Another advantage to canning meat is that the canning process cooks the meat, which can make it very convenient to use in the future, and the cooking process renders meat that many hunters might throw away, believing it to be completely worthless, into melt-in-your-mouth tender morsels.

So… basics. Start with about 1-inch cubes of meat. Meat that contains sinew that you might normally try to cut off is okay; it will become tender during the 90-minute pressure cooking process. But for the best flavor it is a good idea to mix some of the sinewy shoulder pieces with some better pieces of meat from other parts of the animal.

Before you can add anything to your canning jars, you need to inspect and sterilize the jars. Look at the rings and lids for any defects. Take a look at the rubber seals and make sure the rubber looks clean and unmarked, since the rubber seal is the most important piece in the puzzle. Hold the jars up to the light and make sure they are not cracked, and there are no chips around the mouth of the jar. Put your jar rack in a large stainless steel pot and bring the water to a boil. Transfer the jars one by one to the pot, lowering them carefully into the water using tongs. Be careful not to bump the jars together, and be sure to lower the jar at an angle, as dropping them in flat can cause the glass to crack from the thermal shock.

Boil the jars for about 5 minutes, and remove them with the tongs. Pour some of the boiling water in a separate pot that contains the rings for the jars, and pour some into a pot that contains the lids. Stack the lids alternating which side is up so the lids don’t get stuck together. Place the empty jar upside-down on a clean dry towel. Continue removing the jars, pouring more water on the lids and rings as needed until they are fully immersed in water. Once the pans are full, you can empty the water from the jars back into the large pot, or discard it in the sink.

When you’ve removed all the jars from the boiling water, you are ready to turn them over and prepare them for the meat. Put one teaspoon of IODIZED salt in the bottom of each jar, then add about an inch to an inch and a half of water. You can use the water that you used to boil the jars. Next, begin adding chunks of meat to each jar. Fill each jar about 2/3 or 3/4 with meat, then use your bubble freer spatula to gently pack the meat down in the jar. Try to run the spatula along the inner edges of the jar first, then, pack down the meat in the center. Add water to the jar to cover the meat, then pack again if necessary and add more meat and/or water if necessary. For meat you want to leave about an inch of head space in the jar. If you pack them more tightly, the meat/water mixture is likely to boil over during the pressure cooking, which may happen anyway, but it’s best to try to keep it to a minimum.

Once your jar is full, take a clean rag dipped in the boiling water, and gently clean the rim of the jar, getting rid of any spilled liquid or food pieces. Then dip your finger in hot water and run your finger around the rim of the jar to make sure it is completely clean in nick free. Now you can use your magnetic lid lifter to pick the lids up one by one out of the pan of water and place them on each jar. Once the lids are all in place, you can put the rings on each jar, making sure not to over-tighten.

When all the lids and rings are in place you are ready to move your jars into your pressure cooker. Again be careful lowering the jars into the water. When all the jars are in the pressure cooker you can add water if needed (the jars should be submerged about up to the shoulder of the jar), then place the lid on the pot, turn, and seal. DO NOT put the weight on the pressure cooker lid yet. Turn the heat up and wait for the water to come to a boil. When you see a good column of steam coming up from the vent in the lid of the pressure cooker, you can add the weight (15 pounds). At our altitude we have to boil the water for 90 minutes to achieve the correct pressure to seal the jars. At sea level this time is much shorter. If you live above 1,000 feet, use the following chart to determine the correct pressure for canning meat.

Once the pressure cooking is complete, turn the heat off and move the pot gently off the heat. Let the pot cool naturally until the pressure indicator pops up, signaling that the pressure has been released from the pot. Remove the lid, and gently remove each jar and place them on a clean, dry towel somewhere that they can cool and sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours.

When the jars have cooled completely you can wipe the jars in with a soapy cloth to remove any residual residue on the jars, label the jars, and put them away. It’s a good idea to wipe off the jars as our teacher discovered this year…apparently mice are attracted to the scent of elk broth, and once they discover it they are actually capable of prying the lid off of the sealed jar!

As it turns out, it is not all that uncommon for people in Colorado to harvest meat from game animals that are killed on the highway. I learned in my hunter safety class that many Division of Wildlife offices have lists of people they can call to come and harvest game meat…mostly churches and other organizations that feed the homeless or low income families. Apparently though it is pretty rare around here, because when Barney got to the scene and asked the police officer if it was okay to take the meat, the officer said it was the first time in his career that anyone had made such a request. We were lucky that my friend happened to see this accident, because Barney grilled the tenderloin for a group of us, and it was delicious. He also smoked the hind quarters with the intention of slicing the meat to use on sandwiches, but that meat turned out so well that we ate almost all of it that day as well.

We all had a pretty good laugh at the fact that Barn was willing to drop everything (his alma mater was playing to win a spot in the elite eight, for goodness sake!) and go butcher the deer. But we also all had stomachs full of fresh, wild venison. So hats off to Roadkill Barney!

It’s a fascinating book and a good read for anyone who is interested in the locavore movement.

Animal Vegetable Miracle

I decided the first thing I had to do was cut off the head and wings. I don’t know if that’s the right way or not, but I didn’t feel right about plucking the poor thing when it still looked like an animal to me. So it was off with his head. I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve ever cut the head off anything, and I just kept saying, “I’m sorry. Thank you for giving your life for me.” It wasn’t SO bad–the life was long gone from this critter–and at the same time I kept thinking to myself everyone who eats meat should have to do this at least once in their life. Meat doesn’t just magically appear in that plastic package in your supermarket. Even at the most humane, completely organic farms, someone has the job of taking the life of a lot of animals. And any of us who eat commercial meat are in some way responsible for that. But back to the pheasant….

Next I cut off the wings, and cut the legs off. I’ve cooked a lot of chicken in my life, so this wasn’t all that difficult to me. But still you will want to make sure your knife is sharp and it’s best to try to get through the joints cleanly. Now to pluck this sucker.

Surprisingly, the feathers came off pretty easily, but they stick to everything, so it becomes a challenge just to get the feathers off the bird and into some kind of trash receptacle. Then you always have the areas where the shot entered the bird, and the feathers get tucked up inside the bird at those entry points. So you have to do bit of digging to get the feathers out if you are trying to leave the skin on. I like to make soup from the whole carcass, and I think the skin adds so much to the broth. You also may end up with the ends of some feathers still stuck in the skin, and those can be hard to get out because everything is sort of slippery and loose. I have a tiny pair of needle nose pliers that I will use to get the bird completely clean. Rinse the bird well, pat it dry, and vacuum seal it and voila! One of life’s delicacies, ready to prepare any way you see fit.

For the second bird, I have read wonderful stories about stepping on the head/neck of the bird and just pulling the skin off the entire body. That would be great, and it might work in the field, but for this bird after I removed the head and wings, I just used my knife to gently cut the skin off and peel it back. Even though I thought the plucking was less of a chore than I was expecting, the skinning method is MUCH easier. If you get a lot of birds and just want the breast meat this is definitely the way to go. But if you only have a couple of pheasant I think it is well worth the effort to try to keep the skin on one bird so you can roast it. I know I have mentioned it in some of my recipes, but ground pheasant is a marvelous substitute for ground beef in almost any recipe. My two favorites are pizza and spaghetti sauce.

So here is the link to the KDOW instructions for cleaning pheasant, complete with photos. http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/news/Other-Services/Education/Hunter/Tips-and-Techniques/How-To/How-to-Clean-a-Pheasant

Catfish cakes and Corn/Avocado Salsa recipe:

Cakes:

1lb Catfish, 1C. finely chopped red bell pepper, 1 garlic clove – minced, 1/4C. thinly sliced green onion, 3T. reduced fat mayo, 1/2 tsp. hot sauce, 1/2 tsp. sugar, 1T. lime juice, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 Lg. egg, 1/4 C. finely chopped cilantro, 3/4 C. Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) – Divided

1). Steam Fish (I put water in a frying pan with a grate over top with fish on it and the lid on top) maybe 5 minutes

2). Place fish in a food processor until finely chopped – set aside.

3). Saute bell pepper in cooking spray (We like to use the pump it yourself Misto brand spray) over medium heat (3 min) add garlic (1 min) Remove>put in bowl>add fish, green onions and next 6 ingredients (through egg) STIR WELL. >stir in cilantro and 1/4C. panko bread crumbs.

4). Divide into patties (1/2 inch thick) dredge both sides in 1/2C. panko bread crumbs **CHILL AT LEAST 1 HOUR**

5). Heat pan to medium add cooking spray and 5 cakes.  Cook 4 minutes on each side or until browned – serve warm. Repeat.  These freeze well, we cook and freeze in a vacuum sealed bag single layer, then when ready to eat, thaw and lightly brown in a frying pan.

Corn/Avocado Salsa:

1 Can WHITE sweet corn, 1 avocado peeled and diced, 1/4C. chopped fresh cilantro, 1/2 red onion finely chopped (can sub green onion for a less strong raw onion flavor), 2T. finely chopped seeded poblano pepper,  Fresh lime juice – can use half or whole depending on taste, 1/4 tsp. salt.

Combine all ingredients – stir very gently, avocados are fragile fruit!  This also freezes well, I do smaller quantities and then add fresh avocado when I thaw.  Enjoy!!!