Spaghetti Sauce With Meat (Canning Recipe)

This is very good, and it was a great way to use those garden tomatoes for later. I used a combination of beef and turkey, but I would have used all 3 if it was handy. Good garden flavor with garden tomatoes and bell peppers. Recipe courtesy of Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Serving size is estimated.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 10 mins
• Serves: 30
• Yields: 5 quart jars

Ingredients

• 30  lbs tomatoes
• 2 1⁄2 lbs ground beef or 2 1⁄2 lbs ground sausage
• 5  garlic cloves, minced
• 1  cup  chopped onion
• 1  cup  chopped seeded green bell peppers or 1  cup celery
• 1  lb mushroom, sliced
• 4  tablespoons  chopped fresh parsley
• 1⁄4 cup  lightly packed brown sugar
• 2  tablespoons dried oregano
• 4  teaspoons salt
• 2  teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

Directions

1. Wash tomatoes, removing stems and any bruised or discolored portions.
2. Core and quarter 6 tomatoes and place in a large stainless steel saucepan.
3. Bring to a boil over high heat. Using a potato masher, crush tomatoes to release juices, stirring constantly.
4. While maintaining a boil and stirring to prevent scorching, core and quarter additional tomatoes, adding them to the saucepan as you work. Make sure the mixture continues to boil vigorously while you add, stir and crush the remaining tomatoes.
5. When all tomatoes have been added, reduce heat and boil gently until tomatoes are soft, about 10 minutes.
6. Working in batches, press tomato mixture through a fine sieve, electric strainer, or food mill. Discard peels and seeds. Set puree aside.
7. Prepare weighted-gauge pressure canner, jars, and lids.
8. In a large stainless steel skillet, over medium heat, brown ground beef, breaking it up with a fork, until no longer pink.
9. Drain off excess fat. Add garlic, onion, green pepper, and mushrooms. Saute until vegetables are tender, about 3 minutes.
10. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine reserved tomato puree, meat mixture, parsley, brown sugar, oregano, salt, and pepper.
11. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer sauce, stirring occasionally, until the texture of the sauce is to desired consistency and heated through.
12. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1 inch headspace. Reduce air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot sauce.
13. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to figertip-tight.