It's time to take a trip through culinary history and make your way to an odd little corner of the grocery store as we explore the truth about how potted meat is really made
In its most traditional form, potted meat is meat that's been cooked in broth or fat, ground into a paste, packed into containers, and then covered with a layer of some sort of fat
The fat layer is supposed to completely seal in the meat with no access to air, and it's also meant to prevent bacteria from reaching the meat and spoiling it
The meat can be seasoned and is usually salted. Sometimes sodium nitrite is added to help with
preservation. Modern, commercially made potted meat generally doesn't have a fat layer. Instead
the meat is cooked, seasoned, ground up, and packed into cans. The kind that's sold in grocery
stores is shelf-stable until opened, at which point it has to be refrigerated
Commercial potted meat may generally be shelf-stable, but homemade potted meat is not
shelf-stable at all. Indeed, the traditional procedure of covering the cooked meat with an
impermeable layer of fat and then storing it in a cold place is no longer considered a safe practice
Once you seal the meat into a container with the layer of fat, you absolutely must refrigerate it
It's too easy to leave behind some water and a tiny gap in the fat layer that could lead to mold
growth, not to mention the risk of bacteria or other pathogens getting inside the container
Refrigeration is essential for safe homemade potted meat no matter how good you are at preserving food
I am going to keep it cool. Think of homemade potted meat as a way to extend your supply of protein over a few weeks at most
rather than a long-term preservation method. Commercially made potted meat is a paste that you can spread on crackers or bread
In most recipes, you're supposed to grind up the meat that you cook into a similar paste
This not only helps with spreading, but also makes it easier to pack the food in a can
without leaving any gaps that would waste space and invite pathogens in
If you don't have a meat grinder, there are a couple other methods for turning the meat into a paste
One option is blending the meat, which is fast but can be messy. You may have to spend extra time
cleaning out the blender to ensure that there's no debris left behind to fester. The other option
is pounding the cooked meat, such as with a mortar and pestle, but this could take a while if you're
trying to make a large quantity, and again, meat can get caught in any little grooves, indentations
or other features of your kitchen tools. The phrase slow cooking refers to one of two methods
The first involves cooking something in an actual slow cooker, such as the well-known name brand
Crock The other involves cooking food for a very long time at a low temperature even if it in a more standard pot and not an actual slow cooker Whatever the vessel slow cooking allows food to become tender while sitting in a hot environment for a long time
Faster cooking at a higher temperature could unevenly cook the food and make it tough
neither of which is good for preservation. Not all potted meat recipes rely on slow cookers
but even stovetop instructions specify cooking for a couple of hours at minimum
Some recipes consist of cooking the meat, turning it into a paste
and then baking the result for a while longer before putting the paste into the storage container
So if you're making your own potted meat, be prepared for it to take a while
You're best off treating it like a weekend project, at least until you get the hang of it
Potted meat is salty, like really, really salty. If you're trying to avoid excess sodium in your diet, then you should probably avoid potted meat
Eating too much salt can raise blood pressure and lead to other adverse health conditions after all
However, while controlling sodium is a reasonable goal for many people, sometimes high sodium levels are necessary in certain foods
The kids today don't know squat about sodium. Salt is a preservative that keeps meat safe to eat
along with the cold storage layer of fat and intense cooking process. So while the salt level of potted meat might make you concerned about how it affects your diet
you should know that it's not there solely to add flavor. Plus, eating it with something that's not salty can help mellow out the taste
You definitely need to be careful if you want to cook up a batch of homemade potted meat
For one thing, there's a risk of botulism, so you have to process the meat very carefully
to eliminate as much of the risk as possible. If food isn't canned properly, bacteria can get
inside the can and grow, including the organism that causes botulism. What's more, botulism
doesn't need oxygen to thrive. It also loves low-acid environments, such as what's often found in canned meat
It makes my stomach hurt. While adding sodium nitrite can help preserve the food, you still have to prepare and store
it correctly. Once the meat has been cooked and sealed into a container with a layer of fat
it must then be kept in the refrigerator. Storing it under 40 degrees Fahrenheit is
essential to prevent the growth of the bacteria that causes botulism. The meat should also be properly salted, and the entire container should be used up within
a short time. This last point is a very good reason to use small containers when making
potted meat at home. Don't try to keep homemade potted meat in the pantry, even if it's relatively
cold in there. Chances are it won't be consistently cold enough to match the quality of consistent refrigeration
In the early days of potted meat each container usually had one type of meat inside It came from parts of the animal that people recognized and would eat without hesitation Back then the purpose of potted meat was to preserve the meat that was stored up for the winter but now the point is
to have cheap, shelf-stable food that offers protein and convenience. Nowadays, commercial
potted meat is usually a combination of meats, such as chicken and pork or chicken and beef
Combining meats often helps one taste better while offering a more filling food. For example
when you have pork and chicken together, you get the fat of the pork, helping keep the mixture moist
while the chicken offers a low-fat source of protein. The resulting combination means that
the mixture isn't completely fatty, nor is it too dry. If you're not a fan of unconventional
cuts of meat, then you might not like commercially available potted meat. That's because it uses
seemingly any part of the animal that was available during processing, and it's not always obvious
exactly which parts that meat came from. There are some people who believe that potted meat is
sourced from some really undesirable and downright unsavory parts of the animals
but the truth is that it's from whichever ones are available to the manufacturers and legally
okay for consumption. This can include the likes of stomachs, nerves, and fatty tissue
If you're not a fan of consuming mechanically separated meat that could be from any cut
then potted meat may not be your thing. But if you're fine with any culinary origin
as long as it's cooked and canned properly, then commercially potted meat can find a place in your
kitchen. Spreadable meat in a can might sound quite similar to certain other preserved food
products like Spam and deviled meat. And if you weren't already familiar with potted meat
then you might think that all of these products are basically the same. But there are some key
differences. For one thing, Spam isn't spreadable. Instead, it's more typically sliced, baked, or
fried, though there's no doubt that if you tried hard enough, you could mash it into something that
looks like a paste. But when you get right down to it, Spam is a solid food product that isn't
created the same way that potted meat is. Now let's talk about the details in deviled meat
which is usually available as deviled ham or deviled chicken. Deviled is a culinary term
that refers to the addition of hot seasonings like cayenne pepper or mustard. For another example
deviled eggs may contain Dijon mustard or paprika. Deviled ham and chicken look like potted meat and
are spreadable meats that you can eat straight from the can, but they're not slow-cooked and
and then covered in fat. Instead, they're formed when ground meat is mixed with spices
and other seasonings to create a flavored sandwich spread. Commercial potted meat is generally meant to be ready to eat right out of the container
So you could conceivably spoon it right out of the can and straight into your mouth without warming it up if you so inclined Or you could scoop it onto a cracker with no other preparation But this sort of consumption wasn typical back when refrigerators weren common Any meat that potted is technically cooked That part of the preparation
process, which involves cooking it for hours before it's put into a container and sealed in
with fat. But back when food was kept cold in cellars, longer storage could be problematic
That's because it wasn't always easy to keep the storage area at a consistently low enough
temperature, especially in warmer seasons. Thus, potted meats that had been stored for a long time
were often cooked again before serving, unless the meat had been preserved only a week or two before
and the weather was very cold anyway. But remember, if you're making potted meat at home
never try to keep it in a non-refrigerated area for even a couple of days. Instead
once it's sealed in a jar, stick it in the fridge. You gotta do it
Potted meat may sound rather odd, if you've never heard of it before, but it's related to other foods that are more common and considered somewhat gourmet
One of them is meat confit, which is cooked very slowly while it's submerged in fat. It can be
preserved in a jar for about a month if the meat is then fully submerged in the fat, and the final
product is kept in the refrigerator. Duck confit is a common type of confit dish that might sound a
little fancy and intimidating, but in reality, it's just a tasty way of preparing and potting
duck meat while it's still on the bone. Then there's rillettes, which are also slow-cooked
and prepared as potted meats, usually pork. They're seasoned with herbs and often found
on the menus of gourmet restaurants. Riettes are part of classic French and Mediterranean cuisine
and can command a pretty penny when eating out. It's similar to pâté, but with a chunkier texture
And as always, it's smart to refrigerate either confit or riettes. Potted meat usually doesn't contain wheat or similar gluten-rich ingredients outright
but many brands use natural flavors as part of their recipes. These are flavoring agents
derived from natural sources like plants that are used to amp up the flavor of the meat
Sometimes the natural flavors are derived from wheat. If the food is regulated by the FDA in
the United States, then the product label must state that it contains wheat. But other times
the natural flavors are derived from gluten containing sources like barley. This may not
necessarily be something that the FDA requires manufacturers to include on the label if it's
just the source of the natural flavor additive. For anyone who can't have gluten, this is obviously
a problem. If you fall into this camp, then it's important to figure out which brands you can trust
Some of them may list the sources of natural flavors on websites or state that their products
are gluten-free, while others may be less forthcoming. You can also check
other sources to find out where a company gets its natural flavors