Pemmican

[nverland]

Pemmican

Though the name comes from the Cree Nation, many Native Americans have used this classic recipe to keep their energy up on long journeys.

Ingredients:

4 cups lean meat
3 cups dried fruit
2 cups rendered fat
Unsalted nuts
Dash of honey

Instructions:

Lean meat can be deer, beef, caribou or moose. Spread whichever you have available out on a cookie sheet and dry in the oven at 180 °F for at least eight hours, or until crispy. Once it's cooled, pound it into a powder-like consistency and grind the dry fruit.

Heat the rendered fat until it becomes a liquid, then pour over the dried meat and fruit and mix in the nuts and honey as well. Mix and slice into portions, then store in a cool, dry place.

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Based on what I've seen, tribes typically made pemmican with their dominant food sources. So on the plains, it's bison; in the eastern woodlands, venison; and so on.

The really interesting thing is that one region has a pemmican with its own flavor. Most of the stuff is pretty bland, which is why people now tend to add spices. But the northwest coastal tribes make theirs with smoked salmon, which has quite a strong flavor that many people love. It's kind of like a historic cheeseball.