1- We skin and butcher our own venison. We remove the bones and cut the meat into one to three inch cubes. Remove all the fat and gristle from the meat. We usually bag the cubes up into large one gallon zip-lock plastic bags. These bags can be kept in the refrigerator for several days.

2- Canning meat is not hard work. It's time-consuming but not hard. What you need to do most is watch and wait. We have two large Revere ware pots. I'm not sure of the exact size, my wife thinks that they're at least 10 quarts each.  We use them both when we can our venison. Fill each pot half to three quarters full of venison chunks. Cover with good clean water, bring to a boil, skim and remove any foam that comes to the top (removing this foam is the main reason I do this extra step).  Cover, cook for about a half hour, until the meat is browned outside but still red in center. Skim foam occasionally as it cooks.

Remove lid occasionally and skim and discard foam. I'm discarding the foam into the empty soup can.  See photo below . . .

3- Sterilize wide-mouth quart jars and lids. I figure an average deer for ten to twelve quarts of canned venison. I put one teaspoon of salt in the bottom of each jar before adding juice and meat. (I also add a rounded teaspoon of Meadow Creek Spicy Barbeque Seasoning powder that I buy locally, this is an option.  (see photo)

After adding the salt to the bottom of each jar, I add a scoop of the juice and swirl it around a little to mix with the salt (use the juice that the meat was cooked in). Pack meat firmly into the jars, then cover the meat with more juice from the pre cooked meat but keep the top level a little over an inch from the top of the jar. Wipe the threads and the top of jars with a sterile cloth, apply caps and rings. Screw rings down firmly but not tight, air will vent from jar while in pressure canner.

4- Put jars into a pressure canner (ours holds seven quart jars). Follow your pressure canner's instructions for canning meats. There must be some water in the cooker, I add about an inch to mine. The jars shouldn't set directly on the bottom of the canner, most pressure canners come with a plate that keeps the jars slightly off the bottom.

We cook at 15 pounds pressure for a full hour. Turn heat off and let the pressure canner cool normally, do NOT quickly release the pressure, this could possibly fracture the jars and ruin your meat.  It will take almost an hour for the pressure cooker to cool normally. Just sit and relax for a while while it's cooling. However, while it's cooling, you should prepare seven more jars of venison to be ready for the pressure canner as soon as it's empty. 

5- Remove hot jars from pressure canner, set them in a safe place to allow them to cool normally. The lids should pop inward as they cool.  By now you should have seven more jars all packed and ready for the pressure canner.

6- After jars cool store  them in a cool dry place out of sunlight. We keep ours on shelves in our basement. As long as these jars seal properly they will keep well for over a full year. Keep jars in refrigerator after they're opened.

Venison, when stored this way, can be used in venison stew, sliced and heated and used in sandwiches, ground and used in chili or spaghetti sauce, or just heated and eaten the way it is . . . 

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