Easy Canned Meat
If you happen to find pork on sale (also chicken, beef, duck, rabbit, fish etc.), take a good look at this recipe for canned meat in its own juice, and quickly get down to work. The first time I made canned meat was rather because of the nostalgia for my mother's "tushonka" (that's what it's called at home :) We liked it so much, that I repeated the recipe and I will do it periodically from now on. Of course, my mother used to make industrial quantities, in a large wood-fired oven, mostly around the time of the traditional pig slaughter. In better times, she would use the meatier pieces for this canned meat recipe. Since we bought the freezer (we keep in here the better pieces of meat), she uses the fattier pieces, but it's still very good!
A spoonful of meat in its own juice, or even more, won't do any harm next to some eggs in the pan, omelette, polenta, pasta, potatoes. Spread on bread, it's simply madness ... Children love it for breakfast, instead of the store-bought ham, especially if it's not too fatty.
We don't have pigs to slaughter, but I adapted the recipe to our family size. Also, I make it with less or, actually, very little fat. I usually buy 2.5-3 kg of leg, neck or any other cut you like and I get about three 720ml jars. I store them in the fridge - only for eating and cravings. We don't have a cellar and I don't take the risk of storing meat in the closet, even though, if it's fattier, I think it should preserve.
Moreover, I adapted my mother's method to my apartment oven, without too much trouble (see the details in the steps). And yes, you can make canned chicken, rabbit, duck, goose, fish - everything you want, grow and crave for!
First time, I used pork leg, practically fat-free. The canned meat was a bit lighter, but very good. There was literally one teaspoonful of fat on top.
Yesterday, I made the recipe with neck, which is a little fattier. You can see in the presentation picture what it looks like.
So, just get the meat you like, or make from what you have.
Cut into medium pieces, about the size of a walnut.
Transfer the meat to a bowl, add salt, ground pepper and one bay leaf, crushed with your fingers.
My mother used to put the bay leaf whole at the bottom of the jar, but it makes the meat bitter in that place and you can't eat it anymore.
Toss the meat in spices.
Now put into clean and dry jars, any size you have - I had four 720ml jars.
Arrange the jars in a deep oven dish, mine is jena.
Pour water into the oven dish enough to cover with 2-3 cm the bottom of the jars.
Lately, I learned that you can put salt instead of water. I didn't have it, but it also seems to me like a waste :)
Cover each jar with foil.
Prick the foil with a knife in 2-3 places.
Place the dish with the jars in the COLD oven and only now turn it on - at 180C for the first 2 hours.
After this time, reduce the temperature to 140-150C and leave the jars in the oven for another 2 hours.
Thirty minutes before the two final hours have passed, remove the dish carefully and notice that the meat in the jars has shrunk quite a bit.
With a fork or spoon, distribute the meat from one of the jars to the other three. Fill the jars completely, leaving only 1cm at the top.
Also, spoon the juices and the fat, so that the meat doesn't get dry.
So, out of four jars of raw meat, I actually got three jars of canned meat. And a little more on a plate - for the first tasting and for the greedy ones :) A kind of simpler pulled pork, for sandwiches!
Close the three jars of meat with a lid and return to the oven for another 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, leave in the oven with the door open for another 20-30 minutes, to slow the cooking down.
Then remove one jar at a time, be careful! Make sure that the lids are well screwed and the jars are sealed. You can turn them upside down on the table.
Allow to cool completely, then refrigerate in the cellar or fridge. You'll see that the juice turns into a kind of delicious jelly.
It's wonderful - on bread, eggs, buckwheat, pasta, potatoes, polenta, beans etc. It's also very convenient to keep in the fridge and use whenever you don't have time to cook.
Enjoy!
