240° is the minimum temperature required to kill botulism spores. You can kill botulism toxins by boiling (212°) 10 minutes or more but any spores would still be viable. Old-timers routinely boiled green beans, meats, fish before consumption. It wasn't the canning that kept them safe; it was that last brief boiling. If you're canning a high-risk product like meat, an "appropriate time" and "appropriate pressure" is one which has been arrived at through laboratory testing to ensure that the contents have reached the necessary temperature (density of the product and amount, i.e. size of jars, are also factors). Carol

Thanks all! I meant to include the 7 Hour Lamb recipe with this post, but I forgot. Just in case someone doesn't knwo what I was refering to here is the recipe: Seven hour Lamb GIGOT DE SEPT HEURES From Les Halles and Anthony Bourdain 1 leg of lamb, about 6# 4 garlic cloves, sliced, plus 20 whole garlic cloves 1/4 cup olive oil salt & pepper 2 small onions, thinly sliced 4 carrots, peeled 1 bouquet garni 1 cup dry white wine 1 cup flour, 1 cup water Preheat oven to 300 F. Make many small incisions in lamb, place slivers of garlic in each incision. Rub lamb well with olive oil, season with salt & pepper. (At this point I would brown the lamb on all sidesÂbut thatÂs not necessary.) Place it in Dutch oven and add onions, carrots, bouquet garni, garlic, wine. Put lid on Dutch oven. Combine flour and water, make a 'caulk' and use it to seal the lid to the dutch oven. Place it in the 300 degree oven and cook for 7 hours. Yes, 7 hours. NO PEEKING--leave it alone. Remove the Dutch oven and break the seal. You don't have to eat the cooked flour paste. That's it. About a half hour to an hour of prep, then you leave it the heck alone for 7 hours. It's nearly foolproof. Serve it with whatever else you want, and a medium bodied red wine goes quite well with this (say, a nice Zinfandel) but a dry white (such as the remainder of the bottle you opened to get the cup of wine in the recipe) is fine as well if that's your preference. Bon appetit!

Oh, Annie, no rare venison? What a shame. Luckily, annual testing for the last ten years has shown no CWD here. Gardengrl, If you're serious about getting venison, you have to do a couple of things. First, you have to start hanging out in places where the majority of the folks are wearing camo accessorized with blaze orange. Clue #1 is large concentrations of pickup trucks in the parking lot. If people have bloodstains on their clothing, that's a good thing. Here it's the diner (6-8 am), the market that makes great lunches (11am-1pm), the butcher shop that processes deer (anytime), or the corner bar (anytime, but they are usually drowning their sorrows that they didn't get anything). Sport shops are another good place, but unless you're interested in buying something, it's a bit noticeable when you're just hanging out. Second, you gotta schmooze. "Hey, you been out hunting? Any luck today?" If yes: You - "What'd you get?" Camo person - "Nice buck/doe." They usually elaborate. You - "How big, do ya think?" Automatically subtract at least 30 pounds from the estimate. You - "What's your favorite way to cook it? I've had some really bad venison in the past, so I'm always looking for a better way/recipe..." Camo Person may say "Don't know, have to ask the other half" meaning wife, husband or significant other OR "Oh, here's my favorite way to cook/eat..." Go with it from there. A basic knowledge of what season it is (bow, muzzleloader, "did you get your doe yet?", shotgun, etc.) adds to your ambiance. Don't expect to get primo cuts for free right off the bat, but you could say something like "Hey, if you don't use the neck meat, I can make a mean batch of chili with it." or "You know, a front shoulder roast (in beef language, that would be a chuck roast) makes great sauerbraten. If you have an extra one..." You have to convince them you know what to do with it if they give you some, and it won't end up in the freezer for umpteen years or as dog food. I speak from personal experience on that one. Our son had a friend who got a deer, and gave it to him. Son Unit brought it out and we butchered it, ground some, made sausage, vacuum packed everything, and gave it back to him with instructions how to cook it, a pile of recipes, etc. Two days of hard work for us, mind you. Son Unit did help, but not much. 12 months later, he brought it all back because no one would eat it. Think we'll ever give him meat again?

I've never had venison. I would like to try it once, but I have to agree with not being comfortable with those who hunt just for sport. Even so, we have a whitetail overpopulation problem here, so the herd is not healthy and the woods won't be either if it continues. In that case, I think they should let the hunters thin the herd and give the meat to the food banks (if the clients will eat it, that is). I had never had lamb or mutton until I was an adult. We had mutton on the Navajo reservation and liked it. Lamb korma is one of my favorite dishes now. It took me awhile to like sheep's or goat's milk cheese -- some I still don't like. And I haven't yet found a taste for goat -- that smells and tastes nasty to me.