Jarred Venison, Camp Gravy
Raw-pack pressure-canned deer meat that cooks itself in the jar, then turns into dinner over one burner.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 56
- protein
- 45 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 25 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- 300 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Venison, beef, or bear, trimmed and cubed | about 1.5 lb per quart jar | packed raw, no browning needed |
|---|---|---|
| Canning salt | 1 to 2 tsp per jar | |
| Yellow onion | 1/2 small, or 1 garlic clove | goes in the bottom of the jar |
| Instant mashed potato flakes | 1 cup | carried dry |
| Cornstarch | 1 tbsp | thickens the jar broth into gravy |
| Black pepper | 1/2 tsp | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp |
Method
- At home: put the onion or garlic in the bottom of a clean quart jar, add the salt, and pack in raw cubed meat to within half an inch of the rim. Add no water. Wipe the rim, set the lid, and finger-tighten the ring.
- Process in a pressure canner at 10 lb for 90 minutes with a weighted gauge, adjusting pressure for your altitude. A dial gauge and higher elevations need more pressure, so check your canner's chart. This is the step that makes the jar safe at room temperature, and it is not optional.
- Let the canner depressurize on its own. Check that every lid has sealed before the jars leave the counter. Anything that did not seal goes in the fridge and gets eaten that week.
- In camp: pour the whole jar, meat and broth, into the pot and warm it over a low flame. Do not boil it hard or the meat shreds to nothing.
- Stir the cornstarch into a splash of cold water, pour it in, and simmer one minute until the broth turns to gravy. Add the pepper and oil.
- Push the meat to one side, add 300 ml of boiling water and the potato flakes to the other side, and stir until they set. Fold the two halves together and eat.
Raw-pack canning works because the meat is never really cooked twice. It goes in the jar cold and cures under pressure for ninety minutes, which both cooks it through and sterilizes the contents. The meat also gives up enough liquid to cover itself, so you add no water at the start and end up with a jar of broth that is already most of a sauce.
The cornstarch and potato flakes are camp additions. Jar broth is thin and salty on its own, and the two of them turn it into something with body that will not slosh out of a bowl. Ninety minutes at proper pressure is the whole safety margin here. Cutting it short, or skipping the altitude adjustment, is how a shelf-stable jar becomes a botulism problem.
Packing
The jar is glass and heavy, which is why this is a car, boat, or basecamp meal. Wrap it in a shirt or a spare sock inside a hard-sided bin. Potato flakes, cornstarch, and pepper go in one bag together so camp is one pour, not three.
Variations
- Swap a can of condensed French onion soup for the plain salt when packing the jar. It seasons the broth and stretches it.
- Tomato juice instead of soup gives a stew base instead of a gravy base.
- Skip the potatoes and thin the jar with water plus a handful of dried vegetables for soup.
https://www.huntingpa.com/threads/canning-meat.1364