Survival food is something that we’re trying to talk more and more about here on our website, and while we’ve already covered a fair number of food-related topics recently, something that we haven’t talked about yet is pemmican. Pemmican is easily one of the top go-to choices for preppers when it comes to survival food, and today, we’re going to be looking at our favorite recipe for pemmican.
Pemmican has been around for centuries, but despite its old age, preppers and survivalists all around the word still swear by its usefulness to this very day. There are a lot of fantastic aspects about pemmican that we’ll dive into in just a second, and along with that, we’re also going to be teaching you just how to make the stuff so you can start enjoying one of the best survival foods that this planet has to offer.
So, without any further chit chat or delays, let’s get to talking about some good ‘ole pemmican.
What is pemmican?
Pemmican is a type of food that was initially created by the Native Americans of our country. However, despite its roots here, it became especially popular when explorers from Europe discovered the food upon visiting the New World for the first time.
Pemmican is a combination of both fat and protein from meat that’s been dried and is especially lean, and it’s used to create an assortment of meats — one of the most popular being that of beef jerky. The meat that you get from pemmican is usually a bit dry and tough, and this is what makes it such a great survival food (more on that in a second).
Pemmican gets its name from the Cree root word of “pimi” which stands for “fat” or “grease.” Lots of preppers have been opting to use beef for their pemmican recipes, but it’s traditionally made out of deer, elk, moose, and bison. Choosing which meat you want to use is really a matter of personal preference, and it helps to create for a bit of flavor variety when making the stuff.
Along with tasting great, pemmican is considered to be the ultimate survival food because of just how long the stuff can last. The shelf life of pemmican is absolutely jaw dropping, and this longevity is all in thanks to properly rendering the fat from the meat during the cooking process.
Pemmican needs to be stored in airtight containers to last as long as possible, but the best part here is the fact that you don’t need to keep them in a refrigerator. Just make sure they’re in a dark and cool area, and you’re all set.
When stored in the proper fashion, pemmican can easily last for a few years or even a couple decades or so. While we wouldn’t necessarily recommend trying to go this long, there have been some reports that pemmican can last as many as 50 years while still being good and safe to eat.
It’s easy to see just why so many preppers turn to this stuff, but what about actually making it? Whether you’re looking for a pemmican beef jerky recipe or an authentic pemmican recipe, these following steps will be crucial to achieving the absolute perfect batch of pemmican for your survival situation.
First, dry your meat
No matter which type of animal meat you choose to use for this step, all of the same rules will apply. First, cut off any and all fat that’s present on the meat you’re working with. Once that’s done, take the knife to your actual meat and cut it into as thin of slices as you possibly can.
With your meat cut up into these slices, hang them up on a drying rack so that they can soak up as much full sunlight as they can. If you don’t have access to a drying rack outside, you can also put the meat on the rack inside of your oven with the temperature turned down to the lowest setting that it will go to.
The ultimate goal here is to dry your meat to the point where it cracks when you try to bend it. Adding salt will not only give it flavor, but it will also help to extend the shelf life. So, consequently, adding more and more salt will help preserve it for longer and longer.
Grind it up
With your meat dried and salted, the next step is to grind the meat up until it’s in the form of a powder. A proper food processor will really come in handy here, but if you don’t have access to one, you can achieve a similar result by mincing the meat up and then throwing it into a blender.
If you don’t have access to either of these two tools because you’re trying to fight for your life, chop up your meat into as small of bits as you can and then crush them by hand into a powdered form. This will certainly take a bit more time, but it’ll get the job done if you have to go about it in this fashion.
Working with the fat
Next up, throw your fat into either a crockpot, in the oven, or on a stovetop. You’ll want to cook it at the lowest setting possible for quite a few hours, and during this whole process, you’ll need to stir it off and on to make sure you keep everything moving around a fair bit.Once the fat stops bubbling, pour it into a strainer and move on to step four.
Mixing fat with the meat
With your cooked fat in hand, add one part of it for every two parts of your dried meat powder that you have. You can add more fat if necessary at this step, and you’ll also want to put the fat into your other meat mixture as well.
Making the pemmican
Last but not least, you’ll need to actually make the pemmican. There are a lot of different ways to go about this, but for this recipe for pemmican, you’re going to spread your meat and fat mixture into a casserole dish of sorts. Once the mixture has sat for a while and hardens up, you can either cut it into squares, bars, or even make balls out of it.
Once you’ve got it cut up in the fashion that you’d like, store it away and you’ll be good to go!
Final Thoughts
Way to go! If you made it to this last part of the article, you now know how to make a truly kick-butt thing of pemmican. You might need to make a couple of batches in order to really get the hang of things, but even your first couple of tries will be greatly appreciated should you ever find yourself needing to preserve food for a survival situation. Pemmican has proven over the years to be a great survivalist food, and we don’t see that changing anytime soon.
