Homemade Pemmican Recipe

[corndog-44]

My favorite pemmican recipe is simple.

I make pemmican by starting with pulverized black and hard dry jerky then mixed with beef suet equal to the weight of powdered jerky. As I take some of this pemmican from the bag I may add berries and/or nuts or I may add vegetables for stew.

What's your favorite pemmican recipe?

[nell67]

For any who do not know beef suet is beef fat or tallow,you would be surprised how many Americans do not know what beef suet is.

[U.S.Marine2111]

For any who do not know beef suet is beef fat or tallow,you would be surprised how many Americans do not know what beef suet is.

Thanks for answering the question I was going to answer. Now, is this something you purchase? Is it available at the supermarket?

[nell67]

it is available online for purchase,just google beef suet and you should find a website to purchase.

[corndog-44]

Alternately, get your tallow/suet from a real butcher shop.

[trax]

the name "pemmican" comes from the Cree (and probalby Ojibway, they're very similar languages) word for fat or lard "pimik"

[RobertRogers]

An How to make pemmican article you can use. This method was used 100 years ago with good results by arctic explorers. Can't go wrong there.

[corndog-44]

This is the technique to make pemmican when your out in the woods:

Step # 1. Use fat from cooked fish or other meat in the wild to make pemmican. Soften the fat by mashing it around in your hands.

Step # 2. Dry the meat you want to preserve completely in the sun. You can also dry it slowly over a smoky fire to make pemmican.

Step # 3. Cut, grate or pound the cooked, dry meat until it is powder-like. You can use a knife, clean rocks, or whatever you have available if you are in a survival situation.

Step # 4. Add seasonings, nuts and berries to taste. Pound the berries and nuts into a powder before mixing into the meat powder.

Step # 5. Separate the meat mixture into clumps the size of golf balls. Add the fat to the clumps and mix well. You want about half and half of each in a clump to make pemmican.

Step # 6. Shape the clumps into cylinder sausage shapes. Or if you prefer, you can leave them as balls. Leave the pemmican to dry in the sun. It will harden, and as long as it is protected against moisture, it will be edible for years.

Step # 7. Eat the pemmican as is, cook it, or add it to stews for a larger meal. If you see mold forming on the pemmican, simply cut off the moldy part. The rest of it is still edible.

[corndog-44]

Forgot to mention that pemmican was originally stored in the stomach or intestines of animals. Then it was stored in rawhide bags. Modern day storage is in sealable plastic bags or other waterproof bags.

[Rob]

I know where I can get beef kidney suet will that work for the suet partof these recipices.

[Merlin]

I thank you Corndog-44 The more I read the more I learn so what did I just forget

[corndog-44]

I know where I can get beef kidney suet will that work for the suet partof these recipices.

Yes. Another good source would the suet found around the loins. If you substitute meat with other game; moose, caribou or deer work well. Never use the meat from bear, wolf or any other carnivore.

[RobertRogers]

So if you're not eating vegetarian people, avoid turning them into pemmican.

[HOP]

Many of my chili reciepes call for suet, I would get mine at the meat market often for free. Suet is not just fat but the flaky delicious fat that can be diced and browned I think when added for pemican it is cooked of and the liquid is added, the crispies left over are tasty.

[trax]

Pemmican was important enough during the white settlement of Manitoba that there was a war fought over it.

[corndog-44]

Pemmican was important enough during the white settlement of Manitoba that there was a war fought over it.

Are you referring to the Battle of Seven Oaks (present day Winnipeg, Manitoba) that was fought during the Pemmican War?

[trax]

Yep. Pemmican was so essential to winter survival that Red River settlers and Metis trappers for the northwest company fought a war over it. The power brokers behind the war had far greater reasons for wanting to let the war happen (as usual) but the essentials of survival were definitely on the line.

[trax]

Very astute corndog, you must be well read in history, most people would not have known that (including most Manitobans)

[corndog-44]

Very astute corndog, you must be well read in history, most people would not have known that (including most Manitobans)

Neither would I if it wasn't for studying-up on woodcraft skills and my interest in how the eastern longhunters survived. It was there that I read about Peter Pond and learned about the Pemmican War.

[trax]

Peter Pond was actually a student of my great, great, (I think 5x great) grandfather, Philip Turner, who was the first cartographer for the Hudson's Bay Company. I had ancestors on both sides of the Pemmican War so it's always been kind of a point of interest for me.