Has anyone canned Jimmy Dean sausage? Sam's has it at such a reasonable price but I imagine that it has some sage in it. But I was thinking about buying about 40# of it, making and frying patties and then canning it in pt jars. My Ball canning book has the recipe. (Sage, when canned, turns bitter) My other option is to go to a butcher shop and see if I can get some made without sage. Or even, if I HAVE to, I could make it myself. Easy enuff to do, its just that I am getting old and lazy. Chubby hubby loves sausage gravy and biscuits. One could also fry and crumble the sausage, and then can that for making the gravy.

Taz..who is more worried about friends in the path of Bret, than y2k right now. I think with a catagory 4 hurricane, their preps are not going to do them much good unless they took with them when evacuated. They have a small flock of pygmy goats and some breeding parrots so they all have to go too and that means carrying animal feed with you. Most of us (I hope) who have animals in hurricane areas are prepared with stock trailers to haul them out of the way. We have 8 minature donkeys and one old large mule, plus two pet rabbits, two small parrots, two cats, one dog and 7 hens and one pot bellied pig (no not husband, but he too has a pot belly). Each animal has its cage, or kennel, for traveling and we have a 22 ft stock trailer with a large compartment over the goose neck. We could load and be out of here in several hours. Chubby hubby would be pulling the live stock and I would be pulling the 30 ft travel trailer with the other truck. Usually one has some time with a hurricane and I would get as many preps as I could into the travel trailer and back of truck. EVERYONE NEEDS A PLAN, no matter where you live, be it earthquake country or hurricane country.

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), August 22, 1999

Answers

I've canned Jimmy Dean sausage, and was so disappointed in the result. I believe it probably is the sage, but it had such an 'off' taste, and the texture wasn't good, either. I'd love to find a way to can sausage successfully, though, because biscuits and sausage gravy just hits the spot.

-- Wilferd (WilferdW@aol.com), August 22, 1999.

Sorry 4 the tacky addy,but the wiey who has a wealth o knowledge says meat is the hardest thing to can.I you remember the next time you go shopping,look to see how little canned meat there is! Plus not much o a selection o meat.

Richard........

-- Rihard (Mr69-69@excite.com), August 22, 1999.

Taz:

Have never been able to keep it that long. One of my herd of cats and both dogs must start every day with some. It goes too fast.

Best,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), August 22, 1999.

Did you think about dehydrating it like hamburger rocks? I think the recipe is in the archives. You would fry until well done just like hamburger, drain and rinse with hot water in a colander. Squeese out all water and grease and rinse again. Return to pan and cook until water is evaporated. Dry in dehydrator until it is dry and crumbly. Cool and pack in airtight plastic bags or vacuum pack.

Good Luck!

-- FOX (ardrinc@aol.com), August 22, 1999.

I disagree that meat is hard to can. I find it the easiest of all things to can. Just chunk it up and stuff it in jar and can. Its delicious!

Taz...who can't remember not canning meat. If it will stand still, it can be canned!!

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), August 23, 1999.

There is another way of doing the sausage. Maybe I will do it that way, it shouldn't matter about the sage. This is the way to do it if you are butchering a hog and have plenty of lard. Fry your patties until they are COOKED. Make sure yoiur patties will fit into a canning jar. I used to use qts for this method. Put in a pattie of cooked sausageand pour in heated/hot lard, stack another pattie on top and pour in lard. Do this until jar is full and make sure that there is at least 1/2 inch of lard over the last pattie. This seals out all air/oxygen. Cap with hot lids and set on shelf. Will keep for years. But once you have broken the seal and removed some meat, you need to seal again with fat/lard/oil. For that reason, use the jar size that you will eat in one setting. Heat the patties in a frying pan and serve. I guess with the low price of crisco, I will use that. Taz

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), August 23, 1999.

Taz, you said..."I disagree that meat is hard to can. I find it the easiest of all things to can. Just chunk it up and stuff it in jar and can. Its delicious!" You did not mention cooking it. Does this mean you use raw pack? If so, how does that work out?

-- smfdoc (smfdoc@aol.com), August 25, 1999.

I started canning meat last winter. I started pre-cooking chicken, but tried raw pack, and it worked fine. I pre-cook my hamburger, though to get rid of the fat. As yet, I have not tried to raw pack stew meat. Will try that in a couple weeks when it cools off, and I proceed to empty the freezer into jars.

-- David A Jones (jonesey@hotmail.com), August 25, 1999.