# Canned venison



## Dida Lee (Jul 23, 2018)

Hi. I am new to canning meat. I canned two quart jars of venison. I used the raw pack method. I put in 3 quarts of water and used 10lbs of pressure. I've always canned vegetables using the boiling method so this is the first time I used a pressure canner. I noticed a scalding smell after 86 minutes of canning, so I turned the flame on the stove off four minutes early. The pressure was still strong when I turned it off. It took around 40 minutes or more for the plug to go down and I could open the pressure cooker. The water in the pressure cooker was gone but the jars looked good. They sealed as they cooled. I am worried about cutting the time short by four minutes. I never noticed any loss of pressure during the 86 minutes. Will the meat still be good even though I cut the time short by four minutes?


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

I noticed that no one has helped you with your problem, so I will try. It's my personal opinion that when the USDA figured the time for canning, they erred on the side of caution and rounded the times up a bit to account for the occasional problem. I wouldn't worry too much about 4 minutes, but, DON'T TO IT AGAIN!

As for running out of water, I have had that happen on occasion and it is usually because of two things - (1) running the canner on too high of a setting, or (2) water is leaking around the sealing gasket.

The heat setting should only be high enough to cause the weight to release pressure 2-3 times a minute. I find that once the canner comes up to pressure, gradually turn it down until you reach the proper pressure. This may take 5 minutes or so (GRADUALLY turn down the heat.) If you turn it down all at once, the pressure will drop too quickly and your timing will be off. On my stove I find med-low to be about right, but you will have to experiment to find the correct setting and sometimes it's different each time you do a load. Go figure - Mother Nature.

The second thing could be the sealing gasket. I have been using the same gasket for nearly 40 years and sometimes it doesn't fit as well as it should. Take the gasket in both hands and stretch it like you are stretching a sling shot. Do it two or three times as you rotate the gasket in your hands to grip a different spot.

You can add another quart of water to your canner when you start, it won't cause a problem.

You say you have always canned your vegetables in a water bath canner. I hope you re-think that because that is a no-no unless it's a pickle.


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## weaselfire (Feb 7, 2018)

Water bath versus pressure canning depends on acid ratios, not the type of foods. Tomatoes are vegetables, not pickled, and get canned in a water bath all the time.

But... There are a lot of things a pressure canning process can do that water baths just cant, so the advice is still good.

Jeff


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## JeepHammer (May 12, 2015)

Always error on the side of extra water...
And use a pressure gauge canner if possible, conversions are available & easy.
Pressure gauges will keep you from overheating, you see the pressure getting high for what you are doing, simply turn the heat down a little at a time until pressure sits where you want it.

DON'Ts
Don't chalk the heat WAY down, otherwise you might loose pressure all together and have to start the cycle over.

Don't sit the jars too deep you can't add enough water. 
Space them up if needed to get sufficient water in the canner. 
Your jars can sit on jars of water if that's what it takes.
Remember, the jars don't have to be in the water at all, double stacked runs the top row never touch the water, it's the steam that does the work.

4 minutes won't make a bit of difference unless the canner was HUGE.
The smaller the canner, and the smaller the product inside, the less time it takes to heat up...
(And the faster it cools down)

Don't vent the canner manually.
One thing I won't ever do with meat, or anything containing meat, is remove the weight to vent the canner faster.
When pressure drops, the contents are still WAY above boiling, and they will boil/overflow.
This forces contents of jar into the seal surfaces, and increases failure rates.
If if the can seals with crud between lid and jar rim, the seal won't last as long, by definition the seal is compromised.
A little extra head space, let the canner cool down with the weight on, and you will have very close to 100% sealing rate, and all tight, clean seals.


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