Tuesday, February 5, 2013

More convenience foods

It's still bow season for deer here, so Paul got us another one this past weekend.  In a continuing effort to use the least amount of freezer space, I went to cooking up & canning the meat almost immediately.

The front legs were slow roasted almost as soon as they were cut off the carcass.  They go into the oven at 325 degrees for about five or six hours.  You'll know they're done when you can stick a fork in the meat and it easily pulls from the bone and there is no tough connective tissue left (it just melts away).  After letting the meat cool, I picked it apart and put it into the fridge for the next day.  Too late to finish canning and honestly, all I wanted to do this late in the evening was to sit on the couch, sip some tea and read a little.

The next morning I took the venison out of the fridge, made a batch of homemade BBQ sauce, mixed the meat & sauce together and warmed it up.  While the meat was warming, I put the pressure canner on the stove and got it heated up.  I packed the hot meat into the jars, stuck them in the canner and went about my daily mundane house chores.  I set a timer at five to ten-minute intervals so I can check on the pressure gauge.  I have yet to get my stove to the point where I can just set the heat and walk away.  The pints only needed an hour & fifteen minutes at 11-lbs. of pressure, but the quarts needed an hour & a half, so they all went in for the hour & half time.



There was a pint jar that was only 3/4's full, so I let Paul dig into it for supper.  Just to make sure that it was good.  Because you know, if there's a Zombie Apocalypse, I don't want to have to be eating sub-par BBQ sandwiches.

I love having these types of items in our pantry.  Pull a few previously-made-then-frozen buns from the freezer, pop open a jar of BBQ venison, heat everything up, and enjoy!  Ten minutes and I've got the makings of a quick, yet homemade dinner.  Now that's a REAL convenience food!

12 comments:

  1. Carolyn,
    Convenience foods are so awesome especially when you've been working your butt off on things around the homestead, and you just don't feel like cooking a big meal from scratch.

    Frog legs sounds yummy! Do you need to cook them that long because of the connective tissue?

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    1. ooops, I meant front legs, lol.....
      For some reason I typed frogs and meant deer my grrrr.....

      I'm loosing my mind!!!!

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  2. I love it! I'm green eyed jealous about your venison but I'll live. I really heed to get some stuff like this canned, there's nothing like being able to whip up a meal in just a few minutes (more or less)

    Frog legs? Did I miss something? I LOVE frog legs~

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    1. SCI,

      That was my fault, I've been thinking frogs and meant to type front.

      I've apparently lost my mind.

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  3. I never thought I'd like it so much but now I want all my (once) hamburger recipes to be venison! It's less fatty and when we can make sure there's no gristle (and all the gross stuff I hate about meat)in it. Tacos, one of my most favorite. For BBQ I still lean towards pork though. We tend to put it in vacuum packed bags.

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  4. Real food convenience food! I should do something like this with our goat meat.

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  5. Oh, that BBQ'd meat looks and sounds soooo good! And you're right, what could be better for a quick, convenient, HEALTHY, easy meal than BBQs on homemade buns. (How far away from us do you live?)

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  6. Mmmmm! Good idea! I've done the raw packed meat, just not the bbq. I just might have to try this!

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  7. Sandy, well, if we ever get into raising frogs for their hindquarters and I start BBQ & canning them, you'll be the FIRST to know! :)

    SciFiChick, I'm telling you, ever since I started pressure canning meat, I CAN'T STOP! I may need some outside intervention :)

    Kathy, if we had our own pork to BBQ & can, trust me, I'd be all over it! I like to do the front shoulders of the deer like this because even if it's a bit tough, the cooking & then subsequent pressure canning makes everything less less tough.

    Leigh, once we get a big enough meat goat herd going, I suspect I'll do the same with them. But right now, goat is a "special" treat and we tend to just eat it up fresh with not enough left to worry about canning.

    Mama Pea, come on over! I'll even make some FRESH buns for ya!

    SFG, Hmmmm....I wonder if one could raw pack the meat with BBQ sauce as the "liquid" instead of cooking it twice (once to cook, once to can). Although I don't think you could do it with the tougher meats as I think slow-cooking it really breaks down the connective tissue and it would be hard to bone & cut up the front legs into nice chunks without too much gristle.

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  8. Wow, that is the ultimate convenience food, all stored away and just waiting for one of those nights when you don't have time to cook! I haven't gotten into canning meat yet but that is one of the reasons I bought my pressure canner last year.

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  9. That looks delicious. Thanks for the great idea and thanks for stopping by my place for a visit.
    From Glory Farm,
    Rhonda

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  10. That venison bbq sounds and looks amazing! Hubs is chomping at the bit to be able to move somewhere he can hunt again. How great it is you have all that super lean meat for your family stocked away!

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