thermocouple
03-27-2008, 03:31 PM
Taken from a historical re-enactor message board:
Best Pemmican Recipe
Ingredients:
- Beef, Buffalo, Venison, or Lamb Jerky: 2-6 lbs Beef Jerky Recipe (http://microwebtech.com/)
- Beef Suet (animal fat) - human-consumption-grade. Make sure to ask, or they will give you bird-feed grade. Get a real good hank.
- Dried cherries, about 1 cup (also cranberries, blueberries, fruit leathers, raisins, dried apples, etc.)
Render (melt) the suet, until it becomes a rich golden-brown liquid. Strain it and throw away any solids that remain. Allow it to cool - it will turn white. (Rendering twice will give the suet better keeping qualities.)
In a food processor (or strong blender), grind the dried meat to a powder. Chop or grind the dried fruits and mix them with the dried meat powder.
Heat the suet for the second time. Make sure it is as hot as it can get without smoking. (Smoking means burning.) Pour the suet into the dried meat mixture, adding JUST ENOUGH to moisten the particles. If the suet is too cool you will have to use a lot of it to stick the mixture together and the pemmican will be too rich and fatty. At this point, if the suet is cooling down too quickly to allow it to soak in properly, you can microwave the whole mixture to warm it up.
Press the warm pemmican into a bar tin, using the back of a spoon. Allow it to cool in the fridge then turn it out and cut it into bars about the size and shape of candy bars.
Wrap each bar in waxed paper or Saran wrap and close it with a sticky label or masking tape displaying the type of pemmican you have made - e.g. "Venison & Blueberry", or "Plain Beef" or "Buffalo & Apple/Peach".
I have been told that pemmican will keep for months out of the fridge, if properly made. This makes it a wonderful high energy traveling food.
Lightly salting or peppering the pemmican after it cools will add additional flavor. The pemmican, like all dried foods, should be protected from heat and light. Depending on the ingredients, preparation, and storage conditions the pemmican should last up to 8 months or better. Freezing will definitely extend the life.
Pemmican has a very high food value. Made as the basic recipe above, it has 185 calories, 10 grams of protein, and 15 grams of fat per ounce.
Best Pemmican Recipe
Ingredients:
- Beef, Buffalo, Venison, or Lamb Jerky: 2-6 lbs Beef Jerky Recipe (http://microwebtech.com/)
- Beef Suet (animal fat) - human-consumption-grade. Make sure to ask, or they will give you bird-feed grade. Get a real good hank.
- Dried cherries, about 1 cup (also cranberries, blueberries, fruit leathers, raisins, dried apples, etc.)
Render (melt) the suet, until it becomes a rich golden-brown liquid. Strain it and throw away any solids that remain. Allow it to cool - it will turn white. (Rendering twice will give the suet better keeping qualities.)
In a food processor (or strong blender), grind the dried meat to a powder. Chop or grind the dried fruits and mix them with the dried meat powder.
Heat the suet for the second time. Make sure it is as hot as it can get without smoking. (Smoking means burning.) Pour the suet into the dried meat mixture, adding JUST ENOUGH to moisten the particles. If the suet is too cool you will have to use a lot of it to stick the mixture together and the pemmican will be too rich and fatty. At this point, if the suet is cooling down too quickly to allow it to soak in properly, you can microwave the whole mixture to warm it up.
Press the warm pemmican into a bar tin, using the back of a spoon. Allow it to cool in the fridge then turn it out and cut it into bars about the size and shape of candy bars.
Wrap each bar in waxed paper or Saran wrap and close it with a sticky label or masking tape displaying the type of pemmican you have made - e.g. "Venison & Blueberry", or "Plain Beef" or "Buffalo & Apple/Peach".
I have been told that pemmican will keep for months out of the fridge, if properly made. This makes it a wonderful high energy traveling food.
Lightly salting or peppering the pemmican after it cools will add additional flavor. The pemmican, like all dried foods, should be protected from heat and light. Depending on the ingredients, preparation, and storage conditions the pemmican should last up to 8 months or better. Freezing will definitely extend the life.
Pemmican has a very high food value. Made as the basic recipe above, it has 185 calories, 10 grams of protein, and 15 grams of fat per ounce.