Expanded Food Storage--Pressure Canning Pork

In my family the first Saturday in December is Tamale Day.  My mom and aunts began this tradition over thirty years ago as a way of celebrating our Mexican heritage and keeping connected with the family.  We continue the tradition, but because my family is some distance away from the others and because my family is rather large by today's standards, we celebrate and make tamales on our own.  And we do it in a prepping kind of way.

Everyone else in the world slow roasts and shreds the pork for filling tamales the day before.  I do it the year before, but without roasting.  I can the pork.  It makes getting ready for Tamale Day so much less stressful.  The pork is perfectly cooked and shreds so easily.  Of course, canned pork is not just for tamales.  We also use it for making super speedy pulled pork sandwiches, quesadillas, and tacos.  It's a major convenience.

And it's so easy.

Cut up the raw pork into one-inch cubes.  Try to remove as much fat as possible to reduce chances of seal failure.  Pack into canning jars.  I use quart jars for the pork that will be used to make tamales, about one quart per dozen tamales, and we usually make twelve to fifteen dozen tamales and then freeze them.  I use pint jars for pulled pork sandwiches, quesadillas, and tacos.

Fill jars to one inch below the rim and add salt--one teaspoon per quart, one-half teaspoon per pint.  Do not add any liquid.  Liquid is never added when canning raw meats.  The meat produces its own juice.  Wipe rims very carefully with vinegar.  Most say to just use hot water, but when dealing with foods that may have fat on them, vinegar will cut that fat and make for a better seal.  Put on lids and bands and process per instructions for your particular canner and your altitude and jar size.  Typically pints are processed for 75 minutes and quarts for 90 minutes.

That's all there is to it.

When you open a jar for making tamales, drain off and reserve the liquid.  It is used in making the masa.  For all other recipes, you can save the broth for using in soup, or you can do what we do and pour it over the dogs' food.

If we're making pulled pork sandwiches, we just heat the meat with some barbecue sauce.  For tacos, add your own seasonings to taste.

When times get really interesting, and when cooking fuel becomes expensive either in terms of money or of time spent gathering, and time for preparing food becomes even more scarce than it already is, being able to preserve foods and having those foods ready to eat will be really invaluable. 

And even more invaluable will be having learned how to do this before the crisis hits.