Ground beef question

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I am planning to can some ground beef in my All-American. I am trying to figure out how much one pound of ground chuck would fry down to.

I am at work and will be stoping by the butchers' on my way home; otherwise I could have experimented. No more shopping for me until the weekend - or later. Were the stores crazy on Saturday or what!??

Thanks!

-- moo (where's@the_beef.cow), November 22, 1999

Answers

The maximum Federal limit on fat in hamburger is about 30%, I believe. Most ground chuck I've bought seems to be about 20-25%. There will also be water losses in browning so you can probably assume about 25-40% loss depending on how good the meat is and how brown you make it. I usually just barely brown the meat enough to get it to hold together in the pieces I'm cooking and then can them. I only use low-fat ground meat so I have less to throw away.

..........Alan.

The Prudent Food Storage FAQ, v3.5

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@sprintmail.com), November 22, 1999.


I use the recipe in the Ball Blue book for ground meat sauce and usually buy 12 pounds of meat. This fills about 14-16 pint jars. This is less than 20% fat and I have figured .75 to .85 pounds of meat per pint. Its good stuff t

-- smfdoc (smfdoc@aol.com), November 22, 1999.

Fried ground beef, without water, might make a product that is really dense, and might not can safely. (90 minutes at 10 lbs pressure) might not be enough. Consider the meat sauce. Maybe even the TVP as an extender. It is probably better, especially with the low density low acid things like meat, that you stick with something that resembles a recipie in either the Ball or one of the other canning books. Your All American came with a manual..and recipies, I think.

-- Mary (CAgdma@home.com), November 22, 1999.

I canned up a batch of ground beef about a month ago, came out great. Started with 10% beef, browned in pan, and canned in pints at 10lbs for 90 minutes. There is a layer of fat at the tops of the jars (I didn't drain the meat, thought that the fat might be a good preservative layer.)

It's really nice to make a quick taco or tomato sauce & just dump in a jar of prepared ground beef. Makes cooking dinner seem so much easier!

-- Arewyn (isitth@latealready.com), November 23, 1999.


You just can't beat the convience of canned meats. For the most part they make their own gravy. Open a pint jar, heat and pour over rice, potatoes, or pasta and you have a meal. The other thing that is sooooooo great is canned onions. I go to Sam's Club and buy those large onions in 50# bags. Peel and chop up coarse and can. So nice to have to pour into casseroles or soup or???? I also quarter (really 1/8th the onions and can too. I put salt and pepper and butter and serve as veggie.

Taz

-- Taz (Tassie123@aol.com), November 23, 1999.



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