Contributed by Julie Cascio, UAF-CEF
‘Tis the time of year to enjoy food items which have accumulated in your freezer. Use it for the meals being made in your house. My mouth is watering as I think of wonderful recipes that combine the meat and vegetables in our freezer and pantry cupboard.
Another option is to preserve your frozen food in jars. This opens that space in the freezer for salmon, other fish, moose and vegetables you’re planning to harvest this year.
When canning low-acid food (fish, meat, poultry) in jars use a pressure cooker/canner with tightly-closed lid that prevents steam from escaping. If a dial-gauge regulator is used, check that it has been tested within the last year for accuracy.
With current social distancing needs, CES is not able to test dial gauges this month. When that changes CES will let the community know. If using a pressure canner before that date, however, an option is to change from a petcock (on All American Pressure Cooker/Canners) to a vent pipe and a weighted gauge, also called a pressure regulator weight.
The All-American company states that the, “Steam Gauge is only used as a reference to what the pressure regulator weight on a vent pipe indicate. The steam gauge lets you know that when the gauge has returned to zero you can safely remove the cover.”
If using a Presto pressure canner and the dial gauge regulator has not been tested recently, a 3-piece adjustable dial gauge pressure regulator may be used instead.
Presto says that most Presto pressure canners can be used with the 3-piece adjustable pressure regulator used as a substitute for the pressure regulator that is original to the canner. There are just a few older Presto models, ones which originally had petcocks, that will need to have the vent pipe replaced with a different style in order to use the 3-piece regulator.
If you have questions on this, call Julie Cascio at 745-3677 or email jmcascio@alaska.edu.
Do use recent research-based recipes when canning/jarring food. Reliable sources are UAF Cooperative Extension publications are found at cespubs.uaf.edu or through the National Center for Home Food Preservation at nchfp.uga.edu.
Someone asked recently for a meatloaf recipe. Here is one I enjoy as it has various ingredients that can be changed around based on what is in the house. I serve it with whatever veggies need to be used, in the fridge or freezer.
Meat Loaf
• 1 ½ pounds hamburger or ground moose
• 1 cup dry or soft bread crumbs, cracker crumbs, dry bread cubes, bread slices torn into pieces, or oatmeal
• 1 ¼ cup milk
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup chopped onion
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• ½ teaspoon dry mustard
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon ground sage
• 1 clove garlic, crushed (optional)
Mix all ingredients together. Spread in ungreased loaf pan, 9x5x3 inches. Cook uncovered in 350°Fahrenheit oven until done, about 1 ½ hours. Serve with mushroom gravy or catsup.
6 servings
