Pine Bluffs residents Warren Wittstruck and Ellie Sterman have always enjoyed big game meat and fresh beef from local ranchers.
Like many Wyomingites, they butchered and wrapped their own meat for the freezer.
However, year ago a thought crossed Wittstruck’s mind. What would happen if there was a long-term power outage and their freezer went down?
The answer they’ve found is putting up their meat in glass jars. It can last about three years and still be fresh and tasty, Sterman said.
“And you don’t have to worry about losing meat to freezer burn,” she told Cowboy State Daily.
A Great Dinner Sparks A Great Idea
They discovered canning through a dinner they attended at the nearby Bauman Ranch.
“They were world famous enough that Japanese cattle buyers visited this ranch and had a large dinner for the group, and to everyone's surprise, she (Leola Baunman) served them canned antelope for that meal,” Wittstruck said.
“They all praised Leola for such a fabulous meat dinner,” he added.
He and Sterman were sold on canning meat after that.
However, one step in the process worried Sterman a bit. It’s best to pressure cook meat before canning it.
“Luckily, Leola convinced Ellie to not fear using pressure cookers,” Wittstruck said. "Well, Ellie is still fearful of the cooker exploding, so I do the pressure cooking."
Vinegar Wash Is The Secret
Wittstruck is getting on in years and hasn’t hunted antelope for a few seasons. But with a good supply of canned antelope still on hand, he hasn’t had to.
Antelope have a reputation as the worst-tasting of Wyoming’s game meat, but hunters say it doesn’t have to be; it’s all in when and how you kill it.
When he hunts, he tries to “shoot the antelope early in the morning, when it’s still nice and cool,” he said.
Then he gets it home, skins it and hangs it in a walk-in cooler for several days to properly age it.
A vinegar wash is a vital step, Sterman said.
“We always clean the antelope or wild meat with a white vinegar bath rinse while it is hanging and after cutting the meat from the bones,” she said.
“Let the cut meat soak in this vinegar bath water for about 30 minutes to an hour, which helps disinfect and helps tenderize the meat,” Sterman said. "Then we rinse this meat with clean fresh water before processing and freezing or cooking."
The method also works on elk and deer meat, as well as beef, Wittstruck said.
“We tried some moose too,” Sterman said.
Don’t Be Afraid To Try, But Be Careful
Sterman said they’ve had such good luck with meat canning, she encourages others to try. She thinks hunters in particular will appreciate a way of keeping their game meat fresh and tasty that doesn’t depend on electricity.
“Just get a good old Betty Crocker Cookbook and look in the canning section, and they’ll tell you what to do,” she said.
Good sealing is imperative, she said. When canning jars aren’t properly sealed, nasty contaminants can seep in and ruin the food.
Perhaps the worst is botulism, a bacterial infection that can be fatal.
In 2022, Jackson resident Hans Russell, 56, died of botulism, which he might have contracted from a tainted can of soup.
“We check the lids on our jars every year to see if they’re sealed tightly, Sterman said. “If there’s a loose lid, it’s not worth it to bother with it. Just throw it away."
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
