I could NEVER get ALL the fat, so much meat will have a bit of marbling, which is needed to cook. The jars look just fine, and a bit of fat is normal.

Our cow wasn't as marbled as the leanest piece of meat from the store. People complained about it.

Another reason to hot pack I guess. Here's a picture now that it's cooled so you can see (and I did jiggle them around now that they've cooled to try to get everything under the liquid).

Even hot pack, you get that. You just can't get every bit of fat out of it. I hot packed mine.

It's fine. Odds are there will be some visible congealed fat.

You made your best effort at trimming and followed the guidelines and you're OK. Even with game meats I often see congealed fat.

Carol

Agree with the above and some meats will show even more fat. Even with overnight refrigeration and skimming the fats that congeal on top you can't get it all. The goal is just to get off as much as you possibly can. Your jars look really good.

Dave

Except they're upside down ;-) Thanks, I'll rest easy now. Kids don't think they're too appetizing (and definitely some leakage, I smelled meat when I was wiping them down but jars seem sealed - I will keep an eye on them). But if we get another freak Oct snowstorm - supposed to get really cold next week - at least we'll have something to throw in with the store-bought canned beans and Annie's salsa to heat on the grill's side burner ;-)

Kids don't think they're too appetizing

Hot pack looks better too. :)

Tell the kids that they don't eat with their eyes, but with their mouth. As long as the mouth says OK, (and you processed everything ok), then you're fine. Have them look at beef stew in the can, before warming it up, it looks disgusting to me.

But it's not just kids :)

The first time I canned salmon (Fill pint jars, skin side next to glass), DH kept looking at those jars on the counter....

Snakes in a jar.

What?

It looks like snakes in a jar, as he's watching it sideways like he thought it was going to leap out and strike at someone. Nevermind that it tasted better than the store bought stuff in opaque cans I'd been using that was $8.99 for the same amount container.

Snakes, yea I would had problems with that. I just know that I'm raising the grandkids and raised my sons, to taste at least a full sized bite before downgrading anything. After the taste/meal, we vote whether we needed to fix it again. We had a scale that went from; never ever again to once a year to once a month, to once a week, or I could eat this everyday.