Thread: Canning Salmon?

I smoke and can salmon every year, and it's ironic that you would ask this
question today when I'm mailing my annual Christmas allocation to my family.
I always add about one to 1.5 tablespoons of canola oil to my 1/2 pint jars
before I put in the smoked salmon for canning. I've never heard of this
being a problem, and I've been doing it for a long time. I worked in the
salmon canning industry for many years, and adding a tablespoon of salmon
oil to each can was an industry standard for a long time. You probably know
that quite a bit of moisture comes out of the salmon flesh when it's cooked,
so I can appreciate perhaps not wanting to fill it beyond the head space.
But that's a no-brainer anyway.
--
Brian

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have been looking at various recipes for canning salmon,
> particularly smoked salmon.
>
> Can anyone explain why many recipes say not to add liquid to the jars?
> I understand that head space must be maintained, but what would be the
> problem with adding broth or oil if I wanted too? Is a mater of taste
> or is safty an issue?
>
> Thanks.
> Ed

<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have been looking at various recipes for canning salmon,
> particularly smoked salmon.
>
> Can anyone explain why many recipes say not to add liquid to the jars?
> I understand that head space must be maintained, but what would be the
> problem with adding broth or oil if I wanted too? Is a mater of taste
> or is safty an issue?
>
> Thanks.
> Ed

Ed - are y'all pressure canning or bwb? I add a little oil sometimes to my
bwb pickles, but don't bwb anything in an all oil medium. Pressure canning
might be different and get to hotter temps to kill any bad botulism spores.
I wonder if the Alaskan Dept. of Agriculture/Extension Agents might have
some info there for you?
You ever tried pickling your fish? I ran across an older preserving book
(it's in our FAQ), that had a lot of fish recipes, dried, canned, smoked,
etc. From the recipes it appears he bwb'd the pickled product.
Let us know how you do. Y'all could add just one teeny hot pepper in that
broth and I'd be happy.

Edrena, faithful disciple of St. Vinaigrette, Holy Order of the Sacred
Sisters & Brothers of St. Pectina of Jella (HOSS&BSPJ)

"The Joneses" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:TrdZk.9033$[email protected]..
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>I have been looking at various recipes for canning salmon,
>> particularly smoked salmon.
>>
>> Can anyone explain why many recipes say not to add liquid to the jars?
>> I understand that head space must be maintained, but what would be the
>> problem with adding broth or oil if I wanted too? Is a mater of taste
>> or is safty an issue?
>>
>> Thanks.
>> Ed
>
> Ed - are y'all pressure canning or bwb? I add a little oil sometimes to my
> bwb pickles, but don't bwb anything in an all oil medium. Pressure canning
> might be different and get to hotter temps to kill any bad botulism
> spores. I wonder if the Alaskan Dept. of Agriculture/Extension Agents
> might have some info there for you?
> You ever tried pickling your fish? I ran across an older preserving book
> (it's in our FAQ), that had a lot of fish recipes, dried, canned, smoked,
> etc. From the recipes it appears he bwb'd the pickled product.
> Let us know how you do. Y'all could add just one teeny hot pepper in that
> broth and I'd be happy.
>
> Edrena, faithful disciple of St. Vinaigrette, Holy Order of the Sacred
> Sisters & Brothers of St. Pectina of Jella (HOSS&BSPJ)


I have Canned smoked salmon twice. the first time was in the oven at 275
baked for 1 hour.
Directions say to leave 1" head space and add 1 tbs of oil.

I wanted swambo to can these for me. She said " No Whey" So I searched
several online sites and thought this looked like the easiest way. It was
and it turned out great.

I lost the directions ( Interestingly enough I found them a couple days ago)
so I googled up canning smoked fish.
most of them were basically the same instructions. Usually they said "
Canned Fish must be pressure canned to make it safe" anyways I added a
spoonful to the jars and processed them. same results. I could have
probably added 2-3 Tbs more liquid to the jars.
The main thing to remember is, brine and smoke the fish half as long as you
would normally do for smoked fish. The flavors get intensified by the
canning process.

Before putting the lids on I put some smoked Habaneros on top of a couple
jars. There wasn't really enough juice in the cans to Cover the pepper. So
the fish didn't have the flavor of the pepper.


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I've also tried peppers in my canned salmon and the results haven't been
dramatic. I've gotten good results canning moose with onions or barbeque
sauce, but putting a pepper in with salmon has resulted in flavoring just
the meat immediately surrounding the pepper and not the whole jar. Go
figure.
--
From one canner to another,
Brian and Mary
"Mike" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:49361ef0$0$12955$[email protected]..
>
> "The Joneses" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:TrdZk.9033$[email protected]..
>> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>>I have been looking at various recipes for canning salmon,
>>> particularly smoked salmon.
>>>
>>> Can anyone explain why many recipes say not to add liquid to the jars?
>>> I understand that head space must be maintained, but what would be the
>>> problem with adding broth or oil if I wanted too? Is a mater of taste
>>> or is safty an issue?
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>> Ed
>>
>> Ed - are y'all pressure canning or bwb? I add a little oil sometimes to
>> my bwb pickles, but don't bwb anything in an all oil medium. Pressure
>> canning might be different and get to hotter temps to kill any bad
>> botulism spores. I wonder if the Alaskan Dept. of Agriculture/Extension
>> Agents might have some info there for you?
>> You ever tried pickling your fish? I ran across an older preserving book
>> (it's in our FAQ), that had a lot of fish recipes, dried, canned, smoked,
>> etc. From the recipes it appears he bwb'd the pickled product.
>> Let us know how you do. Y'all could add just one teeny hot pepper in
>> that broth and I'd be happy.
>>
>> Edrena, faithful disciple of St. Vinaigrette, Holy Order of the Sacred
>> Sisters & Brothers of St. Pectina of Jella (HOSS&BSPJ)
>
>
> I have Canned smoked salmon twice. the first time was in the oven at 275
> baked for 1 hour.
> Directions say to leave 1" head space and add 1 tbs of oil.
>
> I wanted swambo to can these for me. She said " No Whey" So I searched
> several online sites and thought this looked like the easiest way. It was
> and it turned out great.
>
> I lost the directions ( Interestingly enough I found them a couple days
> ago) so I googled up canning smoked fish.
> most of them were basically the same instructions. Usually they said "
> Canned Fish must be pressure canned to make it safe" anyways I added a
> spoonful to the jars and processed them. same results. I could have
> probably added 2-3 Tbs more liquid to the jars.
> The main thing to remember is, brine and smoke the fish half as long as
> you would normally do for smoked fish. The flavors get intensified by the
> canning process.
>
> Before putting the lids on I put some smoked Habaneros on top of a couple
> jars. There wasn't really enough juice in the cans to Cover the pepper. So
> the fish didn't have the flavor of the pepper.
>
> -----------------
> www.Newsgroup-Binaries.com - *Completion*Retention*Speed*
> Access your favorite newsgroups from home or on the road
> -----------------

In article <TrdZk.9033$[email protected]>,
"The Joneses" <[email protected]> wrote:

> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >I have been looking at various recipes for canning salmon,
> > particularly smoked salmon.
> >
> > Can anyone explain why many recipes say not to add liquid to the jars?
> > I understand that head space must be maintained, but what would be the
> > problem with adding broth or oil if I wanted too? Is a mater of taste
> > or is safty an issue?
> >
> > Thanks.
> > Ed
>
> Ed - are y'all pressure canning or bwb? I add a little oil sometimes to my
> bwb pickles, but don't bwb anything in an all oil medium. Pressure canning
> might be different and get to hotter temps to kill any bad botulism spores.
> I wonder if the Alaskan Dept. of Agriculture/Extension Agents might have
> some info there for you?


http://www.uaf.edu/ces/preservingala...nty/index.html

Lots of interesting stuff there.

Melba,
Thanks for the link. I got my undergrad degree in Fairbanks and started my
canning in Kotzebue where I worked for ADF&G. Lots and lots of meat there
that needed canning.
--
Aloha pumehana,
Brian and Mary

>
> http://www.uaf.edu/ces/preservingala...nty/index.html
>
> Lots of interesting stuff there.

I just put up two cases of salmon yesterday and considered that I'd like to
compare recipes with you on this News Group. Heck, maybe I've been doing it
wrong all these years. Anywho, here's how I can my salmon:

I usually work with frozen fish, so I like to defrost the meat overnight in
the refrigerator. I was instructed to use slow thawing when I worked in the
seafood industry though I have never really understood the reasoning. I
assume it maintains the integrity of the meat.

My brine is fairly simple: I put about two quarts of water into a pot and
get it heated on the stovetop. When the water is reasonably warm, I pour in
about a cup of salt and a cup of brown sugar. Let that dissolve and
continue to put in equal amounts of each until no more will dissolve. I
also put in two tablespoons of pickling spice, and two tablespoons of
paprika.

If the paprika is a surprise, that's understandable. I've never seen a
brine recipe that calls for paprika, but it's a trick I learned from a
commercial smoking operation. The paprika is a means of darkening the meat
when it's cooked, giving the meat the appearance of a long smoking. As has
been brought out in this thread, you don't want to smoke canned meat that
much or it'll taste too strong. Most important, I always pack the meat side
facing out where I can admire the black lines left by the smoker racks and
the meat appearing darkened from the paprika.

I cut my salmon into strips lengthwise, though I've seen how others may use
chunks. To each their own.

My brining time is very short, accounting for the typical state of salmon
that is harvested and held in a boat hold or in the processing plant too
long. The rate of osmotic uptake of brine is highly correlated to meat
freshness. Consequently, meat that's been frozen will take up brine much
faster than meat that's right from the ocean. I use a brine time of no more
than five minutes for fresh, never frozen meat, and three minutes if the
meat is frozen or the meat wasn't frozen when the fish was fresh. I've
spoken to plenty of people who swear by an overnight brine, and that's fine
if you then rinse the meat to remove some of that excess salt. My brief
brine allows for a minor amount of osmotic uptake, but I then place the meat
onto a paper towel-covered board to draw off the excess leaving a coating of
brine on the meat. I may use a single paper towel gently pressed onto the
meat surface to draw off excess brine, but only if the meat is gaping or has
a rough surface that's pooling excess. What I want is to leave as much of
the pickling spice and paprika on the surface as I can; I think it looks
nice that way.

The amount of moisture in the meat is fairly high at this point, so I put my
salmon into a dehydrator until a good pellicle covering forms on the meat
surface. I used to put the salmon outside on a sheet of plywood to dry, but
that takes most of the day and the dehydrator takes just a couple of hours.

From there, the meat is smoked in a cool smoker, placed meat side down on
the racks to pick up the dark lines that make it so attractive in the jars.

I put just enough Canola oil in each jar to cover the bottom, and pack the
jars with the best looking pieces facing out and arranging the meat to
maximize the amount while not packing too tightly.

The canning process is standard to any pressure cooker.

I have found that it takes at least several weeks for the flavors I have
introduced to mingle in the meat. Eating right out of the canner is good,
but it's better if the cans are left on a shelf for a month.
--
Can on,
Brian