Are you looking for some excellent pemmican recipes?

Wait, what is this thing called pemmican and where did it come from?
For starters, pemmican is originally a Cree word for rendered fat. Pemmican is a
food used by a variety of Native peoples for many generations, and was adopted
by the fur traders in the 18th and 19th centuries. It likely originates from Nor
th America. Native American scouts who spent a great deal of time on the go depe
nded on having portable, high-energy, highly nutritious, and filling foods that
would last for long periods of time. Often times pemmican was their food of choi
ce.
This amazing stuff is a dried mixture of meat, berries and rendered fat (also ca
lled suet or tallow). It is an invaluable survival food that when prepared prope
rly using good pemmican recipes can last anywhere from several months to several
years without refrigeration!
Pemmican is a great asset to have with you while exploring the wilderness even t
oday. Though most classic pemmican recipes require the use of meat and fat, it i
s also possible to make it vegetarian as described below.
Here are some great pemmican recipes you can try out to make this amazing food.
Try out the following 4 recipes and see which one you like best!
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 dr
y at 180 degrees F for at least 8 hours or until sinewy and crispy. Pound the me
at into a nearly powder consistency using a blender or other tool. Grind the dri
ed fruit, but leave a little bit lumpy for fun texture. Heat rendered fat on sto
ve 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 enou
gh to break up the raisins and mix in well. Melt the suet to a liquid and pour i
nto the mixture, using just enough to hold the meat and raisins together. Now al
low 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 long by 1 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. I
f 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 spo
on. 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 littl
e bit at a time, and mix well each time. Pour into pan until about three quarter
s 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.
Tips for making good pemmican
Here are some tips for you to improve your ability to use pemmican recipes prope
rly, and make good pemmican:
Talk to your local butcher to acquire the suet. A local co-op butcher might have
the healthiest choices in terms of organic meats. You may be able to acquire the
suet for free in certain places.
When rendering (melting) the suet, be careful not to burn it or make it smoke.
The warmer the climate you are going to be using the pemmican in, the less fat yo
u need in it.
This is also true for the time of year. Use less fat for the summer time, more fo
r winter.
Label what you make, especially if you try different recipes.
Lastly, remember to experiment with your own recipes. The key points for making
pemmican are to make sure that you render the fat (suet) properly and to make su
re that the meat and fruit you put into the recipe are very dry, not cooked or p
artially dry.
Try making some pemmican of your own today!
Deer Jerky
1 pound boneless venison roast
+4 tablespoons soy sauce

+4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

+2 tablespoons liquid smoke flavoring
+1 tablespoon ketchup

Heinz Tomato Ketchup Regular

2 For $5.00 - expires in 2 days

+1/4
+1/4
+1/4
+1/2
+Add

teaspoon pepper
teaspoon garlic powder
teaspoon onion salt
teaspoon salt
all ingredients to list

Directions
Print

Prep
30 m
Cook
8 h
Ready In
16 h 30 m
1
Slice meat into long strips, 1 inch wide and 1/8 inch thick. In a large releasab
le plastic bag, combine soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, liquid smoke, ketchup,
pepper, garlic powder, onion salt and salt. Place meat in, and close bag. Refrig
erate overnight. Knead occasionally, to evenly distribute marinade.
2
Preheat oven to 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Place a pan on the bottom of oven
to catch drips, or line with aluminum foil.
3
Place meat strips on a rack so that they do not touch each other, and dehydrate
for 6 to 8 hours in the oven, or until desired consistency is achieved.

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Footnotes

Tip
Aluminum foil can be used to keep food moist, cook it evenly, and make clean-up
easier.
Beef Jerky
3 pounds rump roast

Beef Roast Bottom Round

1 lb For $4.49 - expires in 2 days

Beef Roast Boneless Rump

1 lb For $4.49 - expires in 2 days

+3 cups soy sauce

+3 cups packed brown sugar
+4 fluid ounces hickory-flavored liquid smoke
+Add all ingredients to list

Directions
Print

Prep
1 h
Cook
12 h
Ready In
13 h
Slice roast into slabs approximately 1/4 inch thick, (Note: you can have this do
ne at the grocery store or butcher). Trim off all of the fat from the edges. Cut
the slabs into pencil-like strips (about 1/4 inch wide), and about 4 inches lon
g.
2
In a large bowl, combine the soy sauce, brown sugar and hickory-flavored liquid
smoke; blend well. Place all of the meat into the bowl of marinade. Cover and pl
ace in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
3
Place the meat in a food dehydrator for about 12 to 20 hours, depending how dry
you like your jerky. Rotate the trays after 6 hours. For example: Bottom tray on
top, top tray on bottom, second tray from bottom to be second tray from top, an
d so on.
Smoke house plans
Smokehouse Plans
by Jeff Phillips | Posted on October 6, 2012
Print Friendly
6656 Views

# 3

smokehouse2

Smokehouse plans are hard to come by sometimes.. We are happy to say that Ernest
, a member of the forum, graciously sent in some pictures and info on his home-b

uilt smokehouse that he built in his back yard. I know there are some of you who
have thought about doing this but don't know where to start or are unable to fi
nd some good plans. These are not plans as you would normally see them but it ma
y serve to give you some ideas on how to proceed in building your own smokehouse
.

Here is the paraphrased email I recieved from Ernest along with the pictures he
sent at the bottom:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I built it from lumber that I already had that was torn out of an old office bui
lding my wife inherited. The board and batten look was not planned but was conve
nient for the lumber I had. It measures 3' across x 4 foot deep x 6 1/2' tall at
the peak.
Click to Enlarge
I built removable wooden shelves to accommodate briskets, fish or whatever, they
can be taken out for cleaning or to make more space for hanging. It has hanging
racks in the top that will accommodate sausage, poultry and roasts or hams in b
ags.
Click to Enlarge
The firebox is a 55 gallon drum with a removable lid to allow me to easily clean
out the ashes. The firebox sits on concrete patio blocks at each end. I used a
6" ax 24" stove pipe with a damper to deliver the smoke. To keep the wooden side
s from burning I directed the stove pipe through a thing I bought at the hardwar
e store that you set a cast iron fireplace on, the name of that escapes me at th
e moment, the thermometer came from my turkey fryer and is long enough to give a
fairly accurate tem reading. I use a mixture of kitty litter and sawdust on the
floor to absorb the drips.
Click to Enlarge
Just for fun I made it look like an outhouse! I'm sure my neighbors were relieve
d when they first saw the smoke coming out!!! The moon in the front is part of t
he draft system. All drafts are covered on the inside with 1/4" hardware cloth t
o keep out the dirt daubers we have so many of here in Texas.
My next improvement will be to run electricity to it. I don't know too much abou
t Oklahoma these days, my first wife was from there, but down here it gets prett
y dark at night! It occurred to me that with electricity I could also add an ele
ctric hotplate to help control the temperature .