Stew, soup canning????????????

[firewalkerd1]

Hi,
I do a lot of stews, soups and sauces in the cooler weather. My question is does anyone can any of these dishes. I would think if you would prepare the jars as if canning other items and fully cook the dishes this would work. I would like to put some up for when I don't have the time to prepare. Again has anyone tried this. Please chime in with your thoughts and does and don't.

[Reg]

Wife's Aunt makes up a lot of soups at the end of the canning season . What she says to do is pressure can, not water bath and run time and pressure to the item in the soup that takes the longest time.
We have tried this for the last few years and seems to work really well.

[waksupi]

I've done it, but found it quicker to get some tupperware containers, and freeze it.

[Lloyd Smale]

I can stew and chilli all the time. I always make a double batch and can half of it. Soup depends on what kind. Noodles dont do real well. They get all soggy. So when i do something like chicken noodle i can the broth and chicken and then when i want to use it i boil noodles and add them. When i do ANYTHING in the canner i treat it as it was raw meat even though its allready hot and cooked. I allways pressure cook it for at least an hour.

[steg]

I would put my cooked chicken pieces in the mason jar, add whatever vegetables (raw) that I planned to use into the jar, then fill the jar with homemade stock and pressure can the jars at I think 10 pounds for an hour. Check that part out for yourself, someone borrowed my book and my memory doesn't work so good anymore. Don't worry about the vegetables going in raw, after an hour or so in the pressure cooker, they will be perfect...

[gbrown]

I can't help you out here, as I have never done it. However, there are a number of threads buried on this subforum about canning meat and fish. Check back thru this subforum and see if you can find them. There are a lot of members here, like Lloyd Smale and steg who have years of experience at it. If you follow the guidelines as steg and Lloyd have said, it's a safe method. Presto and Mirrormatic probably have websites you could search for. Here is one I found


http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?207331-Can-carefully-Plan-then-can

[MaryB]

Start with reading the USDA canning guide http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html that said I pressure can soups and chili all the time. Treat it as raw meat as mentioned. No thickeners allowed, it throws off the cooking time of the food in the jar. Rice is considered a thickener as is barley.

[wch]

You might also check the recipes in the latest Ball Blue Book.

[Bullshop Junior]

My mom used to can soups and what not all the time. She would just shove the raw
Ingredients in jars and then pressure cook it.

[Lance Boyle]

That's probably the best way to do it, cooking before jarring and then recooking for an hour under pressure most often yields over cooked everything.
Chili without the beans probably would work though. Carrots and potatoes sometimes have gone to mush on me.

that's listed under mistakes I've made.

[gbrown]

That's probably the best way to do it, cooking before jarring and then recooking for an hour under pressure most often yields over cooked everything.
Chili without the beans probably would work though. Carrots and potatoes sometimes have gone to mush on me. that's listed under mistakes I've made.

Just curious, but what about canning just the meat and then adding carrots and potatoes--cooked while reheating the meat? Lose some flavor of the gravy/sauce on potatoes and carrots, but end up with a decent bowl of stew? I am clueless, just asking.

[MaryB]

I can meat all the time for just that, pour the broth in the pan, add veg and cook until it is tender, add the meat to heat it through.

[firewalkerd1]

When I fix soups, stews etc. I always over do it and fix too much. I am really trying to find some way to save it for a later date. More than a few days.

[Lance Boyle]

Just curious, but what about canning just the meat and then adding carrots and potatoes--cooked while reheating the meat? Lose some flavor of the gravy/sauce on potatoes and carrots, but end up with a decent bowl of stew? I am clueless, just asking.

NO you're right on the money. In fact that's what I mostly do for a couple reasons,
1. I'm normally processing venison to get it put away so I don't normally monkey with soup fixings. It's a space and hands on time issue.
2. A can/jar of meat is way more flexible than a jar of soup, chili, or spagetti sauce with meat. It's a building block ready for anything, the aforementioned or a quick stroganoff. Also if you have to process all the vegetables under 15 lbs of pressure for an hour you can easily overcook and mush out the fixins.

is a soup in one handy, sure can be, say in hunting camp, needs no ice and you can have dinner ready as soon as it heats up. My basic jars are pretty much meat, salt and water. Whether processed by hot pack or cold pack the resulting broth goes right in the stew. Hot pack is cooked and heated water/salt. Cold pack is raw meat and salt stuffed in a sanitized jar and covered with boiling water, then processed. I like hot pack better with the seared flavor on the outside of the meat. It takes a lot more time though.

All the canning books have warnings about canning with thickened gravies, rice, or pasta. I guess they can feed/shelter nasties or something that the heat pressure would normally kill in a clear broth. This is one case where I just do what I'm told by the book.

[Lance Boyle]

When I fix soups, stews etc. I always over do it and fix too much. I am really trying to find some way to save it for a later date. More than a few days.

What I do is save the plastic quart containers that the chinese restaurants use for my won ton soup. When i make a pot of soup, chili, gumbo, spagetti sauce, I'll fill one or two of those quart or half quart plastic containers with good lids and toss them on the door in the freezer. They're good at least for 2-3 months without getting freezer burned.

When I want them I'll take them out the day before and put in the fridge or with less/no forethought I'll take them out and put them in a pot of water enough to the thaw the sides and dump it in the now waterless pot, lid it, and put it on low on the stove. Works for me. I have a quart of spagetti sauce with meatballs in the freezer now and a half a quart of ham and bean soup.