A Canning Question

[islandpiper]

Diane and I have canned a ton of vegetables and fruits over the years. i have been wondering about canning , (what else?) bacon, in 1/2 Pint jars for camping trips where we don't have much of a cooler.

Here is what one site says:
Table 5: Recommended process time for ground or chopped meat in a weighted-gauge pressure canner. Bear, Beef, Lamb, Pork, Sausage, Veal, Venison.

Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of:
Style of Pack Jar Size Process Time 0-1,000 ft Above 1,000 ft
Hot Pints 75 min 10 lbs 15 lbs
Quarts 90 min 10 lbs 15 lbs

****************

Yet the common wisdom is that BACON cannot be canned because the FDA does not have a chart for it. Well.....if pork, and bear and sausage can be canned, then why not bacon?


piper

 

[Kayak Jack]

Canning bacon is a bit like paving a concrete road. The whole idea of making bacon in the first place was to preserve it. Properly made, bacon will keep in cool to room temperature. Don't try that with store-bought stuff, though.

Bacon, similar to ham, is made by first curing the meat in a salt/sugar/salt peter mix. This cures the meat for long term storage. If it were beef, that would be called corning it. Bacon is then smoked to add more preservative, flavor, and to dry it. If it were beef, it would then be called pastrami.

Drying the bacon is a key step after the curing process. It will then keep in a cool, dry place. Sometimes, mold will form on the outside. It can be washed off.

 

[Steve]

Question. . . have ya thought about drying bacon like a jerky rather than canning. . . . ?

EDIT: OOOOPS. . . . Didn't see Jack's post. .. . . . sorry. . . .

 

[islandpiper]

Dried pork reminds me of the Speaker of the House.......moldy pork reminds me of ....well, never mind...he's buried now.

All i have is store bought so that's settled. Loooooong ago K-Mart used to sell canned bacon made in Denmark or some place that was pretty darned good. I'm just trying to think of calorie heavy, protein that can be home canned to go along with the rice and veggies that are easier to preserve.

I may give it a try, even without FDA guidlines. There's lots of info online. Sure would be a treat out in the swamp to open up a 1/2 Pint jar of bacon on a hot Louisiana day. Alternately, i may can some breakfast sausage patties. For some reason the FDA approves of that.

Piper

 

[Wannabe]

Piper,
You can can it. Just don't know how. Had canned bacon in VN. After eating the VERY salty bacon we figgured out we were probally supposed to soak it in water first.
Bob

 

[oldsparkey]

How about a modern way of canning , Before the trip cook the bacon , pat it dry and let it cool then vacuum seal it. It should be like the already cooked bacon you can get at the grocery store.

If it is done a day or so before the trip then it should hold and it definitely will not last in camp when it is opened.

Chuck.

 

[mike]

Why not buy it already canned? It comes in tin cans and you don't have a breakage problem....

Mike

[added on edit] Well, forget the store bought canned bacon. It seems the kind I remembered is no longer sold in the U.S. and what is sold here is damned expensive.

 

[Kayak Jack]

Also, you can buy pre-fried bacon at most grocery stores. Comes in a flat, pasteboard package. Bacon is irradiated and packed in nitrogen.

 

[islandpiper]

I canned some bacon a couple weeks ago. I found a good deal on sliced bacon, ten pounds for $12.50. I made up three 1/2 pint jelly jars for the experiment, rolled the bacon in parchment and put on the lids, per normal canning procedures. They went 90 minutes at 10# pressure and all got a good seal. I put two in the freezer, just because and left one out. in a day or so i popped the lid off and fried it up. Good stuff. And, the bacon fat would flavor other food in a pinch.

I may try some wide mouth pint jars if i can find some.

piper

 

[jdupre']

Mmmmmm- camp bacon. I feel a camping trip coming on. :wink:

 

[islandpiper]

Mmmmmm- camp bacon. I feel a camping trip coming on. :wink:

Joey, "camp bacon": is that a menu item or the new un-official name of the place?

piper

 

[jdupre']

Maybe both, but I'll have to put it through an on-site taste test- just for test purposes ,of course. :mrgreen:

Hey piper, our camping trip could be written off as a "business" expense. We'll talk about me maybe buying one of those custom made violins. I don't really want a violin, but we could talk about it. :roll:

 

[oldsparkey]

I may try some wide mouth pint jars if i can find some.

piper

I had to make a run to the grocery store ( Winn Dixie ) and they have the Ball , Wide Mouth canning jars there. 12 for 11.95. Not sure about your area but you might want to check it out.

Chuck.

 

[Bellybuster]

we used to just get whole unsliced cured bacon right from the butcher and he'd wrap it in 3 layers of paper. it woukld keep for an entire trip of up to 2 weeks that way. We jsut sliced off what we needed and rewrap. Good bacon is well cured and will keep even in open air for quite some time. Any accomplished butcher should be able to give/get/make good preserved bacon

 

[oldsparkey]

we used to just get whole unsliced cured bacon right from the butcher and he'd wrap it in 3 layers of paper. it woukld keep for an entire trip of up to 2 weeks that way. We jsut sliced off what we needed and rewrap. Good bacon is well cured and will keep even in open air for quite some time. Any accomplished butcher should be able to give/get/make good preserved bacon

Don't forget to trim the rind off it or you will have a 1/4 inch piece running along the edge that is quite hard to chew. That is one way to make sure it is some real bacon , or should I say old time bacon with the skin still on it. :roll:

Chuck.

 

[Kayak Jack]

You can supplementarily smoke store-bought bacon to help preserve it longer too. Also, adds more flavor. In bear country, it may become an open invitation.

 

[Bellybuster]

we always cooked the rind too, better than any gum and holds allot of flavour

 

[oldsparkey]

we always cooked the rind too, better than any gum and holds allot of flavour

After it is cooked , I do like to nibble on it , sort of like a jaw breaker but with a lot better flavor. We never , ever remove it before the bacon is cooked. Only after the bacon has been enjoyed we keep the rind as a last treat , to savor. If you cut it off then deep fried it in place of pan frying it would be fluffy and called pork rinds.

Something the kids like ( Mary & Neil ) when camping in there favorite spots in Canada , they do the bacon on a grill over some fire and coals and they tell me it is way better then any pan fried bacon. My guess is with the coffee pot going and perking along with that bacon smell , it would drive any sane person ..... NUT'S.

They are like me , I like to slice my own pieces and I do not slice off ones you could read a news paper threw. The thick cuts we can find in the stores around here are a ... JOKE... Locate a butcher or just a good solid slab of bacon and get the good stuff , none of that mass produced crap that has the liquid smoke injected in it , the real McCoy.
No Sir , They are not thin they have some weight to them. Ya going to have something good to eat , then have something really good or go to Dennie's for breakfast :wink: .

I can imagine the good an thick bacon slowly cooking over some hot coals on a grill , the fat dripping down and causing a bacon flame when it hits the coals and some smoke to re smoke the meat. The coffee perking ... those aromas ... would wake everyone up better then a Brass , Marching , Band blasting away and marching threw camp. I will have to try it on one trip. :lol:

Bacon cooking and coffee perking the other alarm clock for campers. :wink:

Chuck.

 

[Bellybuster]

you need to stop.....now :wink: