I’m really interested in trying both pressure cooking and pressure canning. I wonder if anyone has a favorite, comprehensive resource for pressure canning (like a good book on the subject, or a really good website). There seems to be quite a lot of information on canning fruits, vegetables, and condiments like jams and jellies, but I am primarily interested in canning meats, soups, stews, and ready-made meals (including recipes with pasta, rice, dairy, etc.), which require pressure processing. I know it can be done, but I see scant reference to such projects in the books I have. Currently I have “The Big Book of Preserving the Harvest”, by Carol W. Costenbader, and I am ordering Presto’s Pressure Cooker Book. Preserving the Harvest has a few meat recipes, but not much. I have some recipes for stew, tuna and chicken pot pie filling, etc., that I like a lot and would like to can for later convenience. I’m trying to find guidance on how the recipe should be adapted for canning, and what the processing times should be. And yes, I know botulism can be deadly--hence my desire to research the subject thoroughly.

Also, does anyone have a preference for brand and type of pressure cookers/canners? My goal would be to buy one appliance that would serve for both everyday cooking as well as pressure canning. I wouldn’t do gigantic batches of canning, but I would like the ability to process more than 1 or 2 jars at a time. I'm interested in finding the very best quality pressure cooker/canner made. Any canning recipes for entrée-type foods are also welcome. Thanks!

-- Kim Brook (mountainkimmie@yahoo.com), March 15, 2001

Answers

Kim I have been canning for about 17 years and the best canning book that I have found is the BALL Blue Book The Guide to Home Canning. This also the same one that my mother used when I was a kid. It covers everything from fruits, vegies, soups, stews, meats, jellies, jams, relishes get the picture if it can be canned it will tell you how. You can get this at Wal Mart for under 6.00. Also I use a Mirro 12qt pressure canner which I have had for 17 years without any problems. I also have my mothers that she used when I was young her's is also a Mirro and it's about 30 years old. If you have any canning questions just e-mail me maybe I can help. God Bless.

-- Tracy in TN (emilyfarms@tsixroads.com), March 15, 2001.

Kim if you are not at a high alt. a weight controled canner is the easiest to use, I have a Mirro Matic that holds 4 quart jars, it was used when given to me and I've had it over 10 years, same gasket, got a new owners manual from the company by snail mail.

The good books have a section on forming your own recipes the rule is that the single item/ingredent that requires the longest processing time/pressure is the same time/pressure for the new combination. Pasta is tricky, some must be added uncooked to the jar,stir it into the hot liquid (they like to stick together) they cook while being processed (allow extra water for the pasta to absorb). Try the ones made for soups 1st.

White rice is also tricky, some times it needs to be under cooked, or dry and added to the hot liquid just before jaring up with extra liquid (water) allowed for in the recipe. Most other grains will hold up just fine precooked.

And allways remember,"If there is a doubt, through it out!"

As soon as you deside which canner to buy, get an extra rack to separate jars in layers, then you can do more little jars at a time It's been awhile since I checked but I think I can fit 3 layers in mine (wide mouth 1/2 pints) maybe 4 layers because of the domed lid but it has been quite a few years since I tryed it out.

-- Thumper (slrldr@aol.com), March 16, 2001.

Tracy is right about the Ball Blue Book, it is the Bible for home canning.

-- David in NH (grayfoxfarm@mcttelecom.com), March 16, 2001.

My vote would also be for The Blue Book. An excellent web site for info on preserving is:

http://www.msue.msu.edu/imp/mod01/master01.html

I use Mirro pressure canners and cookers with the "floppy" weight. My weights have 3 different holes for 3 different pressures; 5, 10, 15 pounds. I use my small one for cooking meat, rice, ramen noodles, just about everything. What I do for rice is pour in 3 cups water and 1 cup rice. Usually I combine 1/3 each of white, brown and wild rice. You can salt or bullion cube season if you like. I put the weight on the 15 pound setting and once it starts to jiggle, I time 6.5 to 7 minutes. I shut it off. Since my cooker is small, I put it in the sink and run a glass of cold water on the cooker, which takes the pressure off right away. I get very good rice every time; never sticky. I am a failure boiling the other way. My 3RC (3 Rice Concoction) is one of wifey's favorite dishes. Another dish I cook is just put in a roast and a few potatoes, carrots, cabbage...whatever you like. I cook it for about 25-30 minutes at 15 pounds depending on how cheap a cut of meat I put in...I buy the least expensive, 'cuz the Pressure cooker will tenderize almost anything.

I have had good luck buying on eBay. I've purchased 2 Pressure cookers there.

Have fun Kim and experiment. You will have a lot of good meals and canned goods.

-- jonesey (jonesey@bigfoot.com), March 16, 2001.

Kim,

I agree with the above recommendations concerning the Ball Blue Book, its full of the recipes you are looking for. I think you may want to consider purchasing a dedicated pressure canner and a dedicated pressure cooker for a couple of reasons. I don't like to cook in aluminum, and the stainless pressure cookers (usually actually a aluminum clad stainless body, the aluminum has better heating chacteristics and the stainless is the surface touching the food) are large enough to cook meals in but too small to can in. I just don't like cooking in aluminum. Both Mirro and Presto offer reasonably priced stainless cookers. When I can, on the other hand, I want to be able to process as many quarts as possible and I use a really large all aluminum canner made by All American - it will take 14 quarts jars. This canner is quite heavy when full and it's design does not need a sealing gasket. While I won't cook in it I know of a couple that routinely cooks whole turkeys in their big canner. I often see canners at auctions go for very reasonable prices. If you are going to go to the trouble of canning get one that will hold at least 7 quart jars - to my way of thinking if you are going to process chicken soup or spahetti sauce or whatever it doesn;t make sense to fool with pint jars.

Good luck,

Bob

-- Robert (STBARB@usa.net), March 16, 2001.

Thank you, everyone, for your input. Its quite helpful, and I've ordered the Ball Blue Book. I'm still researching. The Pressure Magic and Fagor pressure cooker/pressure fryer models intrigue me, though Mirro obviously is a good, reliable choice. I have to laugh at myself because I'm always seduced by shiny gizmos and complicated- looking guages. Probably simplest is best . . .I will post more when I get more info.

-- Kim Brook (mountainkimmie@yahoo.com), March 16, 2001.

Yes, I agree with Bob about cooking in the aluminum. "Stuff", even just from water, collects in aluminum. If you don't believe it try this. After using it for canning, throw some tomatoes you don't want to eat in there and cook them for a while. You want to see your cooker nice and shiny? Empty the tomatoes and see the difference. The line where the tomatoes level was will be shiny below and dull above. Know where that "stuff" went? In the tomatoes. Do you want to eat that? I don't think so! My pressure cooker was meant to be used for both canning and preparing food for the meal but it is used for canning only and that is why. I don't own an aluminum pot or pan. They're either stainless steel (rather expensive), enamel or cast iron. Mine can hold either 4 quarts or 7 pints and for DH and me, pints are quite the right size. Sometimes even that is too much for just the 2 of us. I do, however, always do a few quart jars of everything for those times when company comes. Also, I make presents of quarts of this and that at Christmas. The family seems to enjoy receiving gifts like that. I recall, way back when I was very young,60 years or close to it, some friends of my mother and das's, trying to tell them that they shouldn't use aluminum for cooking food. It was said that cancer was related to this. I can't attest to that info, no proof, but I do know that Mother died at the age of 45 from--you guessed it. Mother and Daddy thought it was all "hog wash", but I wonder. And why take chances if you don't have to? My stainless steel, the little I have, came from yard sales, garage sales, &etc. Same with the enamel ware. Have luckes out by having the iron skillets Mother had and my aunt gave. Sure, they are heavy, but I like to think that I'm getting my daily exercise when I use them plus eating very well. I certainly would like to own a stainless stell prssure cooker but new ones are just too pricey. Think I'll take Bob"s advice and check out ebay. Thanks Bob. Sorry this is so long. Clare

-- Clare Baldwin (clare_baldwin@hotmail.com), March 17, 2001.

A word about buying older Presto and Mirro pressure cookers - finding new gaskets for them can be quite a pain. I have one Presto and two Mirros and had an awful time finding the right replacement gaskets. When I did, I ordered two of each - so I won't have to go thru all this mess again any time soon.

Carol

-- Carol Mora (carollm@rockbridge.net), March 19, 2001.

I had no difficulty whatever ordering a new gasket for our 35 year old Presto. Just did a web search for Presto and ordered direct. A word about canning dairy. A couple of months ago I posted a question to gain the benefit of others' knowledge in my quest to can Seafood Chowder. This contains fish, clams, lobster, shrimp, etc with potatoes, corn and herbs, plus milk and cream. Concensus was that canning the milk and cream was a bad idea because the heat alters the flavor and makes it less palatable. I finally made it WITHOUT the milk and cream, processed it in pint jars at 10 lbs for 1 hour, and added 1/2 and 1/2 when it was to be served. Worked beautifully! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), March 21, 2001.

I've enjoyed reading all the input, and now I've bought a pressure cooker! I’ve decided that folks are right that it isn’t worth it to try and make one cooker do double-duty as cooker and canner, so I will eventually buy a separate canner. I have checked out ebay, and there are certainly many good deals there on used canners in good shape. It also is fun to look at the really old models, too, even if those aren’t very practical for my purposes.

It turns out pressure cookers are a hot item in my local stores. It took me awhile to find a store that even had one I wanted. I snapped it up (happily it turned out to be on sale for 30% off). It is the Fagor MultiRapid model, with 3 pressure settings. Normally very expensive, the sale put it in the price range of the stainless steel Presto cookers I looked at.

I was dying to try it out, but the manual in the box was not the correct one for that model, and the store doesn’t think it can find the right one. I have emailed and voice mailed the manufacturer for a copy, but it may be awhile before it arrives. I am a little annoyed that there was no live human at the 800 number to assist me, and nobody has returned my call or email despite my request that they do so. I do have a cookbook that came with the cooker and a little pamphlet with guidelines. Last night I couldn’t stand it any longer, and decided to fire that sucker up, instructions or no instructions!

I had bought a bunch of stuff in anticipation of the awesome meals I could now cook in JUST MINUTES! So I decided that for my first attempt, I would cook some chicken. I thought I would try Chicken a la Lee from the Fagor cookbook since it is a simple recipe. Of course it was pretty late at night when I finally got time to try it out, and I had forgotten the basic rule of cooking, which is that you should be sure you have everything you need prior to starting, or least have proper substitutes lined up. The first crises was that I couldn’t find the chicken stock. I woke my Mom up to ask her where it was, and she sleepily produced a couple of cans from the storeroom. She drew the line at staying up to watch the proceedings though, eyeing the pressure cooker warily and telling me she felt safer “behind the blast wall.” She wished me good luck and went back to bed.

I then had to find some white wine. I was sure we had some in the house, but couldn’t find it. In desperation I rooted around in the cupboard, and came up with an old can of Bud. Figuring that there really isn’t all that difference between white wine and beer, I decided to make do with what I had. Perhaps this was a mistake on my part. Any 12-stepper would have simply pointed out that I could just leave out the booze and use extra chicken broth. But in the fever to crank up my new gadget, I wasn’t thinking all that clearly. Then I couldn’t find the marjoram, so after reading all the labels on the spice jars, I decided to use cardamom. This recipe called for a duck sauce to be brushed over the chicken, which they suggested can be made from apricot preserves, honey and vinegar. All I could find was marmalade, which I’ve actually used successfully on duck before. But suffice it to say the recipe wasn’t followed “exactly”.

After browning the chicken and adding the liquid, I nervously closed the cooker, chased all the cats out of the blast zone, and turned up the heat. It wasn’t long before a jet of steam started coming reassuringly out of the valve. I was scared, but at the same time too fascinated to quit watching the thing. I decided that as long as steam was coming out, things weren’t too dangerous. The recipe called for various cooking times at different pressures, but I decided that medium pressure was a safe bet. That meant the chicken had to cook for 12 minutes. Longest 12 minutes of my life!

But after about 7 minutes, the kitchen started to smell good, and by the time the timer went off, my mouth was watering and the cats had re-entered the kitchen and were circling around my ankles. I thought I’d just try the “natural” pressure release method, since I was still nervous about handling the thing. But when it seemed like it was taking too long for the little yellow pressure indicator to go down, I gathered my courage and carried the cooker to the sink to run cold water over the lid. That took the pressure off immediately. I let it sit a moment longer (just to be safe) and unlocked the lid, opening it away from myself as all the safety advice tells us. Fragrant steam billowed gently out. I peaked warily inside, and there was the most beautiful, golden brown chicken you’ve ever seen. The only troublesome thing was that the fluid was all gone, and the sugary “duck sauce” had scorched, making it impossible to create the extra sauce that one is supposed to thicken from the remaining liquid. The chicken itself, while slightly dark on the bottom, was still salvageable. I’m sure I had the heat too high, and perhaps had not used enough liquid. I will have to experiment with this. I have since bought a heat diffuser, which will also help with starches or sugars, which tend to burn easily.

I had a hard time believing that the heretofore raw chicken was actually cooked sufficiently after only 12 minutes (plus a bit of browning time), but it was! The seasoning could have used a bit of adjustment (ahem—Budweiser does NOT a white wine make!), but it really wasn’t bad, and the chicken itself was amazingly juicy, flavorful, and tender. In regarding all those claims of speedy meals, one can be assured that pressure cooking does cut cooking time dramatically. But its important to remember that prep and browning of the food will add to the time one has to stand at the stove.

Success! Ok, I realize this is a little long, and off-topic, being more a cooking thing than a preserving thing, but I wanted to share with you my pressure cooker adventure. When I'm comfortable with the cooker, I'll concentrate on getting a canner. Thanks for all the great input.

Now to tackle that paella I’ve been intending to make!

-- Kim Brook (mountainkimmie@yahoo.com), March 23, 2001.