Pemmican Recipe

Pemmican is often called the “ultimate survival food” and rightly deserves its title as a “superfood.”

It is very easy to make yourself without any special ingredients or tools necessary, just follow the simple instructions below.

Making pemmican is very easy, and you can adjust the recipe however you’d like, such as by adding spices, herbs, and honey.

So long as everything you add is DRY, then the pemmican won’t go bad. (More on how to store pemmican and shelf life below).

Pemmican is the ultimate survival food: very easy to make, calorie dense and can last for decades.

2 cups chicken jerky 4-5 tbps coconut oil, melted Herbs or spices like thyme or curry

2 cups jerky 1 cup dried blueberries 1 cup sunflower seeds or nuts, crushed 2 tsp honey ¼ cup peanut butter, melted

pemmican recipe

How to Make Pemmican

pemmican recipe

Pemmican, made from dried beef and rendered fat, is the ultimate compact meal or snack. It keeps for years (yes, years!) at room temperature. Try this basic recipe as is, then next time you make it, go ahead and experiment with slightly different meat-to-fat ratios, different types of berries, and adding your favorite dried herbs and spices.

Prep: 15min

Total: -467177h6min18sec

Yield: 16

Serving Size: 1/16 of recipe

Nutrition Facts: servingSize 1/16 of recipe, calories 242 calories, Sugar 1g, Fat 21g, Saturated Fat 10g, Trans Fat <1g, Carbohydrate 2g, Fiber <1g, Protein 11g, Cholesterol 49mg, netcarbs 2g

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 lbs lean, grass-fed shoulder roast
  • Salt and pepper
  • 8 ounces fresh or frozen wild blueberries
  • 8 ounces grass-fed bison or beef kidney fat, leaf fat, suet, or tallow, diced small

Instruction:

  1. Let the meat firm up in the freezer, then slice it thin. After adding liberal amounts of salt and pepper, set the oven to the lowest possible temperature (around 150 degrees Fahrenheit) and lay out the strips of meat directly onto a rack. Keep the oven door slightly open to prevent moisture buildup. (You can also use a food dehydrator for this step.)
  2. Put the blueberries on a small rimmed baking sheet to dry out with the meat.
  3. Let the meat dry out for about 15 hours, or until it takes on a crispy jerky characteristic that breaks apart easily. Check on the blueberries every couple of hours during this time and remove them when they are fully dried.
  4. Pulverize the jerky in the food processor or blender until it becomes powder. Transfer the meat powder to a large heat-proof bowl.
  5. Repeat the process for the blueberries. No need to wash the blender in between – you’ll mix the dried meat and dried berries together anyway. Again, you want a powder. Add it to the bowl with the meat powder.
  6. Next, render the fat by cooking it slowly in a pan over super-low heat, stirring frequently. Watched closely so that it doesn’t burn. When the fat stops bubbling, the rendering is done. Strain the fat through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any remaining solids.
  7. Slowly pour the liquid fat into the meat and berry powder, stirring constantly. Add just enough so that the fat soaks into the powder. If you poured in too much fat too quickly, you can add a bit of almond meal to firm it up.
  8. Press the mixture into a baking pan (8- or 9-inches square) lined with parchment paper, or roll it into balls. When cool, cut it into bars if applicable and transfer the pemmican into an air-tight storage container.

Pemmican Recipe

pemmican recipe

Pemmican is the ultimate survival food: very easy to make, calorie dense and can last for decades.

Prep: 2h

Total: 17h

Yield: 2930

Nutrition Facts: calories 2930 calories

Ingredients:

  • Red meat: Traditionally game meat is used, but now beef is most common. 5lbs of meat will make 1lb of dried meat
  • Fat (suet): You will need to render the fat into tallow. Instructions below. Use about a 1:6 ratio of fat and dried meat, but you can experiment. The ratio doesn’t have to be exact!
  • Salt: 1tsp salt per pound of meat
  • Optional: dried berries, herbs, spices, honey

Instruction:

  1. Cut fat off of the meat: You should only dry the meat, not any fat on it!
  2. Salt the meat: This will help inhibit bacteria growth and make the pemmican taste better.
  3. Dry the meat: Instructions follow.
  4. Turn the dry meat into a powder: A meat grinder is best, but you can also use a blender or food processor. It needs to be almost a powder with no big chunks in it.
  5. Turn the berries into a powder: Same as with the meat.
  6. Mix the powdered meat and powdered berries together.
  7. Heat the fat so it liquefies.
  8. Pour the fat over the powdered meat/berry mixture. The ratio of fat to dried mixture is about 1:6, but you can experiment.
  9. Let cool and form into balls or bars.
  10. Wrap in wax paper or plastic bags and store!

How to Make Pemmican: 14 Steps (with Pictures) – wikiHow

pemmican recipe

wikiHow article about How to Make Pemmican.

Ingredients:

  • 1⁄4 pound (110 g) of dried fish or red meat (such as salmon, deer, beef, or caribou)
  • 1/2 cup (75 g) of dried berries (such as Saskatoon berries, blueberries, or cranberries)
  • 1/2 cup (100 g) of rendered fat or bacon grease
  • 1/8 teaspoon (0.7 g) of salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon (0.3 g) of freshly ground black pepper, optional

Instruction:

  1. Choose dried meat or fish. You can make pemmican with your choice of protein or a combination of proteins. Purchase salmon, deer, beef, or caribou that don’t contain preservatives or added flavorings or dry your own. To dry your own, start with 3⁄4 pound (340 g) of fresh meat or fish since it will lose weight as it dries. Briefly cook it in a 350 °F (177 °C) oven and turn it off. Leave it to dry in the oven for about 1 day. For a hands-off way to dry meat or fish, put the prepared meat in a dehydrator and dry it for 8 to 12 hours. For pemmican that has the most nutritional value, choose grass-fed meat instead of grain-fed meat. Grass-fed cows ingest more nutrients that are passed on in the meat, such as omega-3s, vitamins B1 and B2, and vitamin E.
  2. Select dried berries. Most pemmican recipes rely on using equal amounts of dried fish or meat and dried berries. Dry your own or buy dried berries, such as Canadian Saskatoon berries, blueberries, or cranberries. To dry your own, start with about 3/4 cup (225 g) of fresh berries. Spread them on a baking sheet and cook them at 150 °F (66 °C) for up to 10 hours or put them in a dehydrator for 10 to 16 hours. The berries will add a tangy flavor to the pemmican. If you don’t want the flavor, you can leave the berries out and double the amount of dried meat or fish.
  3. Grind the dried berries until they’re powdery. Put 1/2 cup (75 g) of dried berries into a mortar and use the pestle to crush the berries. Since the berries have lots of very tiny seeds, you’ll need to spend about 20 minutes to grind the berries into a fine powder. Transfer the powdered berries to a bowl.Tip: To save time, you can grind the dried berries and dried meat or fish together in a food processor.
  4. Weigh the dried ingredients to ensure they’re equal. Once you’ve got your dried protein and dried berries, weigh them separately. You should plan on using the same weight of dried ingredients. Save excess meat, fish, or berries for another use.
  5. Grind the dried meat or fish until it’s powdery. Put 1⁄4 pound (110 g) of your dried fish or red meat into the mortar. Pound and grind the fish or meat until it’s powdery like the dried berries. It should only take 5 to 10 minutes to pound the meat since there aren’t tiny seeds.
  6. Combine the dried berries and meat or fish. Spoon the powdered berries onto the powdered meat or fish in the mortar. Then use the pestle to grind and mix them together. If you used a food processor to grind the ingredients, you can skip this step.

How to make Pemmican (High Energy Food)

About the author

Helen is an author and editor at helenbackcafe.com, who has a passion for writing about recipes. She loves to experiment with different ingredients and cooking techniques to create delicious and unique dishes.

Among all the foods, pizza holds a special place in her heart, and she loves exploring different variations and toppings to create the perfect slice. Through her writing, Helen hopes to inspire others to get creative in the kitchen and share their love for food with the world.

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