My yard person is a First Nations and right now he and his lovely wife get to fish. And it so happens that the sockeye are running. I ended up buying five beautiful fish from them.
I decided to can them and maybe another batch after. I would like to have four dozen half litre jars. In fact Ange and I have decided we would like to can other things as well.
So I hauled out the old canner I used to use back in the day. I have canned hundreds of pounds of fish back in our Bamfield days. Bill would scale and fillet them for me. Thank goodness!!! Some of them were forty plus pounds.
Ange and I scaled and butchered those fish ready for the canner. But alas!!! I should have checked out the canner first. The valve piece you snap down after it has vented for ten minutes is gone. The vent coming out of the lid is there but the part you snap down is not. And unless I place my finger over the steam vent, like the little dutch boy putting his thumb in the hole in the dyke, and handle the pain, there is no way this canner will build up pressure.
After perusing with the aid of google I have come to the conclusion this actually isn't the exact canner I used to have. I think it is not the 'snap down' type of valve but it's a 'weight' controlled valve. So I took a picture of what I have, what I used to have and the label to show the type of canner it is and emailed the American Canner company to their contact address. I am hoping they can solve my problem. I really like having the canner and at 550 bucks new or 350 bucks used, I can't justify buying another one.
Meanwhile now we have over thirty pounds of whacked up salmon with nowhere to go. (shovel list). I shoved the massive bowl of butchered fish into the fridge and pulled a Scarlett O'Hara...I will think about it tomorrow.
Tomorrow was yesterday. I hauled out that huge batch of fish and stuffed zip lock bags. Each bag would do at least two jars and I got nine bags. And sadly and very reluctantly put into my freezer. It means we are going to have to eat a lot of fish in the next month or two. Fish does NOT last in the freezer. Best case scenario would be that I get an answer back from the canner company with a solution.
The millennial part where I suck is I didn't take a minutia of photos of every step of the fish project. No pics of all the whole fish, Ange and I covered in fish scales, kitchen covered in fish scales, whacked up fish, jars a'waiting on the sidelines, then the broken canner, and the final bagged fish in the freezer. Aren't you lucky!!!!!!?????
Well hog weed has been found along the Port forest pathways. Thanks to Ange alerting us, she read about it in our local Facebook page, we are going to have to educate Monte and make sure Floppy doesn't mingle with it. It wouldn't kill him but it can do a lot of damage, painful for the dog and expensive for me. There always seems to be an issue at every turn. I have been trying to get an appointment with a clinic for the dog since we got him. None of the clinics in town answer their phones or take messages. We have to take him for a free visit the SPCA provides and he does have a skin issue that needs to be addressed. We have a shortage of vets and doctors in this town. See? No one wants to live here!!!!!! Just kidding...sort of.
I kept one fish back. Actually by the time we did four fish our backs, legs and arms were done. So tonight for dinner it will be roasted fish with a dill béchamel sauce. And for the veg it will be stir fried sesame oil peas and pea pods done in a wok. For the starch...nope....none....this household is going as carb free as possible. The sauce will be the carbs. And guess what? The millennial will be coming out in me....lucky you guys...I shall take pics of the whole process!!! hahahaha!!!!!
Well I did it again. I descaled, seasoned, wrapped the fish in tin foil and stuck it in the oven. Pulled it out at the perfect cook, made green beans and dill sauce, opened a fresh jar of Kathy's pickled beets and ATE. I totally forgot to take even one picture. What a dolt! But it was delicious I tells ya!!!!
I got an email back from the canner company!!! So quick! And I was right. It isn't my old canner. It is a weight pressure canner, which I shall have to you tube on how to use it. I have already ordered a weight from amazon so we shall be canning very soon. Next to can on the list will be my baked beans. I will YouTube that as well! And take pics....maybe!
So thats it for this post. Take care and be happy! TTYL
'You know you are a homesteader when the pop of a sealed canning jar brings a silly smile to your face!' Anon
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