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Canning venison preserves it, without refrigeration, it preserves it for years without freezer burn, it preserves it, in a pre-cooked state, so that preparation takes only a few seconds or minutes, preserves it in a state that is safe and easy to transport, and takes up very little space..... canning tenderizes tougher cuts, and seals in all the natural juices, canning tends to eliminate strong flavor from game meats..... spices can be added, and tend to be more flavorful than if added during regular cooking; what you do with it is up to your own tastes, canned sausage is good in meat sauces, on pizza, in casseroles, in gravy, and chili, same with canned burger; canned chunk meat is good as-is, or in stew, chili, hash, barbecue, pot pie, sandwiches, and many other things, canned steaks/cutlets can be breaded and fried, or eaten as-is, or on sandwiches....... Canning Deer and other meats : Do not use open-kettle canning method for meat. Use a modern, good quality pressure cooker, designed for canning, and capable of reaching and holding the pressures listed. The method I use is my own and works for me. I make no representation as to it’s safety or suitability beyond the fact that it does work well for me. I assume no responsibility or liability for accident, illness, or injury resulting from use or misuse of these instructions. Rules: Always use clean boiled CANNING JARS (no mayonnaise, pickle or mustard jars.) Always use new, lids, designed for the jars you are using. Always be sure your meat is clean, fresh, and safe. Always use a pressure canner for canning meat. Always process jars at least as long as the times given, at or above the pressures listed. Never process meat using these instructions at over 4,000 feet above sea level. **( for revised instructions for over 4,000 feet below) Never use any canned product if seal is broken, lid is bulged, lid is rusted, or if there is any doubt as to it’s safety. Never cut corners. Never place frozen meat in jars. Meat can be cold (icecrystals in meat) but not frozen; jars will crack. Never use damaged or chipped jars. Raw Pack: Deer meat chunks: place in wide-mouth quart jars, force air out with wooden spoon, and fill to within 1 and 1½"of top of jar (just below shoulder) pour in 1teaspoon salt, if desired, clean rim, place lid, gently tighten rim. Deer spareribs: leave all meat on ribs, chop into 2-3" squares, place in jars same as meat chunks, except, top with 1 tablespoon sausage Seasoning. Clean rim. Place lid on jar. Deer Sausage: season and grind sausage to taste, roll into 2" balls, dop in jars, press in with wooden spoon to force out air, fill to within 1 and ½" of rim. Clean rim. Place lid on jar. Deer burger: same as above. Deer-n-pig: my favorite! Cut deer tenderloin (back-strap) and fresh pork tenderloin or lean fresh pork butt, into 2" cubes, place in jars as above, add 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon rubbed sage, Clean rim, place lid on jar. Do not add any liquid to raw-pack…. When a canner load of jars is full place in canner, with hot (not boiling) water. Boiling water will crack jars when cold. Increase heat until canner is at a rolling boil, then place lid, and set pressure. Use 10 psi up to 2,000 feet, 15 psi 2,000 to 4,000 feet. When canner reaches set pressure, start timing, hold at or above pressure for 90 minutes, or more. Longer times or higher pressure will cause sparerib bones to become cooked and "chalky". Dressed, Scaled Fish , or fish fillets: same as Deer meat chunks. Dove Breast; same as deer meat chunks. Hot pack: Squirrel, rabbit, or chicken: Smoke whole dressed squirrels until done, cut into pieces and remove ribs, place in jars as tightly as possible, with 1 and ½" headspace, and cover with boiling beef bullion, clean rim, place lids on jars. Meat Stew: fill jars with stew to within 1 and ½" of rim, clean rim, place lids on jars. Deer meat chunks: cook meat in salted water until fork-tender, place in jars, within 1 and ½" of rim, cover with broth, clean rims, place lids on jars. Sausage patties: Fry sausage patties, until done thru, drain grease, place in jars witrhin 1 and 1/2" of rim, cover with beef bullion, clean rims and place lids on jars. Place hot-pack jars in boiling water in canner, and return to a boil, place lid on canner, and process (quarts) at least 90 minutes at 10 psi at up to 2,000 feet; 15 psi 2,000 to 4,000 feet *** (0ver 4,000 feet, up to 6,500 feet process 110 minutes at 15 PSI)

We ended up moving this year where it was too far to keep frozen. With 12 deer in the freezer from the fall I finally had an excuse to do some canning.

I bought a pressure cooker and within a few minutes was well versed in the canning process.

I did brown several roasts, etc. to see if it made a difference in flavor. It was more time consuming and results were no different than those where I just cut up and canned. So the extra time isn't really worth it.

Well, 110+ quarts later I was done - it took several sessions to complete this much. We did cubes and burger.

My kids love it as much as if I roasted it in the oven for hours. The best part is when my wife is in a rush she can grab a jar and then add cream of mushroom (or whatever cream) to thicken and over rice or potatoes with vegies is a meal my kids devour without complaint.

I will say that I will likely do this to those cuts that need long cooking that I won't do something special with - i.e. Oso Bucco.

Anyway, thanks for posting!

My favorite is canned pheasant chili (REAL chili, no beans, using Bad Karma's recipe), good for many different dishes, nachos, tacos, over rice, etc.

Where are y’all getting your canning jars and pressure cookers? Any types better than others? Anything to watch it for?

Good info Fuzzy. Going to have to try it sometime.

Have at it :)

riser - higher elevation is less pressure. We live at 5300' and just do it at 15 psi (sea level press) for 90 min.

I have the same pressure cooker as hde link. Definitely the way to go IMHO. I do chunks and burger in pint jars. I use my Coleman stove in garage to do it up. (You don't want to use an electric range). If you have gas/propane stove it would work also. Once cooker is loaded with jars/water (per instructions) I crank the flame and monitor pressure. Once she reaches pressure, you might have to fiddle with it to find that temp that holds required pressure. (IE Don't go to store or run errands!) I do slightly brown my burger before I can it so it doesn't come out in a giant chunk, but other than that cold pack works. It cooks in the jars. (The purpose behind pressure cooker is to reach temps that kill botulism). Regular canner will not reach high enough temps.

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There's a time/temp relationship to spore destruction.

Pressure lets water (steam) get hotter than 212 degrees F, with the temp rising relative to the pressure rise.

Since relative pressure decreases with elevation, and canners aren't designed for pressures over 15 PSI eventually you reach a point where you have to increase time to offset the decrease in the temperature at 15 PSI.

At high enough elevation water will "boil" (turn to steam) at temps low enough that the spores can't be killed.

I'm sure there is a "safe" time for 7,000 feet but I haven't seen it published so I won't speculate.

I'd recommend if you are canning at or above 7,000 that you be very careful to calibrate your pressure gauge (your local university agriculture extension food safety agent can help with that) or use a weighted dial canner, and be very meticulous in timing the processing cycle.

Also, if at any point you have the canner go "off pressure" (or the pressure drops significantly below the target pressure for more than a very few minutes) that you start timing the processing cycle for "zero" at the time you get it back up to pressure (ie: 10 PSI or 15 PSI depending on your elevation)

Appreciate you passing this info along. I've got to try it.

:-)

Under filling wastes space and energy and will shorten shelf life (doesn't make it unsafe, just allows for more trapped gasses which hasten the very slow chemical processes which affect flavor and smell).

Over processing can affect the meat texture and color negatively but won't affect safety or shelf life. There's a good margin of safety built into the "chart" times and pressures already, so over processing isn't necessary.