Easy Guide to Pressure Canning Raw Pack Beef Roast
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Today we are going to go through the steps of what it looks like when I am pressure canning beef roast. I prefer to raw pack beef roast because it turns out perfectly delicious without extra steps and I don’t always have the extra freezer space to store them all. And, God forbid, a power outage that has me up a creek with no paddle rather quickly with freezers full of meat that are dependent on electricity! When we get a steer processed it is always a ton of meat; I’m never prepared to pick up 700+ pounds of meat. Knowing how to can is a great way to preserve that fresh meat and have some high quality fast food on hand.
If you source your beef from a local farmer, this knowledge is also an excellent way to save money and prepare you to have a lot of meat on hand. Many farmers sell beef by the whole, half, or quarter and you can really save a lot of money purchasing your beef this way instead of from the store. And usually, the bigger portion of the steer you get, the cheaper processing gets, so knowing how to quickly preserve some of the cuts comes in handy when freezer space is tight and a hot commodity.
Some folks will go through the process of browning the meat cubes prior to canning for more flavor development, but I’ve honestly not found that it elevates things enough for me to willingly add more work and dishes to my plate. This step-by-step guide will work for ANY raw pack meat, you will just find that my preference is to exclusively raw pack beef and wild game (like venison). Canning really mellows out the strong-flavored wild meats; you gotta try it!
Pressure Can or Water Bath?
If you are new to canning, meat is considered a low acid food. Â This means the pH is greater than 4.6 which makes the recommendation for processing pressure canning. Â Pressure canning places the food and jars under pressure, a weight that is adjusted for different altitudes, that allows the contents to reach high temperatures far above boiling to heat the food to eliminate bacteria and pathogens that cause spoilage and also force air out of the jar to create an anaerobic environment. Â
By getting rid of the cooties and the oxygen, the normal processes that cause food to spoil and rot are gone, which allows the canning process to render the food shelf stable inside the jar. Â This is obviously a massive generalization of the magic that is known as home canning of food, but you get the gist. Â It’s super amazing, honestly!
The Raw Pack Method
If you peruse a canning book or the National Center for Home Food Preservation (NCHFP), you will see recommendations for both raw pack and hot pack method for canning meat. Â Today is all about the raw pack method, so that’s what I’ll brush on. Â Raw packing is literally exactly what it says. Â Placing raw meat into a clean jar and then canning. Â When you raw pack meat, you do not add any liquid to the jar. Â When meat is heated, it makes its own broth. Â The recommendation from the NCHFP leans toward hot packing meats for best end product. Â
This is because you cover the meat in liquid after packing into jars instead of relying on the meat to make its own. Â In today’s market, much of the store bought meat isn’t very juicy and is rather lean. Â By raw packing, some of that meat generally doesn’t get covered in juice and the meat above the liquid level will discolor and not look terribly appetizing. Â In my personal experience, this doesn’t bother me, but I’m also gratefully not using store bought meat, but rather beef we raised ourselves on our farm, which is much more tender and juicy meat due to the animal being raised humanely and in a non-stressful environment.
Altitude & Pressure Canners
This is going to be a pretty complete guide on pressure canning. Â The pressure canner I use is known as a weighted-gauge pressure canner. Â A weighted-gauge or weighted only pressure canner uses a weight to guarantee the pressure canner stays at a certain weight; either 5, 10, or 15 pounds of pressure. Â If you have a dial gauge pressure canner, meaning it only has a gauge, you have the ability to fine tune the weight you use according to your elevation unlike the weighted style which only have the choice between 5, 10, and 15. Â
When canning low acid foods, you will always be at 10 or 15 pounds of pressure with a weighted gauge style. Â If you have a dial gauge, consult the chart on the NCHFP website or your canning book to see what weight you can fine tune it to if you are above 1000ft. Â For under 1000ft, use 10 pounds pressure with a weighted pressure canner, which is what I will be doing to day. Â If you are 1000ft or above, use 15lbs. Â When my recipes say “pressure can at your elevations recommended weight” this is what I mean. Â Before you start canning, you need to know your elevation (or altitude). Â Simply use a search engine and search “elevation + your zip code” and you’ll have it.
Let’s get to canning!
Step 1: Prepare Jars & Lids
When raw packing meat, I prefer to use wide mouth quarts if I have empty ones available. Any style will work, they’re just tons easier to pack for a sturdy gal like myself with the opposite of dainty sized hands.
Use a size of jar that will work best for you and your family. Quarts and smaller, like pints, are the approved sizes. There are no tested times available for canning anything larger than a quart jar. When you read a canning recipe, you will see times for sizes of jars. Generally speaking, you can size down with those given times but you cannot size up.
Wash your jars and lids in hot, soapy water and rinse well. Set aside on a clean kitchen towel while you work. I do not worry about heating jars or the canner while I work. You won’t see this in books; they’ll tell you to heat the jars in the canner while you prep the food, and I’ve always thought that was such a crazy step. Why do I want to burn the crap out of my hands when I could just… pack room temperature jars.
Now, if you’re worried about thermal shock, here’s a tidbit of information as I’ve never had it happen to me. Thermal shock most commonly happens when you add cold to hot, not the other way around. I NEVER heat my jars. NEVER. I am always adding hot food to room temperature jars and it’s fiiiiiiine. You have a bigger chance of busting a jar adding food to a boiling hot jar. Promise. Look it up!
Step 2: Prep Meat
Working with thawed beef roast, trim excess fat off and remove the bone. Save the fat and bones for later to make beef broth. I keep a bag in my freezer to collect scraps and bones for broth making in the future.
Cube the beef roast up into 1-2 inch cubes. I use a mixture of chuck and round roasts.
Step 3: Pack Jars
Working one jar at a time, add in cubed beef roast. I tap the bottom of the jars on the heel of my hand to settle the meat in the jar as I pack it. Do not overpack them and press down with your hand. This makes really undesirable canned meat and overcrowds it and causes it to get clumpy and is a bear to get out of the jar.
When canning meat, pack to 1″ headspace.
For a pint jar, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and for quarts, add 1 teaspoon of salt, if desired. You don’t HAVE to add anything. There isn’t enough salt to be considered a preservative, it is merely for flavor. Add any seasonings you desire. Taco seasoning is a great choice!
Step 4: Add Lids
Wipe the rims of the jars thoroughly with a vinegar soaked cloth. I use vinegar to cut through the fat. If any grease gets on the rim of the jar and then between the rim and the lid, that could potentially cause a failed seal. To give your lids the best chance of sealing success, wipe those rims really well.
Add a clean lid and secure with a ring according to manufacturer’s instructions. Be sure you know how the lid manufacturer recommends you tighten the ring. Some brands want finger tight plus a quarter turn, others want it just until the jar spins. This is important and can affect lid sealing and cause buckling if you don’t adhere to their guidelines.
Step 5: Prepare Pressure Canner
My pressure canner calls for me to add 2 inches of water before placing the rack in the bottom and adding jars. I add hot water straight from the tap.
Add in the rack so the jars aren’t directly touching the bottom of the canner and then add the jars. My brand of pressure canner holds 7 regular mouth quarts or 18 regular mouth pints.
Apply the lid and secure it per the instructions and place on a heating source. I use an outdoor propane stove.
Step 6: Pressure Canning
Since we raw packed the meat and it isn’t hot, heat your pressure canner on a touch lower heat setting than you would if you had hot food in there. This is just another safeguard to prevent jar breakage and siphoning. Since we raw packed the meat, siphoning isn’t a big worry with heating since there’s no juice yet.
I heat mine over medium heat. Once a steady stream of steam is coming from the valve stem, start the 10 minute exhaust time. This exhaust time allow all the cold air to escape from the canner and sets you up for the most even heating. I’ve read that if you skip the exhaust step there can be cold pockets inside the canner and I’m not overly sure I believe that. We didn’t vent the canners growing up, but I do tend to do it now.
After the 10 minute exhaust, add the weight, either 10 or 15 pounds depending on your elevation. I use a pot holder to place it on because the steam is a little warm! Continue heating the canner to bring it to pressure; this does not happen immediately and takes a couple minutes.
Once the pressure canner is to pressure, start the processing time. Quarts are processed for 90 minutes and pints are processed for 75 minutes. Anything smaller than a pint is still 75 minutes and anything larger than a pint but smaller than a quart is 90 minutes processing time, as well.
My pressure canner has a gauge that tells me once I’m to pressure, BUT you can also listen for the weight to start jiggling and hissing. Â Once that happens adjust heat so that the weight jiggles so many times a minute according to your canner’s instruction booklet. Â Once you learn your canner and what heat level it likes to sit at during canning, this becomes an automatic process and you can turn your back on it and do something else while it goes. Â
Once mine is to pressure and hissing, I turn my propane stove down as low as it goes and that maintains the pressure perfectly. Dial gauge pressure canners needs to be watched and babysat during the entire process to ensure you stay at pressure.  A weighted canner, like mine, you can audibly hear it when it’s at pressure so you can go play with the kids while you listen.Â
Step 7: Depressurizing
Once the processing time is complete, shut the heat off and allow your pressure canner to cool and completely depressurize for about 1 hour. Verify the gauge has went completely to zero or test the weight by jiggling it or pushing up with a fork gently to see if steam escapes. If it does, there is still pressure, so allow it to cool for a bit longer. If you are using an All American pressure canner, there will always be a little steam left over even when the gauge reads 0, so don’t panic like I did the first time I used one :D I was so scared I just made my lids slam down on my jars and ruined everything! I need to follow my own advice and read the instruction booklet, ok!?
After you remove the weight, remove the lid. Depending on how cold it is, you can cock the lid a little to allow the jars to cool a little slower so they don’t siphon. Siphoning is where liquid spurts out of the jar because the cold air surrounding them quickly causes to rapid of cooling and makes them squirt-y. I unclamp my lid and then cock the lid for 15 minutes. Then I come back and completely remove the lid and let the jars cool for another 15 minutes. After this time, I remove the jars form the canner with a jar lifter and place them on a heat proof surface covered with a towel.
Allow jars to cool completely undisturbed for 12-18 hours. After this time, remove the rings and test the lid seals both by lifting the jars by the lid and tapping them to verify a high pitched ping sound and not a dull thud. Wash jars, label, and store in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight.
Any jars that did not seal within that 24 hour mark can be reprocessed, placed in the fridge, or frozen. Beef and venison are both very forgiving and do well with reprocessing if you would have jars not seal!
And there you have it. Canned beef roast. Plain and waiting for you to do something magnificent. Tacos? Absolutely. Stew? Please and thank you. BBQ beef sandwiches? Let me make some bread.
Get to canning, saving money, and eating well!
You’ve got this!
Equipment
- Sharp knife & Cutting Board
- Wide mouth Jars
- Lids & Bands
- jar lifter
- Kitchen Towels
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef roast
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Wash your jars and lids in hot, soapy water and rinse well. Â Set aside on a clean kitchen towel while you work.
- Working with thawed beef roast, trim excess fat off and remove the bone. Cube the beef roast up into 1-2 inch cubes.
- Working one jar at a time, add in cubed beef roast. Â I tap the bottom of the jars on the heel of my hand to settle the meat in the jar as I pack it. When canning meat, pack to 1" headspace.
- Add in 1 tsp of salt for quarts, 1/2 tsp salt for pints
- Wipe the rims of the jars thoroughly with a vinegar soaked cloth. Add a clean lid and secure with a ring according to manufacturer's instructions.
- Pressure can for 90 minutes quarts and 75 minutes pint jars at your elevations recommended weight.
- Once the processing time is complete, shut the heat off and allow your pressure canner to cool and completely depressurize.
- Remove the jars from the canner with a jar lifter and place them on a heat proof surface covered with a towel. Allow jars to cool completely undisturbed for 12-18 hours.
- After this time, remove the rings and test the lid seals both by lifting the jars by the lid and tapping them to verify a high pitched ping sound and not a dull thud. Wash jars, label, and store in a cool, dark place away from direct sunlight.
- Any jars that did not seal within that 24 hour mark can be reprocessed, placed in the fridge, or frozen.
