Canning Tuna Help???

Going Tuna fishing next weekend. Never have done any canning anything. I need some how to on canning so start from the beginning with what I need, how to do it & don't leave out any details. Recipe secrets would be appreciated also.
Thanks

Buy yourself a large pressure cooker and there will be step by step instuctions that come alon with it for canning all sorts of things. Not a secret but chicken stock is better than water for adding to the jars before cooking. Have fun!

How many people you canning for? One person = 1/2 pints, 2 or 3 = pints, etc.

-Belly loins are better for canning (more oil). I usually do a mix of 1/2 top loin, 1/2 bottom loin per jar. Too much top loin, and you will have very dry canned tuna!

- Pack jars tight, and leave room at the top of the jar for bubbles, air release, etc., as they cook in the canner. Rule of thumb I use is on 1/2 pints, I only pack to the bottom of the ring on the jar neck (at least 3/4" from the top) on larger jars, plan on at least an inch.

- Put 1/8 to 1/4 tsp. canning salt on top of meat in each jar for 1/2 pints, 1/4 to 1/2 tsp. for pint jars. A dribble of lemon juice can be good too.

-For jalapeno tuna, add a couple slices of jalepeno when you put the salt in. For 'smoked' you can add 1 drop of liquid smoke.

- PLan on cooking at 11-14lbs, for 110 minutes. (Some will say 11 pounds, etc., but fact of the matter is, pressure is rarely constant, and will fluctuate.) DO NOT let it get below 10lbs, or above 15lbs.

- Wipe the top of each jar clean for a good seal, lay a lid on top, secure a ring so it is snug, but not tight. You want air to release.

- THere should be a little disc/tray in the bottom of the cooker to keep jars from sitting directly on the bottom.
* PLace little tray thing on bottom, then jars on top of it.
* Add another layer of jars, OFFSET of bottom layer. (top jar should be
on edges of 2 jars under it)
* Add a min of 1" of water to bottom of cooker, 2" is good, (just make
sure it's not up to rings on the bottom layer of jars)
* Add 1/2 C. vinegar to water to help keep jars somewhat clean, and
reduce stink.
* Secure top, and turn on burner (A stove is better than propane
turkey cooker, as you can better control heat)
* As pressure builds, a little button should pop up on the top of the
cooker, this is when you can place the weight on the little pressure
stem thingamajob.
* With weight on, pressure shoudl begin to rise. Start timer when you
get just above 10lbs.
* Bbabysit the cooker for the next 110 mins, adjusting burner temp to
keep pressure in range.

* Once the time is up, turn off burner, and allow to cool slowly. Pressure guage shoudl read "0", and little button should drop back down from lack of pressure. NOW it is safe to open. Caution, lots of hot, stinky steam. Have oven vent fan on! As jars cool, you will hear 'tink' 'tink' 'tink' as they begin sealing. If you push on a lid, and it's sucked down, you're good. If it can be depressed, you didn't get a seal... eat these in next few days. It may take over and hour or two for jars to seal.

Easy

How can this be done without a pressure cooker? I hear the jars can just be boiled in a big pot?

Fish on...

Todd

If you are a fan of botulism, this can be done w/o a pressure cooker.

Otherwise, pressure cooker required.

Hum...don't know on that one. But it would be a hellofalot o' boilin, and a hellofahuge pot.

Here's what I've ended up with in the last week. My share, (14 fish) loined, cleaned, and chunked, FILLED (brimmed) three 5 gal. buckets. So far, I've canned 52 1/2 pints, and used 3 gal. of meat. So, rough FnP math, would be that those 14 fish, should use 260 1/2 pint jars. My large pressure cooker holds 26 1/2 pints at in a batch.

Obviously, this would vary by how much you freeze as steaks, how tight you pack your jars, how big the fish are, etc...

Twitch is right on with his post.

You should use a pressure canner not a pressure cooker. This is the brand you will see used the most. This is what we used for canning tuna in San Diego.
http://www.allamericancanner.com/allamericanpressurecanner.htm

If you are doing a lot of canning the 941 is the one to get. It cuts down on the number of times you have to cook. A smaller one does just fine but you are going to spend more time cooking in smaller batches. They last forever and you can can anything, including salmon.
If you want detailed instructions, send me a PM and I'll send you a link to a So Cal website with step by step and pictures.

Sleddder just jinxed the hell out of that trip - asking how to can all that tuna he hasn't caught yet.

Get a "Good canner".......I think most would recommend the AllAmerican Canner that "MJ" talked about.

Get a "crab cooker" also........

Please do your canning "outside".....I've been told the smell is very tough to get rid of, if done in the house.

Once you get a good canner...can do lot's of things...home canned beans, smoked fish, etc.

Canner 921...is a very good size!!!!!!!!!

I just finished canning 32 pints of tuna! 1/2 teaspoon salt and a hot pepper in each jar is all you need!

Just read the instructions that come with your pressure canner/cooker. Each one is a little different. If you have a used one and no instructions look on the manu. website and print off the instructions. Mine specifically calls for 2 qts of water. I use my turkey fryer burner... it works OUTSTANDING!! Easy to control the temp... Best of all it keeps all the stink and heat out of the house!! Otherwise, everything that Twitch said is spot on!!

There is not one answer to canning. Try adding new things to your jars. You will be surprised what you come up with!!

Happy canning!

I just have alot of confidence in the crew

An additional teaspoon of the sweet chile sauce, 110 minutes, at ten pounds seems about right for half pints.

Enjoy!

Sleddddder,

Twitch provided most of the essential stats, but here's a thought and an alternative. Unless you like your fish really salty flavored. 1/8 and 1/4 tsp. salt for 1/2 and pints respectively. Also, since canning takes a lot of time, I prefer to use 15 pounds pressure and 60 minutes for 1/2 pints and 90 minutes for pints. The 110 minute method is darn near two hours! Also the drop or two of liquid smoke for 1/2 pints and pints respectively is a nice touch.

I've never butchered and filleted albacore, but I was told by a friend who did this regularly for years, that you can the white meat and just toss the dark or red meat, as the dark meat has a strong unpleasant flavor.

Sg

Salmo,
The belly loins are white, softer, and have more oil. The dorsal loins are more firm, less oily, and white-slight pinkish hued. It's where the two meet, along the lateral line, that there is a small wedge of meat that contains a lot more blood vessels, and is really dark red. Some call it the 'blood line' but it is just meat, with more blood flow, but tastes very strong. There is maybe a handful of it out of a whole fish, so not much to trim off and throw away.

Here, everyone study this... you should be able to cark and trim a tuna is 90 sec.

1/2 pints= 1/16th tea spoon salt
full pints=1/8th teas spoon salt
100 minutes @ 10lb's is how I roll.Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

Don't taste the tuna before ya catch'em,like Parker said.

The weather is looking iffeeeeeeeee!
Sleddder ya got us sunk before we ran out to the grounds.

Continue to standby for the run. 44 miles SW. as of now headed home in the wind. Last time we did that the two hour ride turned into a 7 hour crawl bucking the wind.

Just finished up doing 24 jars of tuna today...all 24 sealed, zero breakages, went easy as pie...I think I'm going to start putting up some salmon and steelhead the same way, mebbe other things, too.

Fish on...

Todd

GREAT, with the Capt'n & crew revolting I may not need these canning tips after all.
Anyone want to go Coho fishing???

Canning....it's cooler than it used to be....
I stole fish4brains recipes for pickling and canning and I've been happy. Pretty easy and great results.
Got on the net and then started canning beans and peaches and some other stuff.
Guess the extended family will get some unexpected Christmas gifts this year.
I did get one complaint this weekend while camping. Dudes said the pickled coho tasted good (well one did) but lacked visual colors????? Any thoughts on something green (other than MJ) to add to pickled fish? Beans? Bells?

Peppers.

Fish on...

Todd

Take the pickled coho away from the person registering the complaint.

Give the pickled coho to me.

Problem solved.

Todd,

Consider that the source is a salmon snob, but if you want to can salmon, limit your effort to good chinook and sockeye. Don't waste a steelhead or a coho by canning it. Been there, done that. Smoke and BBQ them.

Glad your tuna canning went so well. An old pro told me this: home canned albacore is to store bought canned albacore as home canned sockeye is to store bought canned sockeye. I'm envious; that's good stuff.

Sg

I just ate a jar...once I opened it, I ate the whole jar...and I'm a fish snob, too, when it comes to eating it. It was fantastic. Half pint jar, 1/8 tsp canning salt, dollop of olive oil, and three slices of jalapeno...

It will be present in my pack while fishing until it's gone.

Fish on...

Todd

yep, it was pretty tasty stuff

Never had a can of bad home canned salmon or tuna. The albi I just canned was kickass. Half tsp of salt w/ 1/8 tsp old bay 110 min at 10 lbs.
Didn't really notice the old bay and a smig more salt wouldn't of hurt. Best TF sandwitch ever

Tuna Melts! take your regular ol' sammich, and slap'er in a pan like a grilled cheese....

I'm in Westport right now, yesterday it was raining hard with high winds, today its clear onshore with a little fog on the ocean and very calm.

Old post...but still full of good information.

Since this post four years ago I have canned thousands of jars of tuna, king, coho, steelhead...even humpy.

I'm about to head out to the shop to get started on it...I have so much salmon and tuna that it will be a three day bender, hopefully I'll be done before the Seahawk game on Sunday!

I still go with this:

Pint jars mostly.
Fish filled to about 3/4" from the top.
Big pinch of sea salt
Dollop of Olive Oil
100 minutes at 11 pounds.

Doesn't matter what fish I'm doing...I use the exact same recipe for each. After fiddling with the recipe a lot over the last few years this one always makes the best fish to my taste.

I have two canners now

Fish on...

Todd

P.S. If you are thinking about going out...go now. Flat seas and a flat bar at Westport yesterday, and the fish are only 30 miles out!

Trolled for five minutes to get our first fish...and got 40 on that bait stop. Got up trolling again when it faded, trolled for ten minutes and got another one...and got eight or ten more lickety split and the boat was plugged.

Headed back to port at 11:30am.

Hard to beat.

Fish on...

Todd

Nice haul.

I have some fish from that trip, thanks to Mr. Vedder. After eating some raw I'll be smoking the rest.

Todd, can you put the pint jars on top of each other in the pressure cooker?

Yes, you can. I have a very large canner and with the right jars there are three levels. Same pressure and time.

nice! Mine isn't that tall, but I can fit two pint jars on top of each other in it.....thanks

Just make sure you stagger the next row so that the jars sit on the rings and not on the lids...stacking is fine.

Fish on...

Todd

10 lbs @ 100 minutes. 1/2 pints 1/16 tea of salt full pints 1/8 tea of salt. stay 1/2" down from the top. Oh BTW I shut the canner off 10 minutes before the 100 minute mark and have done this for 20 years and no buddy has gotten sick or died yet........FYI................Never had an issue with belly meat VS. shoulder meat...plenty of natural oil to go around. a 22 to 23qt canner will hold 24 1/2 pints and 16 full pints.Good luck,

SZ

PS, I canned up 19 freakin tuna in two trips this year.........don't wanna touch another loin until next year.......Just sayin.

Good to see this resurrected. Just finished canning tuna from last weekend. Need to try some different recipes. Froze a bunch to can later.

Siracha Sauce instead of Jalapenos gives a nice unique flavor. Another good one is to put a VERY small drop of liquid smoke in the jars. Smoked tuna flavor without the extra hassle.

Todd, who's boat did you fish on?

Fished with Mark Coleman on the Reel Ultra...after doing that the last few years I will never go on an overnighter again

Fish on...

Todd

I have 12 tuna to do from this trip...did a few loads today, all good so far. About to eat about five pounds of it raw today and tomorrow...any of it that I can eat without fiddling with the canner is good

The drop of liquid smoke isn't bad, neither is using Tiger Sauce, any chili sauce, or a big slice of onion...but I so greatly prefer the jalapenos (though in this case I'm using Cerranos from Vedder's garden ) that I do them all that way now.

As soon as I finish with the tuna, hopefully tomorrow night, I will get started on canning salmon...my quickie math tells me I'll have 120 pints of tuna and 60 pints of salmon.

Fish on...

Todd

I get 28 I/2 pint wide mouth jars in my Presto pressure caner. I stack them right on top of one another and never had a problem. Do enough to let it sit for a year, then try them side by side with freshly canned. After a year it gets better.

I am sad now because i only have two jars left from 2013. Waaaaaaa

I ate my last 2013 can of tuna last Saturday :-)

Fish on...

Todd

Good tips. Does anyone smoke any of their tuna? I would be interested in a good brine recipe or will a salmon brine work? I go to Hawaii often and have eaten some excellent smoked Ahi.

I don't usually smoke too much tuna because I love it on the bbq but every year we do tuna bellies in a basic teriyaki marinade and it's candy!

I smoked two big batches this weekend. Same "brine" as always, salt and sugar. Canned it when smoked only about three hours. It's delish!

Go get the 10oz Oyster Jars at Brady's Oysters in Westport; case of 48 is $22.50 NO lids. They are regular mouth jars with straight sides and are PERFECT size for canning tuna. 26 jars fit in a 23qt Presto Canner.
8 nice Albies turned out 48-10oz, 24-WM pints Saturday and 8 nice vacuum sealed top loins. I used Serrano's, Jalapeno's, Lemon Pepper and Sriracha in different jars making sure to dry (after tightening) and sharpie the lids so you know what you have inside.
My Ball Blue Book says 1/2 teaspoon salt in 1/2 pints and 1 teaspoon in pints. I put the salt in the bottom of the jars and it turns out fine every time with no complaints from anyone.
I had 1 of the 10oz jars (with serrano) not seal which was all good...made tasty sandwiches for my daughter and I.
On how jarred tuna tastes over time; I had 2 jars from 2012 that I finished off a few weeks ago that tasted fine, probably 2dozen jars from 2013 left and they are fine. Fresh canned -vs- older...to me there is no difference in flavor/quality. I guess if you keep it cool and dark, it should last a long time.

The ball book calls for way to much salt if ya ask me................I just finished a 1/2 pint from 2010 and it was the bomb......like said above it gets better with age......Good luck,

SZ