Whether it’s pure canned venison or venison in stews and pasta sauces, smoked can venison is a cupboard staple. Here’s how to get started.

You should realize right away that venison must be canned in a pressure canner.

I know that a water bath approach for many hours is used in numerous extremely ancient, traditional recipes, and some people swear by it, but it is very hazardous. Botulinum spores and other pests that could be lurking in your canned venison won’t be killed by boiling water.

Presto and All American are the two main producers of pressure canners. I prefer the All American since it’s made of thick, strong aluminum, which makes me feel better about having a pressure bomb on my stovetop. Both, though, are fine.

Before I continue, I should clarify that venison refers to any red wild game meat, not simply deer meat. Antelope, elk, moose, caribou, wild sheep or goats, and all red meat exotics like nilgai and oryx fall into this category.

Pints or quarts of venison will be used to make canned venison. Use jars with a wide mouth.

Venison Canning: Cooked or Raw?

You have the option of packing your canned venison raw or heated. This is exactly what you think it is. You may either pack cold venison chunks into jars and cook them using the pressure canning procedure, or you can brown your meat first and then pack it in.

You may also cook something with your venison and then can it, which is what I do.

This is 100 percent more useful to me. On a Tuesday night, I rarely require odd hunks of shelf-stable cooked deer, but I do crave a quick spaghetti with meat sauce, chile verde, or chile colorado, all of which are excellent substitutes for canned venison.

Beginning with just meat, you’ll want more chunks of meat, a bit of salt, and not much else, for the raw pack method.

For the hot pack strategy, I would barbecue, smoke, or burn the meat to get some pleasant Maillard activity moving on, then, at that point, pack into containers, covering with handcrafted venison stock or water. You should leave 1 inch of headspace in the container, or even a bit more. Utilize a margarine blade to look around to eliminate air bubbles.

Regardless, hose a paper towel with a tad of vinegar and wipe the edges. You don’t need them wet, yet you need no follow buildup of fat on them. That can break your seal.

Remember to hand seal your containers and spot them in the strain canner. I like the water to go up around 1/4 of the way up the sides of the containers. Seal your canner as per its bearings — mine requires a smooth of oil around the edge of the canner — vent the canner for 7 minutes or anyway long as it required, then, at that point, start the strain going.

You will need 10 PSI up to around 1000 feet in height, 15 PSI over 1000 feet, except if you have a canner you can dial in, in which case it’s 12 PSI from 2000 to 4000 feet, with an additional PSI for every 2000 feet over that. I utilize a weighted measure canner.

It doesn’t make any difference if you have a crude pack or hot pack, you will require 75 minutes for pints, and an hour and a half for quarts. Try not to be short this time. It’s significant.

BE PATIENT

When your time has slipped by, turn the hotness off and go accomplish something different. You need the temperature and strain to decrease normally. De-pressurizing and opening the canner too early can make the containers break the seal and shower the substance all around your canner. Ask me how I know…

Solely after the tension measure is right at the base, and the canner has rested something like 60 minutes, even 2 hours, should you open the canner.

The inner parts will in any case be bounty hot, so set out to settle the containers on a cutting board for the time being prior to placing them in the storage room. They’ll keep over a year that way.

SMOKING THE VENISON

Once you’ve done all the preparation for the venison, now it’s time to smoke it. Place your venison in your Bradley P-10 smoker, or in whatever smoker you have, and put your maple sausage in for 90 minutes at 250 F (121 C). This will ensure that your venison is cooked perfectly and will produce the most delicious taste.

DO’S AND DON’TS

It is for the most part fine to free-form fixings when straining canning venison, with the accompanying special cases.

No dairy! Dairy items are undependable for pressure canning. Add them when you are prepared to eat the stew or sauce.

Eggs, as well. Eggs in a stew or sauce preclude it from pressure canning. This isn’t ordinarily an issue since who places eggs in a venison stew?

Flour thickeners, similar to a roux. That leaves out pressure canned gumbo. However, you could in principle make the entire rest of the gumbo and afterward add the roux toward the end.

Pasta and rice, and other boring grains. Clearly, they meddle with the hotness move of your canning, and can in principle be risky. However, beans are OK. In any case, you’ll need to half cook dry beans prior to adding to the stew.

In

Interested in learning more about game meat? Start here:

How to Butcher Entire Game Meat

Preserving Big Game Meat In The Field

How to Properly Care for Wild Game Meat in the Field

CONCLUSION

Overall, smoked canned venison is a delicious recipe that requires a lot of time and effort. When that time and effort is put in properly, your venison turns out wonderful! Make sure to be careful about how long you smoke the venison, and how many ingredients you put into it.

For more great ideas on how to get the most out of your Bradley Smoker, check out the awesome articles on our Bradley Smoker Food Smoking Blog for more tips & tricks.