Pressure Canner: More than meets the eye.

[The Truth.]

I just found out my canner does more than sterilize grain.
Who would of thought.

Pressure cooked some pork chops (5 thick ones) in a light lemon-pepper
sauce for about an hour at 10psi. Talk about tender.
This thing works wonders on meats.

We have 7-8 tomato plants ready to harvest and I think some caning is in order.
No way we're going to be able to eat all those maters at once.
I mean why not? Might as well put this darn contraption to some other good use.

Especially with money being an issue for us right now. We're getting by but things
are tight. A little self sufficiency here and there goes a long way. Tastes good too.

Anybody have some good recipes or fun canning ideas?

[ggod]

For years I had no idea that a pressure cooker was for anything but food. And it wasn't until I found this hobby that I understood what an autoclave really was.

You might do an internet search... I think a hot water bath is all that is needed to can fresh tomatoes.

BTW... a PC is great to make pulled pork/beef in. Just put a great big roast in, and cook it til it falls apart. add sauce and let it simmer and it is done.
ggod

[weeeeeee]

Originally Posted by ggod

For years I had no idea that a pressure cooker was for anything but food. And it wasn't until I found this hobby that I understood what an autoclave really was.

You might do an internet search... I think a hot water bath is all that is needed to can fresh tomatoes.

BTW... a PC is great to make pulled pork/beef in. Just put a great big roast in, and cook it til it falls apart. add sauce and let it simmer and it is done.
ggod

trying this tonight!!!!!!!! pulled pork oh my ggod

[bosshogg]

pc's work great for rehydrating dry grains like beans, chick peas,etc...

in stead of soaking your beans all night and cooking for an hour or so. toss them in the PC with some h2o at 15psi for 10- 15 mins , viola cooked beans.

dry bulk is the way to go much cheaper then canned precooked beans.

[~Hippie3]

i'm trying to get a good price on 50 pounds of tomatoes myself,
want to make a couple gallons of pasta sauce

[chimp]

I made 20 quarts of Marinara last year and pc'd it. I just used the last one a few weeks ago. I'll be making a new batch here soon. Well worth the time and effort.

[~Hippie3]

whoa, 5 gallons.
how many pounds of tomatoes in that ??
what's your recipe ?

[The Truth.]

Yeah, I'd really like some recipes for marinara/spaghetti sauce.
Girl an I likes us some sketti.

[Beast]

I love making up a big batch of chili, and then pack it into half pints and pc it, then I've got a quick, spicy snack whenever I need it. I think I get about a dozen half pints per batch, sometimes I'll do up a double batch. (Check The Frugal Beastmaster thread for the recipe.) Also I have made a large batch of japanese style chicken stew, from scratch, and then canned that in pint jars to the same delicious advantage of quick, easy, and very tasty meals ready to go whenever I want em. Not the greatest for camping as you end up with a bunch of empty glass jars jangling around in your pack, but given the rough economic times we're in, I've been eating pretty well. And the amazing thing is how much money I save. What I spend on a batch of chili, divided by 12 = about a dollar per jar, whereas if you were to buy cans of chili at the store you'd be paying 5x as much easy.

One big strategy for economic eating, is to realize that our stomachs are bigger than our eyes. This was a saying grandma would always chide me with as I struggled with my 3rd plate at Thanksgiving, but has served as a nutritional lesson as well. I've since been reminded of the same wisdom as I've been looking into various nutritional strategies for fitness. Keeping my body in good shape is important to me, but that becomes problematic with all the pricey 'diet foods' and 'performance foods' etc. However, my research seems to indicate that all you need is proper proportions of good food, and eat at proper intervals.

I've occasionally bought the expensive protein powder drink mixes, etc, but through my own experiences, I think a can of line caught albacore tuna packed in water will not only provide you with higher quality protein in just the right amount, but buying tuna instead of whey powder is cheaper too. Same to be said for chicken thighs.

The break through for me was learning that the portions of what we eat are generally way too big. I try to only eat 4 oz of meat per meal, but the average chicken breast is more like 8 oz, and steaks tend to be more around the 16 oz size (4x as much as you need). Restaurants usually give me 3x the food that I need in a meal, so I've been getting lots of to go containers, but when cooking for myself at home, when I get home with my groceries I separate my meat into freezer bags, and try to separate them by portions. This way even a single meal can easily be prepared without preparing too much.

I've found that with this strategy, I can afford to buy filet mignon. The steaks the butcher gives me are almost always at least 8 oz, which is 2 meals a piece. Chicken breasts are huge, so I tend to buy chicken thighs, which are around 4-6 oz apiece. The rest I spend of veggies and fruit (and ingredients to keep up my month supply of chili).

As long as I stay out of restaurants, I end up saving a suprising amount of money, and eating healthier higher quality food, in the process!

[weeeeeee]

bow to the almighty pressure cooker
awesome idea with the chili beasty

[chimp]

I had approx one bushel of tomatoes..that's around 50 lbs. I had to peel and mince the tomatoes.. I like mine kind of chunky but if you like yours really smooth then it needs to be pureed or smashed really good.

5 cups olive oil
15 minced medium sized onions
20 large cloves of garlic peeled and minced
1 cup dried oregano
1 cup dried basil
3 teaspoon fennel
5-7 bay leaves. (depends on if you like bay leaves so optional)
1/3 cup of sugar
salt and pepper to taste...I forget how much i used..it was a bunch though and I used sea salt and ground black pepper.

The trick is to heat the oil in a large pot and once it is hot you put in the garlic so that the oil becomes infused with it (cook the oil on low medium until the oil bubbles don't burn it).

Throw in the onion and cook until they are translucent.
Then put all of the rest of the ingredients in (stirring)and cook on medium heat for about 30 minutes then let simmer for as long as you want..the longer the simmer the better it tastes IME.

Once it cools down pour into jars and PC at 10 PSI for 35-40 minutes. Make sure to use new jar lids so that you can ensure a good seal. You don't want to open up a spoiled jar of sauce and ruin your pastas/meats that your puttin it on top of.


The real hard part about he whole process is getting enough pots to be able to mix it all up and make all the spices and ingredients throughout. A real PITA, for that reason I broke the chore up into five approx 10 lb sessions. A bushel is way to much to work with in my kitchen at one time. I'll just did some math and divided the ingredients by 5.

I originally got the recipe from a friend of mine who worked in a large italian restaurant..he made it one bushel of tomatoes at a time.

[~Hippie3]

sounds good, too
thx

[ggod]

Back in the day I work at an Italian restaurant/pizzeria. I remember this piece of equipment that we used to get the seed out of the tomatoes. It was cone shaped and it sat in a bucket (5 gallon), canned tomatoes were put into the cone and a crank was turned to pass the tomatoes through and remove the seeds. For the life of me, I can recall the proper name of the device. But it was real cool and helped in making the pizza sauce as well as the marinara. In the marinara we would add some stewed tomatoes to the "passed" tomatoes to give it a bit of chunky texture.

[Zeus]

This is how we get seeds outta the maters down in KY. I don't know how old this is, but I remember my mom using it when I was a kid. I'm 48 now lol. She would stew the tomatoes first, then pour them in. Then mash them through the mesh which produced some fantastic tomato juice. I can taste it now!

[~Hippie3]

i have a sieve like that too.

[Beast]

What's the deal with removing the tomato seeds? they bad for you or something? taste bad? (not aware of either of those issues, personally)

[~Hippie3]

they stick beteween your teeth.

seriously it's just aesthetics,
no real problem if seedy.

[potatoskill]

Those cone shaped sieves are called chinois.

me and my buddy made stew the other day in the pressure cooker. we took beef, turkey, and pork and cut it into cubes, seared it in the pressure cooker, then added onions, mushrooms, carrots, red pepper paste, and water.

PC'd for about an hour, and the results were the most tender pieces of meat with the most flavorful mushrooms! portabellas!

[Soliver]

Originally Posted by MrZeus

This is how we get seeds outta the maters down in KY. I don't know how old this is, but I remember my mom using it when I was a kid. I'm 48 now lol. She would stew the tomatoes first, then pour them in. Then mash them through the mesh which produced some fantastic tomato juice. I can taste it now!

I inherited one of those a year ago... always assumed it was used to make
jelly (actually, that would work too) but never thought to use it on tomatos...

The 'maters are ripening in our garden big time now... time to start making
canned 'maters, sauce, and of course, Bloody Mary Mix

soliver

[~Hippie3]

we've used ours for jam,
got a bloody mary recipe you'd share ?

[The Truth.]

I'm definitely going to try the marinara oibchip.
It's a huge recipe though, gonna have to cut it.

Beastmaster's chili idea sounds good too.
I love chili. I found that southerners use corn in it a lot.
I never did but living in Florida I had it all the time.
Corn in chili is good. My mom always made macaroni
noodles with it. Probably could toss some in the jars too.

I'm a meat eater though...thats what I want to can the most.

And that reminds me.......pickled eggs. WOW.
Had 'em at the bars a few times (when I got the courage) and loved
these little spheres of joy.
Probably don't have to PC them though.

gonna find out...

[Warlocker]

hey hip !
if you want a good oldie but goodie recipe passed down for generations a friend gave me for marinara sauce, its light, healthy, and utilizes the (usually cheap/on sale at least at one store near you, ccheck around on the phone if you can not find your fresh maters. i have always used the crushed tomatoes, or the whole ones and mash them up in the pot before cooking...)
if you would like to try it i will pm you just say the words i have a feeling you will like its simplicity take care

[~Hippie3]

sure
but no need to go to pm -
just post it here.

[chimp]

Originally Posted by Hippie3

got a bloody mary recipe you'd share ?

I generally make my bloody mary one at a time.

I use tomato juice, ground horseradish, worsteshire, pepper, celery salt, some juice from green olives and then a few green olives..I use a celery stalk to stir it up. It works nicely in a pint wide mouthed canning jar.

I do it all by eye, it took a little bit if experimentation to get it the way I like it..then there's always the second and following drinks where I have to alter the amounts of each ingredient to compensate for the melting ice and the level of intoxication desired. I always leave the olives in the glass till I get 10-15 in the bottom..the vodka infused olives certainly are a treat


I generally switch to beer after the 4th or 5th bloody mary.