Advice on high pressure canning

Matt B

Matt B

RAMONES
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I think I want to try canning some fish. I might borrow the pot from a friend, and I was thinking I'd pick up an outdoor cooker to go with it since I don't have one and don't want to attempt it on my stovetop. I might also just buy a big pressure pot--I was thinking the 22-qt size, which according to my reading should let me do about 20 pint size cans in a go.

I'm looking for any hints, tips, tricks, pitfalls to avoid...
 
Matt B said:
I think I want to try canning some fish. I might borrow the pot from a friend, and I was thinking I'd pick up an outdoor cooker to go with it since I don't have one and don't want to attempt it on my stovetop. I might also just buy a big pressure pot--I was thinking the 22-qt size, which according to my reading should let me do about 20 pint size cans in a go.

I'm looking for any hints, tips, tricks, pitfalls to avoid...
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I can get a protocol from my mom, she's canned salmon and tuna my entire life. When I was a kid, she'd run 3 pressure canners, batch after batch, processing ~200 pounds of fish purchased off the boats in Westport. I helped her plenty, but it's been a decade since I participated.
 
As far as the outdoor cooker goes, I use a camp chef 2 burner propane unit. Relative to an electric kitchen stove it is vastly superior. For my low pressure pickles and tomatoes and such, it brings the full canner to a boil in much less time, and achieves and holds a good boil, thus very few unsealed jars. You’re also using it outside, so your not boilong water in your house for hours. I haven’t pressure canned with it, but I can’t believe any feature of this would be bad.
 
As far as the outdoor cooker goes, I use a camp chef 2 burner propane unit. Relative to an electric kitchen stove it is vastly superior. For my low pressure pickles and tomatoes and such, it brings the full canner to a boil in much less time, and achieves and holds a good boil, thus very few unsealed jars. You’re also using it outside, so your not boilong water in your house for hours. I haven’t pressure canned with it, but I can’t believe any feature of this eould be bad.
 
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Guy Gregory said:
As far as the outdoor cooker goes, I use a camp chef 2 burner propane unit. Relative to an electric kitchen stove it is vastly superior.
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Hmm I already have one of these. I didn’t consider this and maybe I don’t need an outdoor cooker thingy. On the other hand, I think those outdoor cookers put out more gas and more BTUs though. Lowcountry boils and fried turkeys could also be in my future.

Gary Knowels said:
I can get a protocol from my mom, she's canned salmon and tuna my entire life. When I was a kid, she'd run 3 pressure canners, batch after batch, processing ~200 pounds of fish purchased off the boats in Westport. I helped her plenty, but it's been a decade since I participated.
Click to expand...

Protocols and recipes will be welcomed here! And yeah I am mostly thinking tuna since I do have another trip planned and it’s possible that I come home with more fish than I have freezer space for; we also really like tuna salad around my house. Sometimes I poach or oil poach my tuna for certain dishes; I could have that done ahead of time.

P.s. oil poached albacore is not too shabby
 
Don't follow advice from people's family recipes for how long you should be canning for or random internet blogs. Stick to USDA or Ball recipes. These are scientifically developed rather than passed down through word of mouth and hocus pocus.

Random other thoughts:
As far as pressure canning you can use a big Presto canner for 20 narrow mouth pints at a time & also water-bath can with that same pot.

If you do buy a Presto pressure canner be sure to buy the weighted jiggler it is well worth the money.

An outside cooker is great. I also use a Camp Chef that is large enough that I can run two pressure canners on it at once. This is helpful when I kill a bear and have a big batch of meat to can. Plus a buddy and I trade off loaning each other our pressure canners depending on who has a big batch of stuff to process.

Stick to Ball or Kerr jars. I bought 2 cases of Pur jars and had 80+% of them fail to seal. Never again.

Be religious about cleaning the jar rim before putting lids on.

For humpy madness in 2 years you can also brine fish, smoke them for an hour then can. This keeps the fish a little firmer and still has a good smokey taste. Somehow pressure canning intensifies flavors so fully smoking a fish then trying to can it may have more similarities to a peaty scotch than is desired.

There are also a lot of vegetables you can pressure can. Corn is a good one but it's a lot more work than just cutting the kernels off the cob and freezing it.
 
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no 1; do it out side as has been mentioned before. If something goes wrong you dont have a mess in the house. I have a camp chef single burner that you can do just about everything on. Deep fry turkeys, cook crab, can veges or pressure cook tuna or even melt lead to create anchors. If you are gonna buy a burner dont waste your money on one those package deals a burner that wont do what you want it to do.
 
Matt B said:
Hmm I already have one of these. I didn’t consider this and maybe I don’t need an outdoor cooker thingy. On the other hand, I think those outdoor cookers put out more gas and more BTUs though. Lowcountry boils and fried turkeys could also be in my future.



Protocols and recipes will be welcomed here! And yeah I am mostly thinking tuna since I do have another trip planned and it’s possible that I come home with more fish than I have freezer space for; we also really like tuna salad around my house. Sometimes I poach or oil poach my tuna for certain dishes; I could have that done ahead of time.

P.s. oil poached albacore is not too shabby
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I'll ask her to send them my way. She's laid up after foot surgery so I'm sure she'll be happy to have a task to do as she normally never relaxes. Also I have a propane burner that came in a turkey fryer kit that you're welcome to borrow. My mom used one of the 2 burner ones on legs for her canning.
 
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Mother says:
8 oz jars (either wide mouth or narrow) she's also used 10 oz oyster jars in the past.
Add 1 tsp jarlic to the bottom
Pack the jar with tuna, the less individual pieces per jar the better (1 solid chunk is best), leave 1/2" head room
Add a heavy 1/4 teaspoon of canning salt to the top of the tuna
Dip a paper towel in white vinegar and wipe down the rims of each jar and allow to dry
Add lids and rings
Load canner
Bring up to temp and to 10 lbs of pressure
Cook 110 minutes
Remove heat and vent pressure
Once cooled remove from canner and allow to get to room temp
remove rings and check seals
Wipe down jars with vinegar
We typically wait a month before cracking any jars

If you have more questions I'll forward to the matriarch
 
All American makes the best canners, but they're spendy. You see them all over Alaska where canning is part of the annual ritual of putting up food. They seal metal on metal so there are no rubber gaskets to fail at a bad time. They will outlast you. They've got a small book with tips and recipes. It's cheap and worth having. You can see the booklet here: https://www.allamericancanner.com/All-American-Pressure-Cooker-Canner-Parts.htm

The jar lifters are worth having to lift jars out of the canner. Much easier than anything else and safer too.

We can up several cases of salmon, some beach asparagus, mushrooms and deer meat every year. I always look forward to a meal of my great grandma's salmon rolls smothered in bechamel sauce after the weather turns made from canned sockeye . :) (kinda like a savory cinnamon roll filled with salmon, celery and onion instead of sugar and cinnamon).
 
Timely! I just canned a batch of chinook in half pint jars yesterday. Still a few more batches to go to get me through for the year. One of my favorite easy lunches when working from home.

I'm a believer in the old school Presto pressure cooker. Same my grandma used. Simple as it gets. Only things I add to the jars are kosher salt, and some jars with garlic clovers and/or various ripe chillis from my garden.

USDA Pressure Canning Guidelines for Salmon​

Jar Prep & Packing:
  • Use cleaned, eviscerated fish (remove head, tail, fins, scales, and blood).
  • Cut into 3½-inch lengths.
  • Pack raw fish into pint jars, skin side next to glass.
  • Leave 1-inch headspace.
  • Optional: Add 1 tsp canning salt per pint.
  • Do not add liquid—the fish will release its own juices.
Processing Time & Pressure:
Canner TypeElevation RangePressure (PSI)Time
Dial-Gauge Pressure Canner0–2,000 ft11 lb100 min
 
Thanks for weighing in, canners!

I think I remember @Nick Clayton writing that his family would give a very light smoke to the tuna, then can it. Anyone do that at all?
 
I only can salmon. I have canned exactly zero of my tuna in the last 5yrs. Just not the way I want my tuna, personally. Haven't really smoked any tuna either, so no help there. It is nice on salmon though, but for my canned stuff, I have just found I like to keep it simple.
 
We picked up a Presto Electric pressure canner. It's a bit smaller but being electric it's just plug and play and you don't have to baby sit it at all.

I just cold smoked a couple tuna loins for 90 minutes and canned it alongside our other tuna varieties (garlic jalapeno and Siracha) last week. Have yet to try it though!

Canning tuna didn't smell up the house at all either.
 
For those of us on freshwater, I knew a family years ago that canned Whitefish they caught out of the upper Kettle near Toroda Creek (IYKYK). No, I don't have the recipe. But I do have the memory of a wonderful flavor and texture, appealing to my nordic heritage. And damn fine on a ryecrisp with gin.
 
Matt B said:
Thanks for weighing in, canners!

I think I remember @Nick Clayton writing that his family would give a very light smoke to the tuna, then can it. Anyone do that at all?
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Yes, we would do some in a little chief smoker, about an hour if I recall correctly. The smoke flavor tends to amplify with canning so go light.
 
JohnB said:
If you do buy a Presto pressure canner be sure to buy the weighted jiggler it is well worth the money.
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Quoting this to reiterate, it's really worth picking one of these up. I just have a shitty old electric stove, and I had to babysit the canner with the dial gauge constantly to make sure it stayed just above 11psi. With the jiggler, it's set and forget.

I just follow the recipe in the Ball canning book:
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Pretty sure it's the same as the USDA recipe that Evan posted above. You can cook it first, or raw pack, I've only ever done the raw pack. I don't think I could go back to eating store bought canned tuna. My folks are bringing me a bunch of filets from Westport this weekend, so I have a canning day in my near future.
 
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