my pemmican is not nice!

Pignut

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jun 9, 2005
4,096
12
45
Lincolnshire
Following on from this thread

I made some pemmican equal weights of plane jerky (Wizzed up in a blender)
and melted suet,

poured the suet into the jerky mixed (Added some chopped dry fruit)

Left to set

Tasted

It now tastes like grainy lard!

Is this how it should be?
 

rik_uk3

Banned
Jun 10, 2006
13,320
27
70
south wales
I don't think its supposed to taste nice as such, just keep you alive I guess. I've had some ready made stuff, it was awful
 

Mike B

Tenderfoot
Feb 13, 2006
76
0
60
Wakefield West Yorks
Like Richard says Pemmican was never really designed to taste good,and the way you describe the texture as being like grainy lard sounds like you've got the mix right.
It was just a way of preserving food for a long long time.
The way I used mine which by the way was commercial stuff, was to use it like you would use stock cubes.
As for eating in it's cold form forget it unless I really really had no option.
Mike B...
 

aarya

Member
Oct 5, 2006
32
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Norway
Could possibly be used in breads of some sort, as it might give nice taste to the dough? Maybe?
Could it be used for frying, or does the meat constitute too much of the mix?
Perhaps it could be used to make some form of hot brew? Just add hot water, and it`d be like a sort of soup?
I`ve got no real idea, as i`ve never made pemmican myself.
 

ForestNH/VT

Member
Sep 6, 2007
32
0
New Hampshire, USA
Sounds like you made the same mistake I did the first time and put in way too much tallow (suet). You want just enough to stick the mixture together. Half and half is far too much. I kept putting in more to get it to stick forgetting that it was cooling as I added it. The better way is to put in just enough very hot tallow to get things moist, then microwave the mixture or reheat it somehow until it begins to stick. The purpose of the tallow is a binder mainly and added fat only secondarily. Think of it as glue and not as an ingredient and your results will probably be much better. It is not as tasty as straight jerky in my opinion, but "grainy lard' is far off.

Forest
 
Apr 17, 2008
7
0
Leeds/Bristol
We make something like pemmican back home in Kenya. It's a Somali thing too only they make it with dried camel meat chopped into little cubes and then preserved in ghee. It tastes absolutely wonderful and I am sure you could make it with beef too. Just chop it up into little pieces, dry it, put it in a container and pour melted ghee in. Let it cool. When you want to eat it you can just have the chunks of meat cold or if you heat it up the ghee sort of 'cooks' the meat then you can just have the meat and save the ghee to use in your next lot. We used to love having it in packed lunches at school! It's called sololo. My mum never made it herself as she but we got it as presents from people. mmmmm.......sololo!
 

IntrepidStu

Settler
Apr 14, 2008
807
0
Manchester
We make something like pemmican back home in Kenya. It's a Somali thing too only they make it with dried camel meat chopped into little cubes and then preserved in ghee. It tastes absolutely wonderful and I am sure you could make it with beef too. Just chop it up into little pieces, dry it, put it in a container and pour melted ghee in. Let it cool. When you want to eat it you can just have the chunks of meat cold or if you heat it up the ghee sort of 'cooks' the meat then you can just have the meat and save the ghee to use in your next lot. We used to love having it in packed lunches at school! It's called sololo. My mum never made it herself as she but we got it as presents from people. mmmmm.......sololo!


You say "dry" the meat. Whats the best way to do this?
 

fishy1

Banned
Nov 29, 2007
792
0
sneck
I made some recently, it defineately wasn't grainy. It wasn't nice as such, but I could see mine being nice when boiled with water to make soup etc. If anyone wants it, I have a few bars, I'll be honest I'm never going to eat them all, so I'm open to a swap for anything small.
 

Pignut

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jun 9, 2005
4,096
12
45
Lincolnshire
sounds like mine has gone fundamentaly wrong!! That will be 5 quid of beef downthe pan!!!!
 

Tadpole

Full Member
Nov 12, 2005
2,842
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Bristol
sounds like mine has gone fundamentaly wrong!! That will be 5 quid of beef downthe pan!!!!


I wouldn’t say “down the pan” you might just have to modify it by using it “with something” put some in a pan, cook it till the fat melts add some onions more minced meat and a tin of tomatoes and you have the beginnings of a bolognaise sauce. Or heat it in a pan, add some chopped onions, diced vegetables and some potatoes, and you have the starting of a rich stew, make dumplings (with the free floating fat from the stew)
As for the pemmican, the majority of the websites I have been on that mention it; seem to say that ¼ fats to ¾ dried meat and berries is the ratio to use.
 

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