Simple and Delicious Pemmican Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the ratio of fat to meat in pemmican? ›

The pânsâwân was then spread across a tanned animal hide pinned to the ground, where it was beaten with flails or ground between two large stones till it turned into very small pieces, almost powder-like in its consistency. The pounded meat was mixed with melted fat in an approximate 1:1 ratio by weight.

Although we definitely like the fat, the fat is best added after the lean meat is dried and pulverized. This will make the pemmican with the best shelf life. 1–Place raw ground meat in a mixing bowl. Mix in your favorite spices like: black pepper, anise, rosemary, lavender.

To make your own, choose high-quality ingredients, such as dried fish or meat, dried berries, and fat. Grind the protein and berries until they're powdery and then mix them with warm rendered fat to make a thick paste. You can spread the pemmican flat and cut it into strips or shape it into a log for easy slicing.

My Pemmican Notes

Round is a good cut. Prepping: Remove all visible fat. To slice, use longest knife on partially frozen meat. Drying: Better taste if not cooked.

Render beef or bear fat (suet is preferred) – slowly heat trimmed fat until it turns to a clear liquid, strain off liquid. Let the liquid cool. This liquid is the rendered, shelf-stable fat to be used in the pemmican. Mix your dry powders and salt.

I'll then reduce the heat to 165F for about 12 hours or until the meat is cracker dry. I don't want any moisture at all in this beef. Once my meat has completely dried out I'll be using my blender (Vitamix 750) to completely pulverize the meat and turn it into a powder.

Do not substitute a soft fat such as lard, bear fat, duck, or goose fat, Crisco or butter. The denser and more saturated the fat, the better. Combine powdered meat and berries, pouring melted tallow until coated. The ratio is flexible, but I use roughly four parts meat, three parts berries, and two parts fat.

Pemmican ingredients varied widely, but they always included lean venison or buffalo meat mixed with fat. Some pemmican recipes also incorporated dried berries and nuts for added flavor and nutrition.

Take 1 pound of finely ground jerky Add 4 tablespoons of finely ground or powdered dried fruit, berries or herbs (such as sage, cherries or blueberries) Add sugar to taste if sweet pemmican is desired Mix in just enough lard (such as Crisco) to hold the dried ingredients together.

Our modern-day version of pemmican is a protein-rich meat product featuring a tasty blend of bison, beef, berries and other natural ingredients.

Can you use bacon grease for pemmican? ›

Make Pemmican: Animal fat is the basis of this survival food that's been around for centuries. Combine bacon fat, lean dried meat, berries, and nuts and pound it into a paste. Flatten the mixture into patties and let it sit until it hardens.

Jerky, pemmican, hardtack, and parched corn are ways to put game, livestock, wild berries, and garden produce by in times of plenty. Easily made, transported, and stored, they became frontier staples for travelers, hunters, and warriors. They are still excellent trail foods and emergency rations.

Add melted lard slowly while mixing. Two tablespoons of fat are used for each 4-5 ounces of meat plus 1/3 cup of fruit. Fat changes the consistency and makes it appear semi-moist instead of dry and improves the flavor and texture. Store in paper bags.

You don't want to survive on pemmican alone. Strenuous backpacking will lead to daily glycogen depletion, best re- plenished with carbohydrates. For low to moderate exertion of long duration, diets high in fat work relatively well, but require a prior period of adaptation.

Pemmican, while nutritious, has a more uniform taste profile - predominantly meaty with the added richness of fat and a slight sweetness if berries are included. You won't find too much variation in different batches or styles.

And on this, experts concur — the most popular and flavorful ratio of lean to fat comes in at 80/20. Paul Vaccari, owner of New York City's Piccinini Brothers, which sells to restaurants as well as individuals, says his most popular mixture for hamburgers is an 80/20 ground chuck.

It really depends on what you're looking for in your ground beef. Generally, the 80 to 20 ratio is preferred for hamburger patties. You can use it in our best burger recipe. While it's true that leaner meat helps keep the patty together, a higher level of fat ultimately makes for a juicier, more flavorful burger.

To make more healthful burgers—but ones that are still pretty juicy and tasty—choose ground beef that is 80 percent lean and 20 percent fat. Ground beef that contains less than 15 percent fat makes dry and somewhat tasteless burgers.

Generally meats consist of about 20 percent protein, 20 percent fat, and 60 percent water. The amount of fat present in a particular portion of meat varies greatly, not only with the kind of meat but also with the quality; the “energy value” varies in direct proportion with the fat content (see table).