New Years And Canning Smothered Steak

We had a wonderful New Years' Day, spending time with friends and family and eating way too much food...ham, blackeyed peas, cornbread, fried cabbage...and a chocolate cake.

It was a chilly day, so I welcomed the chance to cook all day...and did a bit of canning as well.  I have been working on a mushroom soup recipe, to replace the need for buying the canned cream of mushroom soup that I use so much in cooking.

I buy mushrooms when they are marked down at the grocery store, and usually either can them or dry them.  Needless to say, I have a lot of dried mushrooms, and decided to use them in my soup recipe.

I finally came up with a recipe that cans beautifully, and the flavor is fantastic!

Over the weekend I was able to catch ground beef on sale.  Since beef prices have been so high, it has become a luxury for us.  Funny, since we eat duck, quail, rabbit, goat, lamb, chicken, and turkey...but BEEF is our gourmet splurge!  It's about the only meat that we buy...and usually use venison in place of beef for most dishes.

One of our favorite meals is smothered steak.  Ground beef patties pan fried, smothered in cream of mushroom gravy, then roasted in the oven for about 30 minutes and serve it all over rice.

I wanted to figure out a way to can smothered steak, for a quick meal in a jar.  I finally figured it out, and yesterday put it all together and processed 7 quarts of smothered steak.

Here is my recipe and method...First, make the beef patties.  I used 73/27 ground beef for this recipe since it was on sale for $1.99/lb.  And also because the flavor is much better than lean beef.  Getting all the flavor you can into meats that are canned is important for a great tasting outcome.

I formed the patties using a large mouth jar ring.  I knew they would shrink a bit, and by using the ring I knew they would all fit into the jars.  Each wide mouth quart jar holds 6 patties...

The patties are just pure beef, no salt, no onions....just beef formed into patties.  I want the end product to taste like an all-beef patty.  Next, place the patties on a roasting rack and put in a 350º oven for about 30 minutes.

By roasting them this way, it renders a lot of the fat from the meat...an important step when canning meat.  Really fatty meat means more seal failures.  Keep the cooked patties hot until all of the patties are thoroughly cooked.  This step helps to dry the patties out a bit...which keeps them firm during the canning process.

Next pack the jars.  I used 6 patties in each jar.  The jars and the patties need to be hot...

Meanwhile, make a batch of mushroom soup and bring it to a rolling boil.

Ladle the soup into the jars, and cap the jars...

Process in the pressure canner for 90 minutes.

Next time I make these, I will add a step to blot each patty with a paper towel to remove more of the grease.  We had 1 seal failure out of 7 jars....guess what we're having for supper.

When I serve this, I will dump the soup into a pan, and keep the patties aside.  Then bring the soup to a full boil, add the patties and simmer until they are fully heated.  Just before serving add a pint of heavy cream.  Serve over rice.