Monday, June 21, 2010

Canning Bacon

Saturday, June 5, 2010


Canning Bacon

As I have said before, I love canning just about everything.  I have a theory...If something can be done commercially, I should be able to do it in my kitchen.  If I can't, I probably shouldn't be eating it!

A few years ago, we splurged and bought a couple of cases of canned bacon.  It was great.  We loved having bacon on the shelf.  It was quick and tasty.  But it was terribly expensive.  It was something that was a treat, but not practical for us to stock up on because of the expense.  But, it got me to thinking.  If bacon can be canned commercially, why couldn't I can it at home?

I did a bunch of online research.  That, combined with the experience of using commercially canned bacon, I figured I was ready to try it myself.  Here is my method and the results....

First I sterilized jars and lids and got the pressure canner ready to go to work.  Next, I laid the bacon out in strips on opened-up paper bags.  The recipe that I was following called for parchment paper, but I didn't have any handy, so after considering other options (waxed paper - the wax would melt, tin foil - don't want to cook in aluminium) I decided to open up a brown paper lunch bag and use that.  It worked great!  When I can bacon again, I will probably buy a roll of brown craft paper, so that I don't have to open the bags, but in a pinch, the bags were fantastic.


Next, I folded the bacon in half, in the paper, and started tightly rolling.



The rolled bacon goes into the jar and is sealed.  No need to add water or salt.



I then pressure canned at 10 pounds of pressure for 90 minutes.  Pretty standard for canning meat.

These are the jars after canning.  You can see about 1 1/2" of bacon grease in the bottom of the jars.



This is what the bacon looked like coming out of the jars.


The one thing that I would do differently is put a layer of paper on the top of the bacon before folding the bacon in half and rolling it.  As you can see, the bacon wanted to stick to itself where it had been folded.  The extra layer of paper would have prevented this and I would have been able to fry the bacon in nice long strips.  As it was, I was only able to get a few long strips, the rest I fried folded in half.



It fried up beautifully!  It was nice and crisp, took just minutes to cook and was like eating "real" bacon.  There was not a lot of crumbling and the flavor was terrific.



I would suggest using a thick cut bacon.  The commercially canned bacon that we had previously bought was tissue thin.  It had a tendency to crumble - I had to be VERY careful when cooking it.  There were 30 or so sliced in each can, but because they were so thin, each person ate quite a few strips.  The bacon that I canned was considerably thicker.  I wasn't able to get as many in a jar, but it held together better, cooked up rather nicely.  I think that next time I will put a few more strips of bacon on the paper (about 20) and roll that up.  It will make a thicker roll, but I believe it will still fit in the jar and will be enough for our family for a meal.



Home canning bacon is a wonderfully thrifty alternative to buying commercially canned bacon.  A case of bacon (12 cans) currently runs about $122.00 or $11.00 a can.  We estimate that we are able to can a jar of bacon (20 slices) for about $3.00!  Quite a savings!  Enjoy.

An afterthought:  The bacon greased soaked paper would be a wonderful firestarter!

19 comments:

  1. I have canned bacon. I just rolled up the raw bacon and put it naked into the jar. Added an inch of water, and processed.
    It looks like a mad science project gone horribly wrong, but that's just cosmetic. Open jar and remove ugly bacon. Dab dry with absorbant cloth or paper towel. Fry.
    Looks nice and tastes like bacon should!

    Midge

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  2. HI - can you tell me what size jars that you used?? Thanks!

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  3. Anonymous-
    I used quart jars! Thanks.

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  4. I did my bacon in pint jars. Should have used 2 gallon jars if my son comes over for breakfast! ; )
    Midge

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  5. How long will the bacon keep on the shelf?

    showpare

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  6. Showpare;

    I would feel quite comfortable leaving it on an open shelf in my kitchen for at least three years. If kept in a cool, dark cellar, it should keep just like any other canned meat - almost indefinitely! It really is very easy to do and my husband and I LOVE it! It cooks up just like fresh bacon and we like even more than Yoder's canned bacon (sold at MRE Depot)

    Enola

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  7. Does this canning method work as well with commercially bought bacon as well as fresh bacon? How about fresh bacon that has been recently frozen and then defrosted?

    We have had a problem after processing our own pig and having the hams and bacon processed, in about 2-3 months, the bacon starts to get a slightly rancid taste being in the freezer. Do you think canning would prevent that from happening?

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    Replies
    1. We vacuum pack our bacon and ham steaks then freeze. With a cheap FoodSaver sealer. All our meat - beef and pork. Pork will keep well over a year. Beef a little longer. Been doing this for 16 years. No rancid taste or freezer burn. Throw in cool water and thaw - always tastes just like fresh. But I will be trying thus just in case of a lengthy power outage.

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  8. Dear Anonymous;
    This canning method works wonderfully for commercially bought bacon as well as bacon that has been frozen. Truthfully, I haven't canned bacon from our own hogs. As to the rancid taste after freezing, it is recommended that pork only be in the freezer for up to three months. I don't know if canning would solve your problem, but it is a wonderful way to preserve bacon and I would sure think it was worth trying! I would love to hear how it works for you.

    Enola Gay

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  9. We should have our pig butchered by Thanksgiving. I will can some bacon shortly after that, and then in about three months I will let you know if it's tasting fresh or slightly rancid.

    I also wanted to thank you for the lemon curd recipe. I just bought my first jar about three weeks ago, and I'm thrilled to now have a recipe for it.

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  10. That is pretty interesting. Thank you for sharing, Enola.
    However, I wonder if it would pay off financially to can bacon at home. In the description of Yoder's canned bacon it says that 2.75 - 3.25 pounds of RAW bacon goes into each can (let's say 3 pounds on average). There are 12 cans per case. So, they use 36 pounds of raw bacon per case!!! One pound of bacon at the grocery store is about $2.99 (If you find a good deal). It means, that it would cost me $107.64 to can 36 pounds of bacon PLUS jars, salt, labor, etc. MREdepot sells case of bacon for $129.95 and they often have 10-15% off offers. I think it would not pay off to do it on my own.

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  11. MREDepot sells inferior products and is a waste of your time, money and family's health. Steve at MREDepot does not stand behind his products, and has refused in the past to have damaged cans returned for refunds or replacements. So buyer beware for everyone!

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  12. I am wondering if canning the bacon with the brown paper - well, aren't there scary things in the paper? I'd surely like to try this, though. Thank you for the tutorial!

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  13. After canning is the bacon ready to eat? I had read on another site where someone cut bacon up in bits/cooked/ filled each pt jar then poured fat half way in jar. I always thought that if there is fat in the jar it would get on rim & keep from sealing in pressure canner. I have done chicken breast & I have to make sure all fat is taken off & even though I do this I still had some jars to not seal. I would like to do bacon bits - have U ever done bits?
    Thanks

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    Replies
    1. You can use vinegar and water to clean the rims of the jars to remove grease before canning. Hope this helps.

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    2. You can use vinegar and water to clean the grease off the rims before canning. The vinegar makes it a lot easier to remove the grease. Hope this helps.

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  14. Enola,
    In the spirit of "if they can preserve it, I can preserve it", I'm trying to find a way to preserve "sun-dried" tomatoes in oil. I want to put it on my shelves to use when I want it - for breads and pasta sauces, mainly. And I REFUSE to pay $4-5 for a half-pint from the store!
    Any ideas?

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  15. Patrice,

    I've gardened for a couple of years but am ashamed to say I'm just now starting down the road of canning and I have some questions. Per your recommendation I purchased an All American 921 pressure canner, new. First off thanks for the recommendation, this beast makes the other canner I considered look like a toy. It looks like something one would find in a commercial kitchen. I see this thing easily out lasting me.

    I canned some bacon according to your instructions but I failed to sterilize the jars before loading them. I used new jars and washed them first. Do you think this batch is OK or should I refrigerate and use this batch quickly? Or toss the whole batch?

    I tried some 12" "General Purpose Masking Paper" from Ace Hardware made by Trimaco and some Parchmet paper. I recommend the Parchment as the masking paper is thinner than Kraft paper or paper bags. It ripped in a couple of spots when I was rolling it. The Parchment is considerably stronger.

    I put 2-3" of water in the bottom of the canner and then added the jars which kind of floated. Should there be 2-3" of water after the jars go in or before?

    When you are first brining it to boil and waiting for the air to blow out should there be visible steam coming out of the port or just pressurized air? I waited for 10 minutes after air was forcefully blowing out of the port but never saw "steam" I put the weight on, the pressure came up and I started the timer at 10 PSI on the gauge.

    What is the determinant of pressure? The gauge or the weight? The gauge says 10 PSI, The weight hisses continuously and pops about 2-3 times a minute but isn't continuously jiggling. Is that how it is supposed to work?

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  16. I tried your recipe and it worked great - thanks.

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