Cold Pack Venison Amish style
My father in law introduced me to a cold pack method that hasn't failed him or I yet for beef or venison. He has a number of Amish friends and got this recipe from one of them many years ago.
Obviously if your afraid of cold packed meat disregard but this is tried and true. My test? My scientific proof? Well myself, my family and friends as well as many amish communities in ohio are alive and well.
Like the other recipies, clean and cube your meat to 1 to 1 1/2 inch cubes. I then pat the meat completely dry, this is important for this approach as juice from the meat will fill the jar while processing and you don't want the jar boiling over. Fill the cleaned jars to about 1 inch head space with the meat and add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 tablespoon of viniger. (note that there is no other liquid in the jars but the viniger. Put lids and rings on snug but not tight.
Place jars in preheated oven (175 deg) for approx 8 hours.
When done the jars will be filled half to 3/4 or more with juice from the meat and will be boiling.
Remove jars from oven, Tighten lids completely and place upsidedown on the counter (and someplace that will not get any cold breezes). Leave for 24 hours before moving.
This approach is a little more time consuming but in a regular oven you can process significantly more jars at one time than a hot water bath or pressure cooker approach.
The viniger and salt are unnoticable in the flavor and this meat can be eaten cold out of the jar for several years after procesing. Your friends will not know it isn't beef.
Last year 2009, I found a jar of beef my father n law gave me that he canned in 2004. I was pleasently suprised when I opened it that it was just as good as the day it was canned.