Keeping jars of stew in the pantry makes preparing a healthy quick meal easy and tastes much better than any canned stews you’d buy in at the supermarket. When I make a stew, I often set enough aside to can a few jars.

Dice onions, yellow potatoes, and cube bison chuck roast for this stew, and put them in a pot separate from the main batch. Toss in a little oil and lightly brown the bison and vegetables. Bison is a naturally lean meat, so the extra fat doesn’t hurt. Add enough beef broth to almost cover the meat and vegetables, followed by a 1/2 cup or so of red wine, a dozen black peppercorns, and a little salt. Bring the stew to a boil, then ladle into clean canning jars. Since the jars will be processed in the ultra high heat of a pressure canner, you don’t need to sterilize them like you would for water bath canning.

Fill the jars leaving 1/2 inch headroom at the top, wipe the rims, put on the lids, and add to the pressure canner. Note you must use a pressure canner with low-acid foods like meat to get the temperature high enough to kill any pathogens and make it safe for storing. Add two inches of water to the pressure canner, tighten the lid, and heat to 10 pounds pressure. Once the 10 pound weight starts to rattle, set the timer for 1 hour 15 minutes. Adjust the heat to maintain 10 pounds pressure.

Once the time is up, turn off the heat and let the pressure canner completely cool on its own. It could take several hours. When the canner is completely cool, you can remove the lid and jars to let them cool the rest of the way.

Side note: I love my 15 1/2 quart All American pressure canner. It is made of all cast aluminum construction without a gasket like most other pressure cookers have. The metal-to-metal seal only needs to be lightly oiled on occasion. It is more expensive than other pressure canners I’ve owned, but the quality of the construction makes it well worth the extra bucks.