[Sca-cooks] Pennsic food

[Pixel, Queen of Cats]

I have the current Blue Book, which, after comparison with Mom's, I have
determined is substantially more paranoid than her edition--I'd never
heard of boil-processing *jelly*, for instance. Peaches, yes. Pickles,
yes. But *jelly*?

I've just never done canning for war. My sweetie is trying to convince me
to can a batch of the rabbit saupiquet to bring. ;-)

Margaret


On Thu, 19 Jul 2001, Elaine Koogler wrote:

> I'm not sure it's still available, but Ball, the folks who make probably the
> vast majority of canning jars, etc., used to publish a "Blue Book" that
> contained information on how to can all sorts of things.  It was my mother's
> bible when she canned stuff, which was all the time...my dad seemed to think
> he was trying to feed Custer's army when he planted his garden!  I don't
> recall her ever canning meat, but she did can all sorts of veggies and
> fruits.  However, my aunts used to can traditional mince meat.  After all
> that, given the fact that they were very careful to follow proper canning
> procedures, we never got sick.  I know you'll need new lids or rubber rings,
> make sure the jars are spotlessly clean and use a canner of some sort to
> process the jars to seal them.  Mama had a real canner, but I believe you can
> use a large pot into which the jars can be placed under water...they have to
> be completely immersed.  See if you can find a copy of the Ball Blue Book for
> complete instructions.
>
> Kiri
>
> "Pixel, Queen of Cats" wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 18 Jul 2001, Angie Malone wrote:
> >
> > > If you want to do soups and stews I recommend freezing them.  You
> > > could also buy very large canned soup/stews and then do what my
> > > mother called 'doctoring them up' which meant adding spices, more
> > > veggies, assorted pasta other stuff to make it taste better or be
> > > more filling.
> > >
> > > If you are not trying to do all period cooking you could also have a
> > > pasta night.
> >
> > Pasta is period. It's the tomato sauce which is questionable. ;-)
> > >
> > > I usually pack some cans of broth and mixed vegetables and other
> > > stuff so that the night we get the down pour of rain I can make a
> > > quick hot soup for people in the camp which consists of me opening a
> > > bunch of cans and pouring them into a stock pot and adding some
> > > seasoning and any meat I have frozen in the cooler and some kind of
> > > pasta.
> > >
> > > I've never canned meat before but I've heard it's tricky.  Although
> > > I've also heard people say home canning is dangerous and tricky, and
> > > ate my mothers canned food for 25 years and never got sick.
> > >
> > >
> > Not physically sick, anyway. Hi, Ang! [waves] :-)
> >
> > Ok, here's the deal. N19 is on the other side of Pennsic from the
> > source of ice--it's right underneath the parking lot on the highway
> > side--and I want to avoid a cooler full of frozen meat as much as
> > possible. Heck, I'd like to skip the whole cooler thing entirely, but,
> > since both of us will be being retinue, and we will both be spending a
> > certain amount of time on the fighting field, we just won't have the time
> > or the energy to cook.
> >
> > Especially if this last weekend is any indication. Kraft macaroni and
> > cheese was a huge effort.
> >
> > I have lots of Classico mason jars, so I am planning on single usage. We
> > will empty the jar, rinse it out, then recycle it. I have three shelves
> > full of these things--I'm not worried about running out of them.
> >
> > Margaret FitzWilliam
> >
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