Santina wanted to can -- meatloaf! Her question for me was whether or not Worcester sauce could be used in the recipe (answer: yes), and I sent her a list of canning no-no's from my FAQ ebook on the subject.
Bottom line, she canned up 14 pints of meatload and sent me some photos of her success. From her description, it sounds like she did everything right -- including leaving out the breadcrumbs since flour products shouldn't be canned.
(Click on the photos to enlarge them slightly, though the text will still be pretty small.)
I just love it when people make their own canning adventures, as long as they stay within the bounds of safe canning procedures. Congrats, Santina!
How cool is it that people literally on opposite sides of the globe can exchange canning tips? Ain't the internet sweet?
Flour products should not be canned? Canned Brown Bread? Canned Plum pudding? Flour products are canned all the time so I am confused on your comment.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I should have clarified: flour products should not be canned BY HOME CANNERS. There are some things that home canners shouldn’t can, even with a pressure canner, and even if those products are available commercially. Commercial canneries have additives, preservatives, and processing controls not available to home canners. They also have professional processing equipment which we can’t duplicate. Other things which shouldn't be home-canned include dairy, foods packed in oil, highly viscous foods, lard, etc.
Delete- Patrice
If "highly viscous foods" should not be home canned it would seem to me that meat loaf should not be canned because meat loaf certainly is about as viscous as one can get.
DeleteAnd, why shouldn't highly viscous foods be canned? Is it because the they require a longer processing time to ensure that ALL the food gets up to the desired temperature for the desired time. If so, then increased processing time would allow them to be canned.
Hangtown Frank
Relatively speaking, hamburger meat (which is what meatloaf is) isn't very viscous, so it's fine to can.
DeleteAs for truly viscous foods -- yes, part of the reason not to home-can them is because home canning equipment isn't powerful enough to get sufficient heat to penetrate to the interior of the food and kill any pathogens. Increasing the processing time to the point where pathogens are killed renders the food inedible.
I think I'll put up a separate blog post on this subject -- I think a lot of people would be interested.
- Patrice
I recieved a recipe, instead of egg to hold it together, you use water, gravy or ketchup. Add a bit of rice as a filler, go easy on the regular spices as they will intensify over time. Now, the fun part is this: instead of making a traditional "loaf", use your jar rings and punch out a "patty" of meat loaf, when all meat has been made into a patty, put in oven and bake. Your patties will be the right size to stack into jars (I think 7 per quart)because you used the rings as a guide. Use tomato juice for the "broth" to fill jars and can as the recipe you gave. At meal time, heat and eat! 1-2 patties per person in general.
ReplyDeleteHere is the one gal that I like to follow and love her comments about her meatloaf.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SvCdJ-t3tc
I'm an Australian as well and I read your blog for canning tips as well!
ReplyDeleteCool!
Delete- Patrice
Welcome!
ReplyDelete- Patrice
Thank you for sharing my little meatloaf experience and all the great advice! Canning has opened up a new world of food storage for me.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing my little meatloaf experience and all the great advice. It was your post about canning oranges that got me thinking that it wasn't so hard and I could do it too. Canning has opened up a whole new world of food storage for me. I love the feeling of accomplishment that I feel with each ping of the jars sealing.
ReplyDelete