Death In A Bottle:Pics/Tutorial

ForkWest

Very Active Member
Messages
2,071
Here's a response to the past few canned/bottled meat threads. Our family has been doing this for generations and while I recognize it may be thought of as old school...I just don't care. This is one of our favorite ways to use game meat! I shared a bottle with a friend a few years back and his wife said it looked like "death in a bottle", we got a kick out of that and the name has stuck. May look or sound odd, but I'm telling you this stuff is just down right awesome! For those of you who have tried it, you know what I mean. For those of you who haven't tried it, here's how I do it, now go give it a try.

This is where it all starts. Totally different topic, but the better the field care, the better the final product. We took this lope yesterday mid-day, had the meat on ice with in an hour or so and fully processed less than 24 hours after the kill. I've done elk, deer, and now today this doe antelope.
4811154.jpg



When you're the butcher you know what you're getting and I KNOW my quality control is better than a turn-a-buck commercial guy! Dice into 1"-2" cubes. Throw in the tougher front shoulder and lower leg cuts too. The cooking process will tenderize everything.
2194003.jpg


Any size mason type jar will work. I did mostly pints this time, but quarts is what we usually do.
1120002.jpg


Fill the jar all the way to the bottom of the neck. Really pack it in there tight cause the meat will shrink some. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT ADD ANY LIQUID!!! The meat itself holds a suprising amount of water. Any added liquid will make the bottles boil over. Add 1 beef bullion cube per pint or 2 for a quart, and that's it!
697004.jpg


You can't add liquid, but you can play around with other flavorings if you like. I tried a bottle with minced garlic and a jalapeno this time. We've done garlic powder, onion powder and a touch of liquid smoke, all those are good too. (All these are in addition to the bullion)
5829005.jpg


Make sure to wipe the rim of the bottle. Any little piece of meat or added spices could affect the seal.
4526006.jpg


Put the lids on and the rings. Hand tighten the rings fairly snug. Here's the batch ready to go.
5363007.jpg


Place them in a pressure cooker and and a couple inches of water. Really the only thing important here is to make sure the water level is below the tops of the bottles, as that too could affect sealing.
5199008.jpg


You can use any pressure cooker that will pressurize to 15 psi. Your standard run of the mill kitchen pressure cooker will work fine like the little one in this pic. I use the bigger one cause I can do more bottles at once. Cooking time is 90 minutes at 13.5 psi. The standard kitchen pressure cooker uses a 15 psi rattle, so that will work just fine too.
9441009.jpg


And here's the final product! Meat gravy, tacos, BBQ sandwiches, steaw, soups, use it any where you'd use beef in any recipe. Add a can of cream of mushroom soup and have it over mashed potatos. Or warm it and enjoy just like tender pot roast with a side of horseradish, which is one of my favorites. Shelf life is years, but I gurantee you'll use it up in a hurry.
9772011.jpg


Hope this helps anyone considering giving it a shot. Give me a holler if you have any more questions. Enjoy!
 
Thanks for the pics and the recipe. I showed the wife your post and it looks like maybe next weekend we will try it. Nice picture of the family!!! It also looks like I am not the only one who has a wife who is hotter then Tiffany. Have a great hunting season and I will let you know how it turns out!!





"Let's keep things in perspective.I mean for Peet's sake there are kids in Africa that don't even hunt....hello" Jimmy Big Time
 
Cool post! Thats the way we do most of our deer meat, I'm the butcher and my mom does the canning, then we split the meat. We have never tried the jalapenos, garlic or other flavors, sounds like we need to.
 
Great write up!! will all of the posts on canned or bottled meat I really want to see how it turns out. Thank you, Smitty
 
Fantastic! I never thought it would be that easy! Does anyone know how the meat turns out if it has been frozen? I have some of the tougher cuts, very clean and well trimmed that are in the freezer. This might be a good way to want to use them. Thanks
 
Freezing should have no effect on the final product. I've not done it, but I wouldn't hesitate at all to use previously frozen meat.
 
ForkWest... Excellent tutorial and pics...Thanks for taking the time to share..I'm gonna try this...

Also, you have a great looking family..

horsepoop.gif


Disclaimer:
The poster does not take any responsibility for any hurt or bad feelings. Reading threads poses inherent risks. The poster would like to remind readers to make sure they have a functional sense of humor before they visit any discussion board.
 
LAST EDITED ON Oct-06-10 AT 09:55PM (MST)[p]I was going to also mention how pleasantly appealing the background is in your pictures. You obviously take great pride in how you care for not only the meat you process, but your beautiful home as well. I don't know about you but the thought of sharing some people's wild game just about turns my stomach. Yours, I would have absolutely no qualms about. Great job! By the way, how did you manage to kill that doe antelope. Absolutely no blood. What did you do? Sneak up and choke it to death?
 
Well thanks, I appreciate your compliments.

I had to laugh about the "sneak up and choke it"

Entrance wound is the side in the picture, nothing more than the diameter of the bullet, exit wound on the other hand was about the size of a grapfruit and took out the spine. Not a lung shot so she didn't bleed much, but that other side was still not a pretty sight.
 
I think I've tried venison just about everywhich way there is too eat it, except for the way you've presented it. I've got to get me a pressure cooker and try that. Thanks for the post.


Allphotosonthecamera3093.jpg
 
Personally, I would like to see pictures of some of the dishes you make with the meat. It looks awesome and I'm going to try to get me a blactail deer within the next 2 weeks. I would try some experimenting.
 
LAST EDITED ON Oct-12-10 AT 06:02AM (MST)[p]Just letting you know I followed your directions, as did two of my friends. It looks like everything turned out great. I'm going to try some of the meat tonight. I'm going to fry up a little bacon and onions and some black beans, and pour in a bottle of the deer meat. A couple of thick slices of fresh home-made bread and butter... My mouth is already watering. Thanks again for a great post.
 
My wife cans some of the meat I bring home every year. It makes the best tacos, even people that don't like wild game will like those tacos.....she browns hers a little before putting it in jars but the rest is virtually the same.
 
Thanks forkwest for you post I just made my first batch of death in a bottle and it was awesome. I only made ten bottles monday night and i have seven left. If it wernt for your post would have nver tried it. now im hooked thanks for the help.
 
Thanks for the tips!! we made our with Antelope and it was great!!





"Let's keep things in perspective.I mean for Peet's sake there are kids in Africa that don't even hunt....hello" Jimmy Big Time
 
great sequence of pictures! we can a lot of our meat every year and love it.

to the guy who asked about freezing it...we do that every year. just put it in a freezer bag during the butchering it and label it "Canning" then when all the hunting is over we pull it back out and thaw it out and can it.
 
This is great! I'm wondering what you use for mule deer? I shot a buck this past January on the bow hunt and our NM muleys can be rough tasting, usually jerky most if not all the meat other than back straps which works well cuz my girls love jerky ALOT! I know you mentioned beef buon but last time I tried it I boiled it with some tender strips but it came out tasting really like liver, it was really bad. I also know you said to bottle,seal and pressure cook it so I guess that has alot to do as well but am unsure about trying the beef tablets again.Please advise, I'd sure like to be able to make a deer taste good without making jerky....Larry
 
Larry, the act of pressure cooking the meat really mellows out the flavor. I have done even snow goose. Sometimes it is refered to as flying carp. It not only makes the game meat mild but tender as well. If you're not into getting the expensive pressure cooker, I go to "Goodwill" and pick one up very cheap. I hpe this helps you out Jim
 
Jingow is right, the pressure cooking process really knocks out a lot of the gamey flavor, ends up very mild. I shot a big old nasty Wyoming sage buck and the meat turned out great.

Just for info, I've since tried the garlic and jalpeno bottles. Jalepeno was down right awesome, I'll probably add two or three peppers next time. The garlic I didn't care for as much.

Also this process works great for fish too. I just did a bottle of perch. Added a couple tablespoons of ceaser salad dressing. Man was that good!
 
Does it have to be pressure cooked or can it be a hot water bath? Not sure if you said it and I missed it. Great write up. Dad used to do it years ago, brought back memories.
 
We do all our meat this way. We add garlic powder, pepper, bullion and most important, we top our bottles with beef fat. This makes a big difference. Instant meal with a rich gravy. We get the beef fat ground up at the local butcher. Its free. Its important that you do not use game fat in your bottles. Trim it all off. Unlike beef fat, wild game fat does not add a good flavor.

As an additional thought, we also do our fish. Trout bones disappear in the process. Its like canned Salmon for sandwitches and fish cakes. Just add lemon when cooking.
Take the skins off before processing.
 
Will just add an endorsement. We've bottled a lot of meat over the years and it is always just excellent. Experiment with the spices or save some of the spicing for when you heat up to eat. Makes for quick stew and just thickening the fluids and pouring over rice, pasta or potatoes makes for a tasty, filling meal.
 
I have a question. I just did some elk I had in the freezer. I added no liquid, but the water in the cooker was brown when finished. I guess some of the juice escaped during cooking. The bottles still sealed, but only had liquid to the half way mark. Should I have tightened the lid more??
 
I've found that a few bottles will boil over on ocassion. They've always sealed and I've never had an issue. I've found that if you let the pressure come down as slow as possible and not open the lid even if there is only a little pressure, that this usually won't happen.
 
I bottled some this year and it turned out great. I added a 1/2tbsp of beef base to some and in was really good. I also liked the jalapeno.

Also, if you let the pressure cooker cool off on its own and don't use water to cool it down fast, the bottles won't leak out.
 
I know this thread is a few years old, but with the hunts right around the corner, its a perfect time to revisit this thread. I bottled some antelope for the first time the other day, and man is it good! Thanks for the great tutorial forkwest!
 
I have 8 jars in the pressure canner right now.....

I put chicken bullion in one of them....


497fc2397b939f19.jpg
 
I'm definitely going to try this with my next harvest. How long is the shelf life and does it need to be refrigerated?
 
the whole point of canning is that it doesn't need to be refrigerated....but storing in a cool dark place will extend shelf life.......but....the longer it is stored, the uglier it will get.

I would be comfortable with 1-1/2 to 2 years.....but much longer is probably reality



497fc2397b939f19.jpg
 
>I'm definitely going to try this
>with my next harvest. How
>long is the shelf
>life and does it need
>to be refrigerated?


Typically when the next season rolls around I pull what's left of last season and can it to make freezer space so you can pull froze meat and still try it.
 
I grew up eating venison this way and I'm 69+ years old. I loved it as sandwich meat...a little miracle whip, mustard and chopped up pickles mixed in with the meat out of the bottle and then spread on a slice of bread for a sandwich....it was so good in fact that my daughter learned to love it and to this day would give pretty much anything for a bottle of canned venison. We still make it and so does a good friend of mine. He does spice it up a little by putting a jalapeno pepper and a few chopped up red or orange peppers in with the meat before he pressure cooks it. We used to think it tasted a lot like corned beef, but much better.
 
That time a year again. Don't be scared boys and girls, I was. It's simple and delicious! Give it a go! Thanx again forkwest!
 
Here's a response to the past few canned/bottled meat threads. Our family has been doing this for generations and while I recognize it may be thought of as old school...I just don't care. This is one of our favorite ways to use game meat! I shared a bottle with a friend a few years back and his wife said it looked like "death in a bottle", we got a kick out of that and the name has stuck. May look or sound odd, but I'm telling you this stuff is just down right awesome! For those of you who have tried it, you know what I mean. For those of you who haven't tried it, here's how I do it, now go give it a try.

This is where it all starts. Totally different topic, but the better the field care, the better the final product. We took this lope yesterday mid-day, had the meat on ice with in an hour or so and fully processed less than 24 hours after the kill. I've done elk, deer, and now today this doe antelope.
4811154.jpg



When you're the butcher you know what you're getting and I KNOW my quality control is better than a turn-a-buck commercial guy! Dice into 1"-2" cubes. Throw in the tougher front shoulder and lower leg cuts too. The cooking process will tenderize everything.
2194003.jpg


Any size mason type jar will work. I did mostly pints this time, but quarts is what we usually do.
1120002.jpg


Fill the jar all the way to the bottom of the neck. Really pack it in there tight cause the meat will shrink some. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT ADD ANY LIQUID!!! The meat itself holds a suprising amount of water. Any added liquid will make the bottles boil over. Add 1 beef bullion cube per pint or 2 for a quart, and that's it!
697004.jpg


You can't add liquid, but you can play around with other flavorings if you like. I tried a bottle with minced garlic and a jalapeno this time. We've done garlic powder, onion powder and a touch of liquid smoke, all those are good too. (All these are in addition to the bullion)
5829005.jpg


Make sure to wipe the rim of the bottle. Any little piece of meat or added spices could affect the seal.
4526006.jpg


Put the lids on and the rings. Hand tighten the rings fairly snug. Here's the batch ready to go.
5363007.jpg


Place them in a pressure cooker and and a couple inches of water. Really the only thing important here is to make sure the water level is below the tops of the bottles, as that too could affect sealing.
5199008.jpg


You can use any pressure cooker that will pressurize to 15 psi. Your standard run of the mill kitchen pressure cooker will work fine like the little one in this pic. I use the bigger one cause I can do more bottles at once. Cooking time is 90 minutes at 13.5 psi. The standard kitchen pressure cooker uses a 15 psi rattle, so that will work just fine too.
9441009.jpg


And here's the final product! Meat gravy, tacos, BBQ sandwiches, steaw, soups, use it any where you'd use beef in any recipe. Add a can of cream of mushroom soup and have it over mashed potatos. Or warm it and enjoy just like tender pot roast with a side of horseradish, which is one of my favorites. Shelf life is years, but I gurantee you'll use it up in a hurry.
9772011.jpg


Hope this helps anyone considering giving it a shot. Give me a holler if you have any more questions. Enjoy!
We need ro add a new forum for wild game prep . I love this and will try it when I get my elk.
 
Been some great threads like this in the past. Just hard to dig them back up. ??
Yes, I agree LIK2HNT, I'm gearing up with a successful hunt anticipation and wanting to be ready to make the best of the Elk if I do tag one.
After paying high grocery prices I want to make every scrap into goodness. Pork Loinnin the freezer and some pork fat can make some great breakfast sausage with the tough parts and small pieces. Summer Sausage , Death In A Bottle, Jerky, Tasty Tenderloins, Stroganoff and canned Elk Burger to name a few preps on the table.
My memory is short- did you fill a tag in 22 ?
 
I been planning on doing this on my next deer.
I've collected enough jars/lids/rings, but one question.
How do you know what PSI Jiggler you have? We have
a couple/3 but there are no markers indicating anything.
 
I been planning on doing this on my next deer.
I've collected enough jars/lids/rings, but one question.
How do you know what PSI Jiggler you have? We have
a couple/3 but there are no markers indicating anything.
You don't have a guage ? It isn't a canner then it's just a pressure cooker for roasts etc. If it doesn't have a guage it is just for pressure cooking meat . Has to have a guage or it is a no-go.
 
I have large canner with a gauge, was just wondering about the
jigglers. Didnt know there were different weights.
The two we have dont have any indicator.
 
No indicator on jiggler. Wait until steam comes out for 5 minutes then place jiggler on and adjust heat to be @ 13.5 psi and cook for recommended time. Let steam empty until 0 psi and wait 5 minutes to remove after lid is off. Watch a YouTube video to make sure you understand or it could be very dangerous.
 
I have large canner with a gauge, was just wondering about the
jigglers. Didnt know there were different weights.
The two we have dont have any indicator.
The weight for my canner has 3 holes marked 5, 10, and 15 for each psi. It also has a gauge for visual reference.

Do you know the brand of your cooker that does not have a gauge?
 

Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos
Back
Top Bottom