pemmican?

[Woods Dweller]

pemmican: I have never made pemmican but would like a recipe.

I understand that pemmican is powdered Jerky, some fat, and dried berries, put into a casing and smoked.?

I believe that modern day “slim Jim” is the closes thing to pemmican.?

 

[Claude Mathis]

I use 3 parts meat to one part berries (currents), with enough fat to bind it together. Pour the fat into bowl with meat and berries and mix until it binds together, then spread on a cookie sheet, one inch thick.

After it cools (hardens), I cut it into bars and store it in waxed paper. I've never heard of smoking it.

 

[Homesteader]

Claude, do you dry the currants in a dehydrator before mixing it up, or any other sort of prep to the berries?

 

[the11]

The classic recipe here in the Canadian prairies calls for bison meat, bison fat (preferably marrow fat) and dried saskatoon berries. And I have never heard of smoking it either.

 

[redwing]

The common Service{Sarvice}Berry is used in this part of the world. :thumbsup:

 

[Woods Dweller]

Back in 78 a guy I knew had made some pemmican and it was in small assuage links and he had it hanging a smoke house cold smoking it. It was great!

the11 Do you use the same portions as Claude?

Has or does anyone use assuage links? Or ever hear of using assuage links?

Claude I am going to give your recipe a try! When you say (hardens) do you mean hard like hard tack? Or like a brownie?

 

[Claude Mathis]

Claude I am going to give your recipe a try! When you say (hardens) do you mean hard like hard tack? Or like a brownie?

Just until the fat cools and firms up. If the proportions are correct, it will hold together when cold. If it "crumbles", there's not enough fat.

 

[Claude Mathis]

Claude, do you dry the currants in a dehydrator before mixing it up, or any other sort of prep to the berries?

I buy them already dried. Actually, they call them "dried", but they're still somewhat soft and chewy.

 

[crockett]

The best fat, IMHO, is that from marrow bones- it is pure white and like butter. Pound up the jerky- this is the type of jerky that is just dried meat, without any salt or seasoning- that stuff could draw moisture.
The Indians pounded up the whole berry, seeds/stone. etc but you might like it with just the dried currants, etc. The dried fruit (I am told) actually shortens the shelf life to a degree but as long as you plan to eat it in a year or so I think you are good to go. This meat was packed in "skin bags" but I don't think that means intestines- that would be sausage. I think.

 

[Otter]

Simple, simple stuff to make. I use basically the same proportions as Claude has laid out. Usually 3:1 meat to berries. I often use dried cranberries and when I do, I mix 4:1 meat to berries because cranberries are quite tangy. I like dried red raspberries, too. I also mix in a Tablespoon or so of salt per batch, but you sure don't have to. I use muffin tins to press the mixture into and set them in the fridge to harden - I usually get a couple dozen muffin size pucks out of a batch. Wrap in waxed paper and store in a ziplock bag. usually, I'll go to the butcher shop and get beef trimmings and render my own tallow, but last time I went, he didn't have any (he butchers deer and used all he had for burger) - you can use lard in a pinch. Don't know how long pemmican will remain edible . . . I usually consume a batch in a week or two. I haven't made "traditional" jerky since I started making pemmican about 15 years ago.

 

[the11]

Back in 78 a guy I knew had made some pemmican and it was in small assuage links and he had it hanging a smoke house cold smoking it. It was great!

the11 Do you use the same portions as Claude?

Has or does anyone use assuage links? Or ever hear of using assuage links?

Claude I am going to give your recipe a try! When you say (hardens) do you mean hard like hard tack? Or like a brownie?

Actually, I've never made it. It is on the to do list though. But i talked to a native woman about how to make it, and yes, it is basically as Claude says. She said that saskatoons (same thing as the service berry)were most commonly used, they sometimes also used chokecherries. I wondered how that would work with the pits, but she just said you dry them, and crush them pits and all. Seems like the cyanide content would be a bit high for me. :haha:

I have heard of using sausage casing to store it in as well. But traditionally it was usually stored in a green rawhide pouches called a parfleche. Some of these have been found where the pemmican inside was over 100 years old, and still could have been eaten.

 

[Claude Mathis]

But traditionally it was usually stored in a green rawhide pouches called a parfleche. Some of these have been found where the pemmican inside was over 100 years old, and still could have been eaten.

That might be one of the ones I lost. :wink:

 

[davy]

That might be one of the ones I lost. :wink:

Well Claude, I reckon they got your age right either way! :grin: :blah: Musta been one of your newer batches that one ... :idunno: :hmm:

Davy

 

[Sunkmanitu Tanka]

I use 3 parts meat to one part berries (currents), with enough fat to bind it together. Pour the fat into bowl with meat and berries and mix until it binds together, then spread on a cookie sheet, one inch thick.

After it cools (hardens), I cut it into bars and store it in waxed paper. I've never heard of smoking it.

There is a summer variety to that ... take the same amount of meat and berries, but replace the fat by honney ... the amount also just enough to bind the meat and berries into a 'cookie'.... It is nice to eat... next time you make jerky just try out a small batch ... I bet you will like it!

 

[Claude Mathis]

I use 3 parts meat to one part berries (currents), with enough fat to bind it together. Pour the fat into bowl with meat and berries and mix until it binds together, then spread on a cookie sheet, one inch thick.

After it cools (hardens), I cut it into bars and store it in waxed paper. I've never heard of smoking it.

There is a summer variety to that ... take the same amount of meat and berries, but replace the fat by honney ... the amount also just enough to bind the meat and berries into a 'cookie'.... It is nice to eat... next time you make jerky just try out a small batch ... I bet you will like it!

Sounds tasty.

The idea behind traditional pemmican (meat, fat, berries), is that it's a complete food, in that it contains protein, fat and carbohydrates.

 

[Homesteader]

Everything but vitamin C, right*? So have a nice cup of pine needle tea with your pemmican, and you're good to go over the entire winter!

(*I know I read that somewhere, but I'd have a tough time documenting it at the moment.)

 

[Claude Mathis]

Everything but vitamin C, right*?

Not necessarily. Most "Native" recipes for pemmican call for currants (sometimes chokecherries). Currents are very high in vitamin C.

 

[the11]

A lot of "trade pemmican" did not have berries in it, but the stuff that did commanded the highest price because it tasted better, and fended off scurvy.

 

[Homesteader]

Very interesting info, guys. I'll have to incorporate some currants in the next batch of pemmican I make up. Any other berries y'all really like to add? Any to avoid?

 

[the11]

Blueberries would probably be a good substitute for saskatoons as they taste quite a bit alike. But I'm just guessing here.