Pemmican - how are people doing?

[Charles]

Thanks, Dana. I'm going to make mine tomorrow. I have everything I need. I have two pounds of lean beef (london broil -- I think top round or flank --but it's very lean) and 1 pound of beef fat. I'm going to slice it across the grain into small slices and get to drying it. Then, I'll put it in the food processor like you did, and then add the rendered fat. Then, I'll make like a Native American of the Great Plain and enjoy it.

I plan to use a piece of it at the 6 mile mark of my half-marathon next weekend.

Charles

[Nyteez]

(10-23-2008 01:16 PM)Dixie Wrote:  

(10-14-2008 09:10 AM)chris m Wrote:  Couple of observations on pemmican:
The meat should be dehydrated from raw not cooked at less than 106 degrees which the raw foodists consider raw.
The reason is they claim it does not destroy the "good" things about eating raw.
There should be no reason to refrigerate as the quote goes something like "properly prepared should last almost indefinitely unrefigerated"

I think the point is to have an almost perfect portable convenient food.

chris

Well, I made up some hamburger (7% fat) jerky. It dehydrated at 105 F or so in about 6 hours. It isn't "crumbly" by any means. Tough and chewy. The taste with about a tablespoon of soy, Worchestershire, and 1carb Ketsup as flavorings, isn't too bad, but it grosses me out that it's raw hamburger. I'm usually not that squeamish.

I'm having a bit of trouble with the idea of mixing little pieces of it with fat and making "bars" out of it. Won't it melt if I carry it around in a backpack and become sludge? Just sounds disgusting to me. I was all into the idea of a kind of jerky-gorp thing, but that wouldn't have much fat in it. Am I just not getting this?

It is as stable as a chocolate bar. It doesn't melt, unless it is really hot.

Note: In my experience tallow (beef fat) becomes pretty hard & dry at room temp. Lard on the other hand is much softer & greasy feeling at room temp. You must use tallow for pemmican.

Gotta have the fat, that is what gives you energy. Dried meat is just protein, you don't get any energy from that.

[montmorency]

I guess critical for uses like Charles' race will be how fast he can digest the fat. (Not so critical for people doing low intensity exercise or able to break off and let it digest).

Stefansson talks about making it into a kind of soup with hot water, doesn't he. I guess that would be the most appetising way of eating it, e.g. if you were out camping, or similar.

[Charles]

(10-23-2008 05:13 PM)montmorency Wrote:  I guess critical for uses like Charles' race will be how fast he can digest the fat. (Not so critical for people doing low intensity exercise or able to break off and let it digest).

I'm wondering about that myself, Mike, so I have to try it in different ways after I make it. I have been impressed on the all-meat diet how I can eat and go do strenuous exercise without too much lag time. Before the Philadelphia race, I ate a big ribeye about 40 minutes before the start and I didn't even feel like I ate anything. It was quite amazing. On the way to the gym, if meat is cooking at home, I regularly pick in the pot or cut a slice or two and then head to the gym. My Ab work comes early in my workout so if it were a problem, I would know it pretty quick.

I'm thinking that a small piece of pemmican will be very nutrient dense and hopefully it will go down smoothly and do the job. A piece of steak would be hard because it would have to be broken down quickly but pemmican has already been broken down fine, the meat was raw so the nutrients are all present, and the fat is energy and a perservative. I would think it would be ideal.

I'll sure let you all know how it went, that's for sure.

Charles

[Charles]

Okay, I'll write this and I have to get out of here because my race is coming up.

I did begin my pemmican yesterday. I bought two pounds of flank steak or whatever it is, "london broil" because it was the leanest at the butcher. I also have 1 pound of beef fat.

I cut the london broil into strips about 1/4 to 1/8 and carefully removed any fatty parts. I put that into my dehydrator, which I got from Wal-Mart, same one as Dana's and began to dehydrate the meat. I put it on at 5:00 p.m. and it wasn't ready until 2:30 a.m. so it was 10 and 1/2 hours to dry it according to Stefansson's instructions.

I then put it in the food processor this morning, but after doing 3/4's of it, I have burnt up the food processor so I have to get a new one. The beef has been broken down to fine threads, almost powdery as the Plains Indians did it.

According to NBBA, 6 pounds of lean was used with 1 pound of fat. When the 6 pounds are dried and pulverized, they go down to a pound and you add equal fat to equal dried beef. I figure my two pounds will go down to about 1/3 of a pound so I will use that much fat. I will weigh the meat once I'm finished processing it.

I will update you again when I finish my race and go to Wal-Mart to get another food processor. (EDIT: I didn't ruin my food processor after all. It seems that the bottom part of the bowl has to be securely locked in or the thing won't work. A safety feature. Now, I have to take the new one back to the store! In case you're wondering, I used the 500 watt Hamilton Beach food processor for $39. I don't have some super-duper Kitchen-Aid one.)

Regards,

[Charles]

I finished processing my lean meat and now the shredded meat is about 1/2 pound whereas it was 2 pounds before I tried it for 10 and 1/2 hours. I just checked my NBBA and it says that the rendered fat is supposed to be the same weight as the shredded lean, so I'm now going to render a half-pound of fat. I have a pound so hopefully when I render it, it will equal a 1/2 pound of fat. I will combine the two in a bag and let it cool.

My daughter and I like the taste of the shredded lean but we'll see how it is once we add the fat. I'll have pictures from the experience tomorrow. I should have taken pictures the entire way through but I wasn't smart enough to do that.

Regards,

[Charles]

Okay, I've done it, and you know what, I like Pemmican. I made the original authentic stuff based on the directions from NBBA.

Quote:The first step in the making of pemmican, as correctly
given by the dictionaries and the Britannica, is that the
lean is sliced thin and dried. To make the drying effective,
all fat should be removed. The lean is then about what is
called "biltong" in South Africa and "jerky" throughout
the Americas, except that these (especially jerky) may sometimes
have more or less fat adhering.

I should have taken a picture here, but you already know what this looks like. I cut the lean meat into small strips and removed any fatty parts of the meat. The key here is to thoroughly dry the meat. It should practically be falling apart when you finish drying it. It took 10 1/2 hours for me. I did not pre-cook or season the meat. It was raw meat. Per NBBA, the raw meat was necessary to avoid scurvy. Those who cooked the meat first got scurvy. (Hanson)

To dry the meat, I used my Nesco dehydrator:

Quote:The next pemmican step was to pound the dried lean into
shreds—with a wooden mallet on a wooden block, or on a
stone, or with a stone hammer on wood or stone. To catch
all the shreds and powder, a buffalo or other hide was spread
out and upon it was laid the stone or wooden block that
formed the anvi

Rather than use a hammer, I used technology:



I let it run until the meat was finely shredded and almost powerdery. It was very light.

Quote:Next came the making of special rawhide bags for the
pemmican. The hide was that of the animal which was being
used, buffalo with buffalo meat, caribou with caribou meat.

I didn't have a special bag, but the biggest thing here was that the fat sealed the inside and opening of the bag which may be a reason the pemmican lasted so long. Plus, the fat covered every inch of the lean which protected it from the elements.

Quote:The bag prepared, the Indian would fill it lightly and
Huffily with shredded lean, somewhat as we fill a pillow
with feathers. Suet was then tried out and, in some cases at
least, was brought to the temperature used in frying doughnuts.
This very liquid fat was poured into the bag so that
it percolated everywhere, a film of it covering every shred
of lean

My lean went from 2 pounds fresh to 1/2 a pound dried and therefore I rendered a 1/2 pound of fat.



I used my food scale to weigh both to ensure they were the same.

I used a big bowl and a wooden spoon to combine the lean and fat.

Quote:With the pounded meat in a bowl somewhat as bread dough
is handled in making loaves. Handfuls of the resulting mixture
were then stuffed into the bags.
The sack filled, its mouth was sewed up and the seams
were rubbed with tallow to seal them. Then, before the fat
became hard, the bag was flattened out by trampling upon
it, or through some other form of pressure, to the ordinary
thickness of six or seven inches

If you don't season your food, then I think you can readily adapt to pemmican. Mine tasted just fine to me.



There you have it, the illustrated pemmican according to the Cree Indians!

[bluefizzure]

That is so awesome, thanks so much for posting the pics. It looks way easier to me now than when i've read how to do it.

Yummy!!!

Elizabeth

[Living_healthy]

The pictures have really helped. Thanks for the step by step instructions.

[chris m]

Charles - How are you storing it?
chris