Recipe RECIPES

What is Pemmican? and what would I use it for??

 

Pemmican is still considered a "survival" food for those who travel into wilderness areas. However, modern tastes would probably consider it less than great and of questionable value in a "healthy diet". It helps to keep in mind that the fur trade era didn't have the benefit of modern technology like freeze drying or refrigeration. Voyageurs needed high energy food that would keep and save them from starvation. Taste was a side issue.
If you would like to try making your own pemmican, here are some recipes. Let us know how you liked it.
<dl><dt>Basic Pemmican</dt><dd>2 oz. cooked, ground, and dried beef
2 and 1/2 oz. lard or vegetable fat (shortening)
Put the meat in a container lined with plastic film. Melt the fat and let it cool slightly to a gluey consistency. Pour the fat over the meat and let it harden. Wrap airtight and store, preferably in a freezer if you won't need the pemmican for a while. </dd></dl> <dl><dt>Pemmican #2 </dt><dd>2 oz. cooked, ground, and dried beef
2 and 1/2 oz. lard or vegetable fat
1 T minced dried onions
Prepare as above. </dd></dl> <dl><dt>Pemmican #3 </dt><dd>2 oz. cooked, ground, and dried beef
3 oz. lard or vegetable fat
1/2 oz. dried (heat dried) ground berries
Prepare as above. </dd></dl> These recipes come from a book entitled <cite>The Complete Light-Pack Camping and Trail Foods Cookbook</cite> by Edwin P. Drew. The author suggests shaping the pemmican into bars by packing it into a match box lined with plastic wrap and then removing it when hard. He recommends the use of lard over vegetable shortening because of its superior flavor. He suggests that if you are going to carry other foods along with the pemmican, as is commonly done today, that you carry the pemmican and the berries separately. Lightly salting or peppering the pemmican after it cools will add additional flavor. The pemmican, like all dried foods, should be protected from heat and light. Depending on the ingredients, preparation, and storage conditions the pemmican should last up to 8 months or better. Freezing will definitely extend the life.


Pemmican has a very high food value. Made as the basic recipe above, it has 185 calories, 10 grams of protein, and 15 grams of fat per ounce.





Read more here: http://www.whiteoak.org/learning/food.htm

 

Okay. I'll try it.

I'm going to assume that they aren't using prepared (already spiced) jerky. I'll toss something in the dehydrator (with my newest batch of hopeful bananas ) without seasoning to see where it leads me.

They suggest Lard or vege fat, MM- you say "rend down some of the fat." Will any meat fats due? And "twice". Am I to reduce it (like a sauce) to thicken and intensify the flavor?


Does anyone here actually eat/use this stuff?

I'm wondering: If it doesn't store very well (or for very long) and you have to worry about rancid; wouldn't it be smarter to have dried meat alone?

 

Lifted whole hog from a post by Clyde and quoted without permission from Survivalblog.com. If I could get regular bread to rise, I might have to try this someday.


Many of you that have read the Bible remember Ezekiel in the Old Testament. Ezekiel 4:9 says "Take thou unto thee wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and fitches (spelt), and put them into one vessel and make thee bread thereof."

This diet sustained Ezekiel in the desert for 390 days. A modern day interpretation of the Ezekiel recipe calls for the following: 20 parts wheat, 12 parts Spelt, 4 parts Hulled Barley, 2 parts Hulled Millet, 2 parts lentils, 2 parts Pinto Beans, 1 part Great Northern Beans, 1 part Kidney Beans.

Modern Food scientists have found that Ezekiel Bread is surprisingly complete in nutrients, containing all 8 essential Amino Acids. It only lacks the vitamin provided by sunlight that converts cholesterol in the skin into Vitamin D, which is then absorbed into the bloodstream.

Ezekiel Mix can be ground into flour to make Ezekiel Bread, used to make Soup, Stews or Porridge. Ezekiel Flour can also be added to other bread flour recipes to enhance nutrition.

You can make your own Ezekiel Mix, or do as we do. We purchase the mix from Walton Feed. They sell Ezekiel Mix in 25 pound bags, #10 cans with oxygen absorbers and Super Pails. (6 gallon air tight plastic food grade pail, containing the mix in a sealed mylar bag with oxygen absorbers.)

To grind the mix into flour you must use a grain mill. Because of the beans in the mix, you cannot use a stone mill because it will plug up the stones.

Ezekiel Bread Recipe (makes three loaves)

5-1/4 cups of Ezekiel Flour

or,

Grind in a Grain Mill:

2-1/2 cups of Wheat
1-1/2 cups of Spelt
1/2 cup of Barley
1/4 cup Millet
1/4 cup Lentils
2 Tablespoons Great Northern Beans
2 Tablespoons Kidney Beans
2 Tablespoons Pinto Beans

Measure into large bowl:

4 cups of warm water, (note if you have chlorine in your water it may kill the yeast and bread may not rise)
1 cup honey
1/2 cup of oil
2 Tablespoons of yeast

Mix and set aside for 5 minutes until frothy

Add 2 teaspoons of salt and all the flour

Mix with spoon until stretchy and elastic, about 7 minutes

Since this is a batter-type bread, you must use bread pans. Pour into 3 greased bread pans in even amounts.

Set oven to the lowest temperature and let rise 15-20 minutes. Level should be within 1/2 inch of the top of the bread pan. Do not let it rise any more or you will have a major gooey mess in your oven. Do not open oven or bread will fall from the cool air.

Turn oven heat up to 350 degrees and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Enjoy!

When making stew, simmer for 8 to 10 hours on low heat or use a pressure cooker for 3 to 4 hours. You can also soak the mix overnight.

You may wish to consider storing extra Ezekiel Mix to hand out as charity as it is inexpensive and easily stored.

 

Woodbutchers Chili

3 lbs Ground Beef (your choice)
1 lbs Ground Sausage (Regular)

2 lbs Round Steak (cut into small pieces, I sometimes use Tenderloin)
5 slices bacon (bite size pieces)

1 Onion
1 Green Pepper
1 Celery Stalk
3 Jalapeños
4 Finger Hot peppers (look like skinny jalapeños)
2 Green Chiles
4 Cherry Peppers (I only find them in Jars by pickles and olives)
1 Random pepper (Pick something!)
1 (hidden)

2 Tall cans Mild chili beans
2 Cans Hot chili beans
2 Cans Light red kidney beans
2 Cans White northern beans
1 Short Can Hot Chili Mix
2 Small Cans Mushrooms (sliced)
5 Cans Stewed Tomatoes
2 Cans Diced Tomatoes
1 (Hidden)

1 Package HOT McCormick's Chili seasoning
1 Package Regular McCormick's Chili seasoning
½ Jar Hot Picante Sauce


2 TBS Brown Sugar
2 TBS Garlic Powder
2 TBS Cumin
1 (Hidden)
Salt and Pepper to taste
Tabasco to taste


Cut all fresh Veggies into small bite sized pieces.
Brown all meats. Add all vegetables except for peppers. Add all cans. Now add Peppers and everything else. I only heat this until it just starts to simmer. (DO NOT LET THE BOTTOM BURN) This is a big recipe. I double it and it fills a 4.5 gallon pot. All of the ingredient portions are approximate. Add more or less to suit your tastes. Enjoy! Your Chili will be fine without the (Hidden) options. (Those are mine).

 

SC- what's a ramican?
I'm guessing a small dish (like I'd use for pilaf)?

 

Up to the top

 

Venison Steaks: It's that time of year
Found this thread on another forum I read regularly. Had an awful time getting it sorted to fit here.




Venison Steaks: It's that time of year

For all you hunters, try this recipe:

Take a backstrap (aged at least one week in the fur) big enough to cut it into five or six 1.5" thick steaks. Pound them lightly with the back of your chefs knife or cleaver, and sprinkle lightly with meat tenderizer, then sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper.

Bring a tad of vegetable oil almost to the smoking point in a heavy cast iron skillet and sear the steaks a few minutes each side, DO NOT overcook, rare is great. Remove from the heat and cover to keep warm.

Add 1/2 cup each of beef broth (or brown game stock if you have it) and red sweet vermouth. Add 1/2 cup dried sweet cherries to the skilllet. Let simmer down by 3/4, don't rush it, just let it reduce and the cherries will soften up. Stir in one tablespoon butter over slightly lower heat, and it should be a thin, rich gravy.

Place steaks back in the pan, heat through and serve with your favorite wild rice or potatoes.

Absolutely great. Deer, the other red meat.

with regard to that aged in the fur part, i have always had the best luck when deer season weather hovers around the freezing point. specifically around 40 during the day and 20-25 at night.

if you hang a deer under these conditions you can see the carcass sag notably over a weeks time. i figure this has a tremendous tenderizing effect especially on the backstraps as they are slowly stretched.
cut the backstraps into 1/4 slices bread and fry
layer in baking dish with spagetti sauce,mozzarella cheese,parm cheese and bake in oven 30 mins at 350 or until all is melted into the best backstrap parmesan . make veal taste like cowhide!

Just remember, that's Rudolph or maybe even Bambi's dad.

I know, I know, I'm a deerhunter's buzz kill.

oh no L, bambi is much more tender, plus ya can fit lots more o' them lil critters in the freezer.

ya aint killin mah buzz

My son was about three the first time he saw the movie Bambi. When it was over he turned to me and asked, "Daddy, when will I be old enough to hunt Bambi?" He's 20 now, and has helped to put a number of venison steaks in the freezer. And in less then two weeks we're hopeing for more.

I made the mistake of taking my sons to see Keira Knightley's classic movie "Sense and Sensibility." Very British and proper. Well, the opening scene is of a beautiful, bucolic serene meadow/forest setting...with silence except for the occasional beautiful songbird, at which time, my younger son made the sound of a shotgun (loading up or whatever) IN A CROWDED THEATER I MIGHT ADD. I immediately banished them from the theater. Thank heaven for multiplex cinemas. They went off to see some goofy hormone laden high school movie. Win some and lose some I guess.


HE MIGHT BE A REDNECK

I am sitting here laughing at this thread.

I was just a city girl and couldn't imagine hunting or guns and now after a decade of marriage to an avid hunter I do cook and eat the meat. Although I have not crossed over into picking up the gun myself, my little five year old girl can't wait to hunt with daddy(that's going take me some getting used to-I keep telling him when she's 18-I am sure I won't win that battle). Well it's not a marriage without compromise. I have always steered the kids away from Bambi since her mother is hanging on the wall above the TV they'd be watching it on.

Anyway, I digress...I cook up ground deer with those hamburger helper meals on a busy night and the girls love it...I also have substituted deer into a pepper steak recipe I have and serve it over mushroom rice pilaf and it is fabulous. Laminarman and Jim I can't wait to try yours they sound great. I will pull it out and post my recipe.

I like this thread - I feel like I have something to contribute again.

For all you hunters -my husband just nabbed an eight pointer on our land the other weekend. He will be up after Thanksgiving hunting and if any of you are around then he would like to meet up for a drink. He hangs out at the Green Gables in New Milford

Here's the original recipe - it's from Rachel Ray -30 minute meals- I just substitute deer meat- as Rachel would say "Delish"

Ingredients
Mushroom Rice Pilaf:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball it
1 tablespoon butter
10 white mushrooms, chopped
1 3/4 cups water
1 package rice pilaf mix (recommended: Near East brand), 6.09 ounces
2 tablespoons chopped parsley leaves

Pepper Steak:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, 2 turns of the pan
2 pounds tenderloin tips or sirloin, cut into chunks
Coarse salt
2 tablespoons butter
2 green bell peppers, seeded, 2 inch dice
1/2 white onion, sliced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup dry sherry – eyeball it
1 1/2 cups beef consomme
1 teaspoon coarse black pepper

Directions
In a medium pot over medium to medium high heat add a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of butter. When butter melts, add chopped mushrooms and saute 3 to 5 minutes. Add water and cover the pot. Add rice and pilaf packet to water. Stir to combine, reduce heat and cook 18 minutes. Add parsley, fluff with fork.

Preheat a large skillet over high heat. Add vegetable oil to really hot pan. Add meat and sear on all sides, 5 minutes. Season with salt and remove to a plate. Cover meat loosely with foil to hold heat. Reduce heat on pan to medium. Add butter to pan. Add peppers and a little onion. Saute peppers and onions 5 minutes. Sprinkle flour over vegetables and cook 1 minute longer. Whisk in sherry and start to pick up pan drippings. Whisk in consomme and continue whisking. Add tomato and black pepper. Slide meat back into the pan and coat with sauce. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes.

Spoon Pepper Steak over Mushroom Rice Pilaf and serve.

 

Poke Quig with a pointed stick and get Bitten

 

Gravlax (Scandinavian salmon) Has pix --

http://www.handloadersbench.com/view_topic.php?id=11884&forum_id=97