We may not raise deer on the homestead, but we look forward to deer hunting season each year, and North Dakota makes some dandies. It seems everyone has their own ways of using the deer meat aka venison, but our two main ways include sausage and this delicious canned venison recipe. I use this canned venison meat for times I need a quick 15-minute meal that everyone, even my picky eater, will enjoy. It is a great red-meat alternative to beef, and I’ll share how I prepare it in gravy with mashed potatoes and corn, and as an add-in for my cheddar-potato soup. But first, let’s can that meat!
What You’ll Need:
- Pressure canner or cooker with wire rack and jar lifter
- 6 wide-mouth pint mason jars with lids and rings
- 5 pounds cubed venison meat
- 1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix (or 1/4 cup if you make your own)
- About ½ cup chopped onion
- Salt and pepper
Make It:
- Mix the meat, onion, and soup mix together.
- Pack the seasoned meat tightly into the pint jars, leaving 1 inch headspace.
- Sprinkle ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper on top of each jar.
- Place lids and rings finger tight and put into pressure canner.
- Fill canner 1/3 full of water AFTER the jars are placed in.
- Bring canner to recommended pressure for meat at your elevation (probably 10 psi), then start processing time of 75 minutes.
- Once time has ended, shut heat off but don’t touch the canner until it has naturally released its pressure plus 10 minutes. Opening the canner too soon can result in siphoning.
- Once the canner is ready to be opened, lift the jars up out of the water, but still in the canner, by hooking the wire rack handles to the rim of the canner. Let them settle here a few minutes. You may hear jars starting to seal already.
- After the jars have rested a few minutes, go ahead and use a jar lifter to lift them out one-by-one and place them on a dish towel on the counter. Leave the jars rest and cool here for 24 hours. They will seal as they cool. Any jars that don’t seal need to be refrigerated.
- Loosen or remove the rings before storing to prevent the rings from getting stuck on and jars being impossible to open. A good seal doesn’t need the ring to hold it. Note: use wide mouth jars because they will be easier to remove the meat than regular mouth jars and you will need to be able to get your hand inside the jar to scrub good and hard to clean the jar.
To Use:
Use however you like, just make sure you bring the canned meat to a boil for 15 minutes as per standard home-canned food practices. It's great on its own or spread on potatoes or bread. Next is how I make canned venison in gravy to serve over mashed potatoes, biscuits or a slice of bread:
Make Gravy:
Pour out the liquid from the canned venison jar into a 2-cup measure cup, leaving the meat inside the jar.
Top the measure cup off with water to 2 cups
In a hot skillet or pot (medium heat) melt 2 Tablespoons butter.
Add 2 Tablespoons flour. Stir them together until they are combined well and start to turn brown. This is called a roux.
Add 1 Tablespoon Beef bouillon.
Whisk the 2 cups of liquid into the skillet working to dissolve the roux.
Keep whisking until the gravy is the thickness you desire. More flour can be sifted in if necessary.
Once gravy is just about as thick as you like it, add the meat to the gravy, breaking it up into shreds or keep it in chunks if you prefer.
Let it simmer for about 15 minutes and it's done!
We like this venison dish served over mashed potatoes, bread, or biscuits with a side of corn.
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Be well friend!
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