Saturday, December 26, 2009

Canning---Meatballs

Penny left a wonderful comment a couple of days ago and shared what she has been canning. She has caught the canning bug like many of us, and has canned fruit, vegetables, meats and meals. She mentioned that she was going to be canning ground beef, and I told her that I have canned meatballs with great success (they go great with home canned spaghetti sauce!). Bill has a recipe for Italian Meatballs on out previous blog (see side-bar for link) and he likes to brown the meatballs before canning. My meatballs are raw-packed, so there is less fuss and cleanup. Either way--you're the winner!


Meatballs—8 wide-mouth pints

4 lbs. ground beef
1 stack of saltine crackers, crushed
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. salt
fresh ground pepper

Have the canner heating while you make the meatballs. Mix ingredients by hand; make meatballs using a 1-teaspoon measuring spoon. I worked with one quarter of the beef at a time, with the rest in the refrigerator (it's easier to work with the meat chilled).

Put meatballs into the jars, leaving 1" headspace. Add hot lids, tighten rings.

Process: pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure
—pints 75 minutes
—quarts 90 minutes

[I'm sorry that I don't have a picture--we've eaten all the meatballs I canned!].

6 comments:

  1. Hi there!

    I gather you do not add any broth? just the meatballs?
    Will have to try them.
    Will be canning my bean soup. I ate all that was made last year. Yum. Yum.
    God Bless us that prepare!
    Penny

    ReplyDelete
  2. No broth! That makes it really simple. And, they are delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  3. You say to add hot liquids after you put them in jars. What do you add, broth, water or what.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You can add hot broth, water, or any sauce that you might like. If you wanted a tomato based meatball combination, like for spaghetti, you can add that. If the meatballs have herbs mixed in, then the sauce should be plain. If using plain meatballs, then the sauce can have the herbs. No mater what you add to the meatballs, the processing time is still 90 minutes for quarts. Anything to do with canning meats is 90 minutes for quarts. If you have a favorite sauce, you can add that, can it, and you will have an easy and quick, special meal later.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Can you use this same technique with venison? Also I usually use some egg and parmesan cheese to make my meatballs, will this cause any problems when I can them?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for your questions, I will answer them in tomorrow's post---Prepped

    ReplyDelete