It’s a surprise to many people that not all salt is created equal. The table salt most people use to fill their salt shakers at home is not pure salt. Most salt has iodine added to it, as a solution to a shortage of the element in most people’s diet. This is the ubiquitous Iodized Salt. In addition to iodine, table salt and some other fine pour-able salts have sodium ferrocyanide added to prevent caking. These additives have benefits but for some recipes they have drawbacks. In canning these ingredients will make the liquids cloudy. They can also contribute an off flavor for brine’s and dry cures. When you want absolute control of the appearance and flavor of your creation take salts with these ingredients off the list.

In addition to the purity issue, there are differences in the coarseness of available salts. Popcorn salt for example is very fine. Table salt is normally fairly fine. Canning and pickling salts and kosher salts are fairly coarse. Rock salt is left as crystals that are not ground. These salts can be mined or extracted from sea water through evaporation. They are normally made without additives and are largely the same in terms of content but they will react different in recipes and have different purposes because of how quickly they dissolve. Kosher Salt for example gets its name because it is used to help make meats kosher by extracting the last of the blood from meats. It’s coarseness prevents the salt from being absorbed fully before the blood is picked up by the salt.

In addition to these differences, there are salts available that have flavors added to them. They can have fruit flavors added for use in tropical drinks, smoke flavors used for dry curing, and even pickle flavored salt used for… well I was surprised at how popular pickle flavored salt was for making chips, burgers or your favorite side dish have that pickle taste. (Not to be confused with pickling salt which has no flavor added to it.)

Smoked flavored salts are very useful in dry cures. This is especially true if you are cooking the meat in an oven where smoke can’t be introduced. They are normally pure so the only thing they add is that smoky salt flavor to your recipe.

Knowing what is available and how it can be used can be very helpful when preparing to dive into that special recipe. The coarseness of the salt will also effect its volume when measuring it for a recipe. So until you get a handle on how it will change your recipe, use a little less salt. Then add to flavor. It won’t take long to get the right amount.

I have a variety of salts in the IGT Store so you can see some of the available offerings.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope the added complication added to your life is worthwhile.

Well, this prompts me to write about several types of packaging and storing food.

The list of options I want to go over are:

• Store packaging
• Freezer bags
• Freezer or locker paper
• Vacuum bags
• Canning

First the packaging the meat comes in from the store. It is designed to keep the meat protected from contamination and contain any fluids, the meat itself might loose, in the package. This package generally is a styrofoam tray with resinite (or another typr of plastic wrap) stretched over the tray and sealed with a hot pad on the bottom of the tray. Inside there will sometimes be a soaker pad under the cut of meat to soak up the juices and keep it from making a mess. For a short stay in the fridge before cooking, this package will do fine. Even if the juices are finally more than the soaker can handle, in the short term it is easier to put the tray in a container then repackage it at this point. If however, you are looking to freeze the meat, even if just for a short time, I recommend repackaging it. The plastic is not as thick as you would want in the freezer and the juices in the soaker are a pain during thawing. The soaker might even come apart making the process slower than I, and I’m sure you, would want. This packaging does not seal the meat away from air, which is what causes freezer-burn. Forgotten, even for as little as a couple of months, you may be tossing that future dinner in the trash before you even get a chance to burn it. Just kidding.

Freezer bags are easy. Did I mention they were easy. They also have other advantages, like being easy.

What’s wrong with convenience? Nothing. We use freezer bags to get the food into the freezer quickly. We use them for foods we will definitely be using in the next two or so months. That gives us some leeway, in case it slips our mind. If you are expecting more than a few months from meat in freezer bags, you are, in my experience, on the wrong side of the odds for that bet. Freezer bags protect and seal fine but the air left in the bag with the precious meat will still cause freezer burn sooner than you think.

Butcher or freezer paper is a good choice. You should use two layers and at least the inner layer should be plastic coated. There are two main ways to wrap meat. At least I know of two major techniques. One is called Rolled wrapping and the other is called Drug Store wrapping. Both are effective and have the same objective. Wrap it good and tight. I personally use the Rolled wrap, while most of the wrappers who worked for me used the Drug Store wrap. The Rolled wrap is wrapped from the corner. The paper is laid with one corner closest to you, knd of kity corner. This corner is laid across the meat and the meat is rolled about half way across the paper. The two corners by each of your two hands are folded in at about this point as the meat is rolled in the paper. . At about the three-quarter mark a second layer is done the same way pushing the corner closest to you under the forth corner of the first layer. The two opposing corners are folded over the top and the last corner of the second layer is pulled across the top toward you. One piece of tape here and, if it is tight, your done. The Drug Store technique is done from the long side of the paper. The package is wrapped like a Christmas present with two separate layers. That’s why the Christmas presents I wrap look so bad compared with theirs. Getting it tight is how you seal it up. Either technique will give you a year or maybe longer in the freezer, if it is done well.

Vacuum bags are awesome. I don’t know how long they last without freezer burn. It’s like getting to the center of the Tootsie Roll Pop, I don’t know how many licks it takes. The meat we put in the freezer rarely stays there for even a year. Because the air is evacuated, it should be a good long time. The good news is you can see freezer burn developing and if you keep meat a really long time and want it kept raw this is the way to go. I know from friends and family it will last well over a year. Nothing lasts forever but I wouldn’t be afraid of meat kept this way even after a long time. Freezer burn will be obvious even before you thaw it and you can smell it after you thaw and open it if you miss the discoloration. As far as spoilage the questions here goes back to how the meat was cared for before packing it, how well did it get evacuated, and how well was it kept frozen. If those things are done right the risks are really low. However, if you don’t trust it, food poisoning really sucks. I had it a week and a half ago. Not from my cooking or preserving but from a deli. Pure misery. Just keep it all reasonable. Is there any good reason to be suspicious. Is it from the civil war, did the freezer quit a couple of times last year, is your vacuum sealer just makes an annoying noise and then seals the bag making a meat package pillow. All I can say is use loads of common sense.

Canning, in my opinion , is the king of all preserving techniques. It is time consuming but the food is cooked when your done. It’s not for every cut of meat but where it gives the result you want, it is excellent. Diligence and care are warranted because of the value of the meat, the time it takes to process, and the length of time it can last, you don’t want to take shortcuts. Having confidence in your process is very valuable down the road a few years when you wonder if it will still be good for dinner.

Picking a packaging option boils down to your needs for type and length of storage. No storage technique will make up for poor care of the meat before packaging. letting the meat get warm can cut it’s longevity by half in just a couple of hours. Allowing meat to thaw and refreeze also shortens its lifespan in the freezer. Both of these mistakes increase the bacteria level in the meat. Even if it is not at a level that will make you sick it can make the meat spoil surprisingly quick when you are ready to finally use it. Canned meat that is stored where it is warm will have a similar effect on the ability to keep the meat for a long time or use it at all when you want to. Pulling out a jar of venison from two years ago can go from sweet memories of how that hunt went to sorrowful memories of how you left it in the sunny window and now instead of being nice and concave on top the lids are about to pop like a balloon. If you need a reminder of the importance of good storage practices just go ahead and pop that top off. After a quick trip to the bathroom in obedience to your gag reflex you won’t take it for granted again, I’m sure.

Good procedures and good storage will leave you happy with the results every time. You can trust your technique as far as you can trust your own diligence. Enjoy and I hope this was a little helpful.

Brutus

That’s because no one will go out on a limb in case there is a problem.

First, the quality of the canning job and the canning materials will determine your outcome.  If you did a good job prepping and preparing the product it will last a long time.  In my case I have, with the appropriate disclaimers for this is an example not true in every case, eaten four year old canned elk.  It was excellent.

You have to pay attention to your canned products to tell if there is a problem.  If the lid is not concave and does not make the sucking noise when you open it, the food is spoiled.  Unless you find this problem right out of the canner, that food is garbage, no exceptions.  If the food has the smell of rotten meat, in the case of canned meat, it is garbage.  If there is mold growing on the food, it is garbage. 

I do have to say canned meat will turn dark, and the fat separates and will collect on the top of the meat.  This is normal.  The process of cooking kills the germs in the jar.  It drives out the air in the jar through the boiling process.  As the jar cools it seals and there is now a vacuum in the jar.  No air.  For most contaminants, this process eliminates the possibility of spoilage as long as the seal holds.  It is important that the jar be stored in a cool dry place for this to remain true, however. 

The process of canning is designed to eliminate the causes of spoilage, and allow the canned food to last a long time.  If a step in the process is done wrong, the results can be more than inconvenient.  Some bacteria can’t be smelled or tasted.  They don’t off gas so they don’t cause the vacuum to disappear.  These bacteria are anaerobic or non air dependent.  They are killed by the cooking process.  So it is critical that the process be done right.  If you are in doubt about the food, don’t take a chance.  If you are brave, try a small sample.  It will take hours to be sure of the foods safety.  Don’t serve food you are unsure about to a crowd and especially not to the very young or elderly.  The effects of a small amount of food poisoning can be fatal in small quantites to the weak.

If you are diligent and thorough you can be confident that the food is good as long as the good indicators I mentioned are present.  You should also be aware of rusty lids as these can be a source of bacteria infiltrating the jar and ruining a good thing.

As always look around at other sources and don’t take any chances.

Brutus

I started changing how I cooked these because of this problem.  If you have a similar problem with the game bird your harvesting you might give it a try.  The first thing I did was bone out all the meat.  Here in lies most of the problem with both the smell and the taste.  Game birds are no different than any other meat, a lot of flavor comes from the bone, in this case the putrid and fowl odor and taste.  We have to wait until we get home because of regulations here about keeping identifiable parts attached to the bird, but before they go to the freezer, they get de-boned.  What a difference this alone makes in the atmosphere at dinner time.

The second thing I did, was I canned the bird meat.  At first since step one and two were on the same batch of birds I thought it was the canning that did the trick.  No, but the results of canning did make using the birds in a dish of our choice later easier than just freezing them.  One advantage is that game birds are not like chicken from the store, they have led a hard life and have the toughness to prove it.  By canning the birds they were tender and ready for gulosh or dumplings right out of the jar.  Secondly since these can be a bit smaller than a chicken and quail are even smaller, you can wait for a full batch without fear of freezer burn. 

Now I don’t hear the whining and complaining about birds for dinner.   I even cooked a batch for dinner with our daughter and her friends (yeah teenage) without a single turned up nose.  They had seconds too.  Okay, I guess that would be a downside, sometimes a little strategic stink can be useful.  Hope this is useful to you.

Happy hunting,

Brutus