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Date: 12 June 2014. Sausage Canning Recipes.

© janice142
 

Aboard Seaweed I enjoy eating well a variety of tasty foods that are not loaded with chemicals I cannot pronounce. Fresh is best, however I love those out of the way anchorages where my nearest neighbors are dolphin, turtles and fish.  There, life is peaceful, quiet, and picturesque. Few of my favorite spots have a nearby grocery store.  That is why canning meats helps make my lifestyle amazing, and delicious.



When the nearest neighbor has feathers and likes fishing, life is good.
 

Yes, now you can purchase lots of products in foil packages and many of them are quite palatable with a bit of help from your galley seasoning skills. The Food in Foil article offers hints in that regard. I do take advantage of some of the foil packages for my larder aboard Seaweed.
 

The dollar stores and groceries also sell a variety of canned meats for those so inclined.  Hint:  shake the can. If it sloshes, there is a lot of liquid and not so much of the product. Skip those.



 

Truly, most of the foil packets I would avoid simply because I am not a big fan of sodium. Salt belongs on popcorn and alas, many of the canned meats are too salty for my taste.  They are however economical. You can find many items at a cost of a dollar each and that is not bad at all in my view.
 

The taste though leaves a lot to be desired.  In that regard, I have chosen to can my own meats.  I do not advocate canning vegetables -- they are economical and quite good in the canned goods section of your grocery store. In my mind if the work involved does not create a better end result, it is not worth my time.
 

 

Sausage Chips canning recipe ala Seaweed

I am fond of Italian Sausage, however you will want to chose what you prefer for your version of the sausage base.  For Seaweed, I buy the link sausage, usually with sage because my grandma's had sage in it.
 

First add about one or two inches of water to your pan and then boil (you read that correctly: boil) the sausage.  Prick the sausage casing up and down the length of the sausage. As it cooks the grease comes out of the sausage. Flavor is retained.
 

Next, remove from the pot, let the sausage cool, then cut into chips. Do not discard the liquid.

 

I do a fast chill on the leftover liquid in the pan so that I can remove the layer of grease and still have the flavorful broth left over. Sometimes I add a bit more water to the stock.

 

Next add the chips to the jars then add a bit of the liquid to cover the chips. I have also added salsa, petite tomatoes, and tomato sauce as filler in the sausage chip jars.
 

I like a variety of ready to eat fixings so there are choices available and ready to eat -- all without refrigeration.

 

Directions for canning/processing at the end of this article.

 

If company arrives I can open a small jar of tomato sauce and add one of my canned sausage chips. Voila: instant dinner to share. Otherwise often I will just have the sausage over some pasta. Perfect for one.

 


The reason we boiled the sausage is so that the grease would be gone. I do save the water the that I have cooked the sausage in for the next step of the process. It's got great flavor, so we will use it.
 

 

Meatballs 'n Sausage ala Seaweed

 

Aboard Seaweed I prefer to use the lean ground beef and fancy it up with a bit of diced onions, garlic and perhaps some salsa.  I did try canning just ground beef without seasoning and found it bland.
 

Frankly, I am not particular as to what type of salsa to use. I raided my daughter's refrigerator and used the rest of of a couple of jars she had in there.
 

I prefer smaller bite-sized meatballs, so mine
are about the size of a shooter marble.


Reheat the leftover stock from cooking the sausage to a simmer. Then add your meatballs to the liquid and cook until done. It does not take long, and yes, they stay in pretty good shape too.

   

I used a fryer scooper gizmo thingy to fish out the meatballs.  Some of the meatballs I canned alone, while others were mixed with sausage chips.
 

All had liquid to cover the meat added. Some of the liquid was the juice I had cooked everything in, while other jars had tomato sauce, or petite diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, and/or salsa.
 

Also, green pepper was added to some of the jars I processed. Garlic was in every jar -- love the flavor!

   


Canning or processing meats has a couple of tricks I have learned over the years.  It is important to note that the old canning book (circa 1920's era) had different standards than we use today.
 

The reason why I theorize is a lot of the storage over the winter months in basements meant practical refrigeration. If you have ever been in a basement in Maine during December you know it's doggone cold down there. Even in the summer, with no outside windows it was dark and cool. No wonder stuff stayed fresh so long.
 


 

The following two articles describe exactly how I get good canning results aboard Seaweed. The novice should start with Part 1, but if you are familiar with canning Part 2 would be your kick-off place. It has cooking times along with instructions for making sure you have had success.
 

Canning Primer (Preserving Meats, Part 1)

and/or

Processing in Pressure Cooker (Preserving Meats, Part 2)

 

Good luck and have fun.  As for me, I watch for sales and when the Italian sausage I like is discounted, that is when I buy.  Usually three pounds of sausage and two or three pounds of lean ground beef will keep me busy.  I cannot give you a quantity of jars filled because I also made stuffed green peppers, lasagna and taco soup this last time in addition to sausage chips and meatballs.  Those recipes will be in upcoming articles though of course you could "wing it" and get good results no doubt.
 

Measuring is not a strong suit with me which is probably why recipes tend to come out a bit different each time I make them.  Such is life on the waterfront.
 

I'd love to hear what your favorite home canned food is.
Do you like having the essentials for your family available 24-7-365? Does that make me a prepper?
 

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