/2 tsp salt is a lot, but if you are a salt lover it may not be!


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## Wigglesdabum (Aug 7, 2011)

Thanks for the feed back! Did you have any issues with the cans that lost liquids?


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## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

Wigglesdabum said:


> Thanks for the feed back! Did you have any issues with the cans that lost liquids?


No, I'm surprised. I was very concerned when I lost some liquid from meatballs that are pretty greasy, but months later they are still sealed. I've only been canning a year, but have canned almost every weekend and have had 1 seal failure, a jar of chicken stock a few weeks after canning.


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## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

*Wigglesdabum*: Don't worry about the liquid that occasionally exhausts during canning. It just happens. Try not to adjust heat up and down any more than necessary as I think exhausting happens even more frequently then. 

I, also, thought your recipe sounded a bit salty for me, but to each his own.

Next, you will want to remove the rings and wash them as well as the filled jars. This is especially important when liquid could have exhausted which could leave minute particles caught between the ring and jar threads. You can replace the clean rings if you want to, but it is not necessary.

Congratulations! Did hearing the jar lids plink just make you want to laugh out loud?


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## katy (Feb 15, 2010)

Hi Wiggles, Great turnaround time on getting that first canner load done.

Couple of comments, I don't see where you specified jar size. Sooo the time of 1hr & 15 min, would qualify for pints of BONED chicken, or same time for quarts of bone in chicken. Apparently the bones are a conductor of heat, thus lessening the processing time.

The only other thing is that, when pressure has returned to zero, and after removing weight, let the canner sit for 5-10 minutes before taking jars out and it's a good idea to set them on a towel to cool. Cold counter = to much of a temp change. If you are canning on electric stove, best to move canner off burner (if you can lift it) at end of processing time, gives a faster cool-down period. For future reference, they say NOT to leave jars in canner overnight.... 

Now, it's been what, 4 days ? How is it, surely you've had to taste or use by now. lol Ya did great !!!!


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## Wigglesdabum (Aug 7, 2011)

You do want me to just watch the cans by hand correct? I am concerned the heat of a dish washer may weaken the seal or something. 

I haven't gotten a chance to taste any of it yet, because I still have some meat in the fridge. I should run out of that tomorrow and I will give it a shot. 

Thanks for all the tips and help.


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## Marilyn (Aug 2, 2006)

Sure, wash the filled jars by hand. I normally run some hot water in the kitchen sink, add a few glugs of white vinegar, stand the jars in there and swipe the threads (since you have already removed the rings) with a vegetable brush dipped in the vinegar water. Wipe dry, label contents and date on the lid, ready to put on the shelf.
Of course, the next step is to stand back, notice those pretty filled jars sparkle, and feel very, very proud.


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## Wigglesdabum (Aug 7, 2011)

Well I feel proud so far. I opened my first jar of canned chicken yesterday and really liked it! As yall expected it was just a little salty, so next time I think I will just use a powdered version of the bouillon and no additional salt. I will be practicing everything I learned from yall here shortly. My semester is almost over and I will be having a round 2 with the canner during Christmas break. Thanks so much!


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## mammabooh (Sep 1, 2004)

Congrats on your canning success! Will you be canning home-grown, or store-bought chicken next time? If home-grown, I would rcommend a little salt and not bouillon. If store-bought, then the bouillon. Home-grown chicken has excellent flavor without needing enhancements.

Enjoy that AA canner...it's the best!


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