Preserving Sauces With Meat
I'm making a hot dog sauce that contains tomatoes, bacon & soy sauce. I've tried to preserve it with vinegar, but lost the taste of the product. What can I use to preserve the sauce in a glass container and how long could I store it in a refrigerator?
Best Answer
When preserving food, safety is of top importance, so I would not recommend experimenting haphazardly with sealed jars and preservatives. Generally, cooked leftovers can be kept in the fridge for 3 to 4 days with no special treatment. If you need to keep your sauce for longer than that, we need to do something else.
Pressure canning cooked meat is feasible; however, it uses specialized equipment. It also requires some exactitude to do safely. Unless you are interested in diving into the rabbit hole of canning, I do not think this technique would be convenient.
Using acid to preserve your sauce is a bad idea. Although vinegar or another acid can prevent microbial growth (for example, in a jar of pickles) any significant quantity will make your sauce too sour as you already observed.
Freezing is probably your best bet, both from a food safety and a convenience perspective. Put the sauce in a plastic container, or even better a plastic bag. It can be safely frozen for weeks or months. When ready to use, there are multiple ways to safely defrost the sauce. But the easiest is just to reheat from frozen, either on the stove or in the microwave.
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How do you preserve meat sauce?
MEAT SAUCE, (INCLUDING BOLOGNESE SAUCE) - COOKED, HOMEMADE Properly stored, cooked meat sauce will last for 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator. To further extend the shelf life of cooked meat sauce, freeze it; freeze in covered airtight containers or heavy-duty freezer bags.Can you preserve sauces?
Many sauces can be made ahead and refrigerated or frozen, which make them ideal as last-minute additions. Store in a small jar or bowl covered with plastic in the refrigerator or even in a heavy-gauge zip-top bag. A smaller container means less exposure to air and less spoilage.How do you preserve spaghetti meat sauce?
Canning spaghetti sauce with meat using the water bath method is unsafe. Because meat is a low acid food, it can harbor bacteria. This bacteria is tough enough to survive the water bath canning method. Because of this, the only safe way to process spaghetti sauce that contains meat is with the use of a pressure canner.HOW TO CAN Homemade Spaghetti Meat Sauce
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