A month or so ago, I tried an experiment. I got some Oscar Meyer wieners and some Ball Park franks, and I tried canning them. Now these are all regular length hot dogs, and they were a bit longer than the wide mouth pint jars I wanted to put them in. I ended up trimming them to make a suitable headspace, and processed them in a pressure canner as for any meat product. The first batch (6 jars) canned up well. After two weeks I tried some of them out. The hot dogs all settled in the jars during processing, creating more headspace, and dropped a bit of liquid. However, the Oscar Meyer wieners kept their shape and their consistency, and cooked up nicely in a skillet. The Ball Park franks plumped up, but also got mushy soft, and were more like Vienna sausages than hot dogs. The way they are seasoned, they also tasted like Vienna sausages. Those are now canned dog food. But I will retain the Oscar Meyers for personal consumption.

A couple weeks ago I came across a deal on Oscar Meyer All Beef wieners. Unlike the regular wieners, which are made of pork, chicken and beef products, these are all beef. They are fairly spendy for wieners, but these were half off, so I bought 16 packages. This time, I opted not to trim them, hoping they too would settle and create the headspace during processing. They are sold as two Ziploc bags of 5, for a total of 10 per package. I can get 8 wieners into a jar, with enough room for settling. Last night I processed 20 jars and they all sealed properly. They look good, and I expect they will be just as tasty as the first batch. No more cheap franks. I figure other quality wieners will work as well. Hebrew National, Sabrett, Nathan's, all of them should work just fine.

Just another great way to put up some meat. Keeps the freezer clear for game and fish, and the sausage I have yet to crank out.

I agree, Benjammin. Those OM ones in the ziplock packs are one of my favorite. Hebrew Natl are also pretty good. I wholeheartedly agree, no cheap hot dogs for me! When you look at the label if they have more than 1 carb or so they will be garbage; that's because if they're all meat they will have virtually none. Carbs come from fillers, stuff you don't need or want.

Have you ever canned beef brisket? I would think that would lend itself wonderfully to being canned. It takes a lot of cooking to make it tender so canning should result in a hunk of meat with great texture.

well Benjaminn ... pretty interesting experiment. You have convinced me that if I could buy some commercially canned Oscar Myer weiners - it would be a great idea for my family. But does such a product even exist?

Pete2

I think there are some canned hot dogs out there, maybe not OM but you can buy some decent brand.

I've been waiting for the weather to cool off a little before trying out my All American...thanks for the information...I thought hot dogs would be a good fill in if I didn't have enough chicken to fill the canner...

have you ever tried, or heard of canning individual hamburger patties, separated by parchment paper?

Two weeks? Heck, I have hotdogs in the fridge that are four times that old in an opened package (placed inside a ziploc) and I still eat them. A BBQ grill kills all nasties that may have accumulated.

I have heard of canned burger patties, and parchment would be acceptable. If you can handle it, so should an onion slice.

I've wanted to try canning bratwurst patties thusly. I think they would work out well too.

Well, I still have 5 pints of hot dogs from the first batch, and they are now 6 weeks old. I will check them again at Christmas time, though I suspect they should still be ok. I am not worried about them spoiling, but they may lose their integrity and fall apart. I am not handling them so as to avoid excess agitation, but they may mush out anyways. If they do, the dogs will have a special treat for Christmas.

I've had canned brats & deer sausage- both were good. I think I will have to try smoking then canning some brisket.

I can my own corned beef hash. But I slow roast the corned beef brisket overnight first, and put it through a very rough grind before canning.

I suspect pressure canning brisket would tenderize it sufficiently. I would want to smoke it first, of course.