There are always a few times of the year when pork is on sale at such good prices, that you wish you had two or three freezers to hold it all. And these sales often happen at times of the year when your pressure canner is sitting idle, anyway.
Canning that pork is an economical way to store pork in a safe, quality form that is ready for instant use in a myriad of recipes, anything from curries to tajines to almost instant braised suppers.
The quality of the meat is delicious.
When opening the jar, don’t waste the broth that is in the jar, it’s pure gold: freeze the broth for use in soups, stews, risottos, gravies, etc.
Quantities of pork needed
On average, as a very rough guideline, expect to need about 500 g (1 lb) of pork per ½ litre (US pint) jar of canned pork.
The recipe
Jar size choices: Either half-litre (1 US pint) OR 1 litre (1 US quart)
Processing method: Pressure canning only
Yield: varies
Headspace: 3 cm (1 inch)
Processing pressure: 10 lbs (69 kPa) weighted gauge, 11 lbs (76 kpa) dial gauge (adjust pressure for your altitude when over 300 metres / 1000 feet)
Processing time: Half-litres (pints) 75 minutes; litres (quarts) 90 minutes
Pressure canning pork
Ingredients
- pork
- water
- pickling salt (optional)
Instructions
- Remove large bones.
- Trim off excess fat, and any gristle.
- Cut meat into cubes or strips.
- Spray a skillet with cooking spray or heat a small amount of fat or oil in it.
- Brown meat in the skillet in batches; transfer browned meat to a covered bowl or pot to keep hot.
- Pack meat into half-litre (1 US pint) OR 1 litre (1 US quart) hot jars.
- Leave 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.
- [Optional]: add ½ teaspoon pickling salt to half-litre (1 US pint) jars; 1 teaspoon of pickling salt to 1 litre (1 US quart) jars.
- Top jars up with a boiling liquid (water from a kettle, stock, or tomato juice) maintaining 3 cm (1 inch) headspace.
- Debubble; adjust headspace.
- Wipe jar rims.
- Put lids on.
- Processing pressure: 10 lbs (69 kPa) weighted gauge, 11 lbs (76 kpa) dial gauge (adjust pressure for your altitude when over 300 metres / 1000 feet.)
- Processing time: half-litre (US pint) jars for 75 minutes OR 1 litre (US quart) jars for 90 minutes.
Nutrition
Processing guidelines below are for weighted-gauge pressure canners. See also if applicable: Dial-gauge pressures.
| Jar Size | Time | 0 to 300 m (0 - 1000 feet) pressure | Above 300 m (1000 ft) pressure | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ½ litre (1 US pint) | 75 mins | 10 lbs | 15 lb | |
| 1 litre (1 US quart) | 90 mins | 10 lbs | 15 lb |
Reference information
How to pressure can.
When pressure canning, you must adjust the pressure for your altitude.
More information on canning meat.
What is the shelf life of home canned goods?
Recipe notes
- The USDA Complete Guide (2015, page 5-6) just says “Remove large bones.” They don’t define “large.”
- Ball / Bernardin Complete Book (2015, page 396) suggests that if you have a lot of meat to brown, spread it out in roasting pans / trays and sear in a hot oven until brown on the outside but still rare on the inside.
- You may use a microwave to bring to a boil any canning liquid such as stock or tomato juice — be careful when moving heated liquid from a microwave.
- Instead of the salt, you can use a non-bitter, non-clouding salt sub. We have found Herbamare Sodium-Free performs well in that regard.
The canning broth
The USDA Complete Guide (2015) advises to fill with a boiling liquid (water from a kettle, stock, or tomato juice). In their advice the liquid is meant to be unthickened.
The Ball / Bernardin Complete Book (2015) allows the canning broth for cubes or strips of meat to be slightly thickened with Clearjel. “If desired, ClearJel can be used to lightly thicken the broth in this recipe.” [1]Kingry, Judi and Lauren Devine. Ball / Bernardin Complete Book of Home Preserving. Toronto: Robert Rose. 2015. Page 397. They do not state what “lightly” means.
How large should the cubes of meat be?
Bernardin Guide says, ” ½ to 1 inch (2 to 3 cm) pieces” (Bernardin Guide 2103. page 100).
Ball / Bernardin Complete Book says, “… cut with the grain into jar-size pieces or cubes suitable for cooking and canning.” (2015, page 396.)
How much fat to use while browning the meat?
When canning meat, you don’t want too much fat involved, because it can interfere with the seal of the jar, and go rancid in storage.
You have to use your own judgement, as you don’t get any precise guidance.
The USDA Complete 2015 instructions say, “Precook meat until rare by roasting, stewing, or browning in a small amount of fat.” (Page 5-6).
The Ball / Bernardin Complete Book says, “.. brown it in a skillet, over medium heat, using no more than 1 tbsp of added fat or vegetable oil.” (2015, page 396.)
The Ball / Bernardin advice isn’t much more help, because they don’t say per what quantity of meat.
Recipe source
This recipe comes from the USDA Complete Guide.
- Strips, Cubes or Chunks of Meat. In: United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Complete guide to home canning. Agriculture information bulletin No. 539. 2015. Page 5- 6.
Note, the USDA also gives a raw-pack option.
Nutrition
Nutritional information will vary depending on the cut of pork used.
Cooking with canning recipes
Pork Pie with Sweet Potato Crust
Pork and pepper in cream sauce
References
Tami Mcallister
Hi I’m looking for instructions for canning pork side ribs to pressure can
Healthy Canning
Directions above.
Paul
Why are the recipes for canning pork call for Browning it first?.
Healthy Canning
This is to help prevent clumping in the jar, as well as to drive some air and liquid out of the meat so that more can be packed into a jar.
Karol
Gave this a try and so far very easy to do! Don’t know about taste or texture of meat but looks great!
Dawn Mugrage
I tried pressure canning shredded pork with sugar free bbq sauce. The sauce was sweetened with sucralose. None of the jars of bbq pork sealed. Everything else in the canner sealed just fine. I’ve previously canning plain pork without issue. Do you think the sugar alcohol interfered with the pressure canning?
Healthy Canning
It wouldn’t have been the Splenda / sucralose that caused the seal failure. Possibly it was headspace. For your reference, here’s Ball’s directions on canning pork in BBQ sauce.
Paul
Can you can pulled pork that is cooked with bbq sauce? Or does it have to be stock.water or tomato sauce.
Healthy Canning
The “All New Ball Book of Canning and Preserving” (2016, page 301) has a recipe and directions for home pressure canning BBQ pulled pork.
Liza
I left you a post in Facebook. The New Ball Canning Book has a pulled pork BBQ recipe for canning. I wanted to see if you could look at the recipe and make it for the blog!! We are obsessed with the recipe and want to make a low sodium version of it.
Sandy Page
Look on the ball canning site. It may have been only omitted.