The clouds in the sky this morning were really unusual and I thought, "what a beautiful day for a ride!" But sadly for me it wasn't going to be......I had 20 pounds of raw beef stew meat in the refrig to can today....ugh!Yesterday I had heard the weather was going to be rainy all day, I thought goodie, then I won't mind working in the house all day.
Darned weather men, they got it wrong again!!! It was a great day for a ride but the canning had to be done.
Here's what the beef looked like after I cut it into small bit sized pieces. It was in much bigger chunks when I picked it up yesterday and I like it smaller. This is a lot of work but boy does it taste sooooo good when you are in a hurry for something quick; pop open a jar and YUMM-O. I can just open a jar and get a fork....eat! LOL
Another shot of the big pot at the time of day when I started cooking it; I hot pack it in jars.I had already washed the jars, lids and had the pressure canner heating; started at 8:30 am.
Ready to start putting the beef into the hot jars and into the canner, 11:35 now. The beef had to be in the canner for 1 hour and 15 minutes under 10 pounds of pressure. Then after it's finished it has to cool down for about half an hour, then take the lid off and start again. Lots of time, so while I was waiting, I also have to watch the pressure and adjust the fire to keep it at the pressure it's suppose to be. I worked on the rug of Hess. I will have to take some pictures of it tomorrow for all to see.
Here is the first batch, the canner holds 7 quarts, I only got 3 quarts from the second batch. I think I really packed the meat in the first 7.....oh, well. It sure is wonderful tasting stuff in the dead of winter!! :-DI got finished at 3:45 so long day and not feeling like a ride not.... :-(
Once when I needed something fast for lunch I opened a jar, mashed the meat up, mixed some horseradish and mayonnaise into it and it was the most wonderful sandwich spread ever!
We are supposed to get some really high winds tomorrow night, gusts up to 40 mph! Wow, hope it doesn't blow any big trees around here!
Maybe Monday will bring some good ride weather.........
4 comments:
The weather was excellent here yesterday, today very warm but windy as all heck. Supposed to storm very bad tonight. Tomorrow cold but sunny so I'm going to ride tomorrow.
I've never had canned meat. My gram's canned veggies, tomatoes, and speg sauce but I don't even remember meat.
I had no idea you could can meat like that. How cool!
And that sandwich sounds so delish!
Sounds like missing the ride was worth it :)
~Lisa
Jeni, I have canned all kinds of things for years and years. When we moved to Whipple, from another farm that we rented, 33 years ago I moved over 400 jars of canned food, jellies, juices and such. I don't can as much now as I did then.
Lisa, oh, yes canned meat is very good but time consuming. I have canned hot peppers with hot dogs in them with a kind of sweet tomato sauce on them, yum!
The sandwich spread was really good, necessity is the mother of invention! LOL
I guess I'm rather ignorant also... didn't know you could can meat!! Since I've only canned once last year for the first time (strawberry jam), I'm a bit afraid to venture into pressure canning territory.
I was going to make strawberry jam today, perfect rainy day for it, but when I went to the local farm to pick my own yesterday, the guy said no, come back tomorrow. Well, dang, he's 40 minutes north of me, and since he was so crotchety I didn't want to waste the gas today and be told again, to come back another time!!! GRRRRR.
Hope you are getting that horse ride this weekend!
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