Sunday, September 16, 2012

Canning Pulled Pork

For a 6 to 7 pound roast  you should cook it for about 8 to 10 hours.

I did these in  my roaster and saved the broth to can also.   If  I only have one, then I will use my crock pot.  Either way works great.

Prepared according the NCHFP guidelines for meats

Here is the basic ingredients for a good spice rub. If you want to use it, you should mix it together and rub into your roast. Wrap and let sit in the refrigerator overnight before cooking to let the flavor get into the meat.  You can add a little liquid smoke to get more flavor.

Ingredients for spice rub:

1/3 cup paprika
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons black pepper
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons dry mustard
2 teaspoons cayenne
1 teaspoon white pepper
Liquid Smoke (Optional)
FYI:   Pork shoulder is the best for pulled pork, The shoulder is the entire front leg of the pig. You can use the Boston Butt Roast or the Picnic. The butt roast is the upper part of the front shoulder and the picnic is the lower part. Just about any part of the shoulder is good for pulled pork because of all the fat marbled through it, this helps it not to dry out if you are smoking or slow roasting it.



If possible start cooking early in the morning.  Put your roast in the roaster or crock pot.  Add water to about 1/2 full in the roaster or cover it in the crock pot.  Slow cook for 8 to 10 hours or until meat is falling from bone easily. 

Remove meat out of  broth and let the broth cool awhile and then put it in the refrigerator to cool overnight so that the fat will rise to the top.  

Let the pork cool and then pull all the meat apart from the fat.  Put this in the refrigerator and wait until morning to can the meat.


Remove the layer of fat from your broth and re-heat to boiling.  Add your pulled pork to the boiling broth and bring back to a boil.

Fill your jars with the hot meat leaving 1 inch head-space.
   

Cover your meat with the hot broth that it was cooked in.  Leave 1 inch head-space.  Remove air bubbles and adjust head-space if needed.  Process according to chart for meats.  Let your canner vent steam for time required for your brand of canner.  My All American says vent for 7 minutes.  The Presto says for 10.

Table 1. Recommended process time for Strips, Cubes, or Chunks of Meat in a dial-gauge pressure canner.
 Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of
Style of PackJar SizeProcess Time0 - 2,000 ft2,001 - 4,000 ft4,001 - 6,000 ft6,001 - 8,000 ft
Hot and RawPints75 min11 lb12 lb13 lb14 lb
Quarts9011121314

Table 2. Recommended process time for Strips, Cubes, or Chunks of Meat in a weighted-gauge pressure canner.
 Canner Pressure (PSI) at Altitudes of
Style of PackJar SizeProcess Time0 - 1,000 ftAbove 1,000 ft
Hot and RawPints75 min10 lb15 lb
Quarts901015

If using Ball 1 and 1/2 pint jars then they will be processed in a pressure canner the same as quarts.  

  When processing has finished, let the pressure drop naturally.  Once pressure has dropped to zero, wait at least 10 minutes before removing lid.  Remove lid and wait 10 minutes to give jars time to adjust to the room temperature.  Place jars on counter to cool for 24 hours.  Label and Store.


 If you want Bar-b-que, I recommend adding it when you open a jar.


Please note the meat must be pressure canned in order to kill micro-organisms that can cause food poisoning.