Pemmican is made from lean, dried meat (usually beef nowadays, but bison, deer, and elk are alos common) which is crushed to a powder and mixed with an equal amount of hot, rendered fat (usually beef tallow). Crushed, dried berries are added as well. A man could subsist entirely on pemmican, drawing on the fat for energy and the protein for strength (and glucose, when needed).
Pemmican is an American Indian food that has a very long shelf life and it requires no refrigeration. It is a simple combination of meat jerky and your favorite dried fruit. It is a compact energy source that contains protein, fiber, fat, carbohydrates, natural fruit sugars, vitamins, and minerals. It also tastes great because it
Pemmican has several very important and desirable characteristics:
1. It uses both the lean meat and the fat from an animal.
2. It conveniently stores your summer food harvest for winter consumption.
3. It requires no refrigeration or canning jars for safe long-term food storage.
4. It does not weigh very much because it contains no significant moisture.
5. It is a complete meal all by itself.
6. It is very nutritious and very tasty.
7. It can easily be made in the wilderness without any special cookware or equipment.
Here are some basic pemmican recipes:
Recipe # 1
Ingredients:
4 cups lean meat (deer, beef, caribou or moose)
3 cups dried fruit
2 cups rendered fat
Unsalted nuts and about 1 shot of honey
Instructions:
Meat should be as lean as possible and double ground from your butcher if you do not have you own meat grinder. Spread it out very thin on a cookie sheet and dry at 180 degrees F for at least 8 hours or until sinewy and crispy. Pound the meat into a nearly powder consistency using a blender or other tool. Grind the dried fruit, but leave a little bit lumpy for texture. Heat rendered fat on stove at medium until liquid. Add liquid fat to dried meat and dried fruit, and mix in nuts and honey. Mix everything by hand. Let cool and store. Can keep and be consumed for several years.
Recipe # 2
Ingredients:
2 lbs dried beef (see recipe 1 for drying instructions)
1.5 cup raisins
Beef suet
Instructions:
Grind meat to fine pulp in a blender. Now add in the raisins. Chop this mix enough to break up the raisins and mix in well. Melt the suet to a liquid and pour into the mixture, using just enough to hold the meat and raisins together. Now allow this to cool slightly. Put this into a pan and let it cool completely. Next, cut the pemmican into strips, than divide it into bars of about 4 inches long by 1 inch wide. Bag these separately and you can store them for several months.
Recipe # 3
Ingredients:
Dried lean beef, buffalo, or venison (see recipe 1 for drying instructions)
Beef suet
Seedless dried fruit
Instructions:
Melt the suet until it becomes golden brown and liquid. Strain out any solids. If you cool it, re-melt it and strain it again it will improve the shelf life of the pemmican. Grind the meat into a powder. Chop or grind dried fruit and add it to meat. Pour liquid suet onto meat/fruit mixture. Mixes best if suet is warm, and allows you to use less of it. Now, press the pemmican into a tin using a spoon. Let cool in the fridge, than turn it out and cut into bars the size of candy bars. Wrap each bar in wax paper or paper lunch bag, label and store.
Recipe # 4
Ingredients:
2 cups dates
3 cups powdered jerky (or powdered tofu-jerky)
2 cups raisins
Honey (as a binding agent, add as much as needed)
2 cups nuts
Instructions:
Grind all this material together, except for the honey. Add in the honey a little bit at a time, and mix well each time. Pour into pan until about three quarters of an inch thick or make them directly into bars. Refrigerate and cut bars out of pan. This is a sweet concoction and in cold climates, honey can be replaced with suet and processed just as in pemmican recipes seen above.
While the idea is to make pemmican yourself, there are companies that make pemmican as a commercial product. One such commercial version is the
Tanka Bar, Natural Buffalo Cranberry Bar. If you are not sure whether you will like pemmican, buy a little first and try it; with the goal of course being that your will begin making your own.
Finally, here is a YouTube video showing
How to Make Pemmican.
