Pemmican: My way

[LongWayAround]

The pemmican you guys have posted looks much better than mine did. Mine was objectively not very good, I'm fairly certain I went too heavy on the fat. The dog loved it but everyone else thought it was gross. With a full freezer this year, I think I may have to make another run at it.

 

[mt terry d]

I assume freeze dried berries would be best, but more expensive. I really want to make this, but my meat stock isn’t much this year.

Yes, they work really well but , as you say, pricey. I'd like to be able to use fruit I can dry myself.

 

[JBirthisel]

The pemmican you guys have posted looks much better than mine did. Mine was objectively not very good, I'm fairly certain I went too heavy on the fat. The dog loved it but everyone else thought it was gross. With a full freezer this year, I think I may have to make another run at it.

Yeah too much fat leaves a real filmy feel in your mouth. If you are trying to eat it straight


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[rem308]

Sounds fantastic. Might have to try it

 

[Clarktar]

Another spin on pemican that I do is just 50/50 powdered meat and fat. I dehydrate my meat like above and blend to powder. But I’ll eat these as a dinner meal. I’ll throw the pemican puck in a bag with a beef/chicken bouillon cube, add some water. It makes a tasty soup if you’re not super hungry, easy to add rice or mash potatoes for a full meal.


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Add some of @Larry Bartlett minimus nutrition to that !!

I'm going to have to try out some of this pemican stuff

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[JBirthisel]

Add some of @Larry Bartlett minimus nutrition to that !!

I'm going to have to try out some of this pemican stuff

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Personally I like whole meat more than ground beef seemed to leave it fluffier and less grainy. Could be that my blender sucked.


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[Clarktar]

I got meats, it's the fat I don't have.

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[Mike Islander]

The pemmican you guys have posted looks much better than mine did. Mine was objectively not very good, I'm fairly certain I went too heavy on the fat. The dog loved it but everyone else thought it was gross. With a full freezer this year, I think I may have to make another run at it.

Recipes call for equal parts meat and fat, but in practice that is far too much. I add fat slowly and mix until about like thick peanut butter or slightly thicker.

I bought Wagyu beef tallow on Amazon. Looks like beautiful Crisco, but tastes wonderful.

 

[nodakian]

Some notes from my pemmican experiments:
- 2:1 or 3:1 meat to fruit by volume is about right.
- I prefer ground meat over strip as it's easier to get powdered in the blender.
- Use the blender when no one else is home.
- I prefer rendered bacon fat over beef. I render my own, but you can get pre rendered Bacon Up at some grocery stores.
- Peaches, strawberries, apples, pears, cherries, mangos, apricots, bananas, and pineapples are easy to dehydrate and tasty. Blueberries and cranberries are also good but hard to dehydrate.
- Chicken works, too. Super lean.
- Salt goes well with the sweetness of the fruit.

I love the stuff but must break in my digestive system slowly. I overdid it on a camp trip, and let's just say it did me very wrong.

 

[AdamLewis]

My wife and I have pretty well settled on smoking the beef for a couple of hours then finishing it in the dehydrator. It picks up just enough smoke to give it some flavor.

I also usually dry some blue berries and maybe add a bit of honey if the berries aren't all that sweet. Blast it all to powder in a Vitamix then add 35ish% melted fat. Usually tallow but I killed a buffalo and that fat makes for much harder pemmican that hold up well bouncing around in a pack.

 

[mt terry d]

I've settled on this ( for now)

2 cups of powdered elk ( sinews sifted out)
1 cup powdered freeze dried blueberries
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup honey
1 cup tallow

Making a bunch for my 1 year old grandson. Should be like rocket fuel for him.

I like Adam's method of smoking first. That sounds tasty.

 

[mt terry d]

Two things:
1) While frozen, sliced wafer thin with a Cabelas electric slicer. Then dehydrate and it powders up very nicely without beating the daylights out of the blender.
2) The grandkid loves it.

 

[WiscoHoundsman]

Any thoughts on if bear fat rendered down could be used? Thinking about trying to make some of this sometime this fall

 

[mt terry d]

My guess ( and it's only a guess) is that it would be like bacon grease
and would not take heat well.

That said, for colder conditions it may be fine.
Certainly worth a try.

My most recent batches I dehydrated some of the neighbor's cherries and chopped them
into small pieces to add. It gave a nice tangy taste. I also added a tablespoon of salt as we
were going on an overnighter in the heat.

 

[Mike Islander]

Any thoughts on if bear fat rendered down could be used? Thinking about trying to make some of this sometime this fall

It would likely be some of the best tasting pemican ever made. Just keep it in vacuum bags in the fridge (for years) or in the house (for 6 months).

 

[Harvey_NW]

These sound and look delicious! Definitely sending this to the wife and trying to get some made up before fall.

Question: I have a fair amount of deer/elk burger ground up in the freezer that's only 10% pork fat added so still pretty lean in general, is that lean enough or would I be better off grinding something like an elk round and only adding tallow?

 

[mt terry d]

I'm not sure that will dehydrate enough so you can turn it to powder.

 

[hibernation]

Anybody else try coconut oil instead of tallow? Just made a batch and it's promising so far.

 

[mt terry d]

I have not
I want fat.