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I ran across a description of pemmican a few years ago, and not long ago I decided to make a batch to see what it would be like.&nbsp; I had made some venison jerky and it turned out a bit bland, so it seemed like the perfect thing to do was to turn it into pemmican.&nbsp; The ingredients are listed below.&nbsp; I ground everything with a Kitchenaid mixer with grinder attachment.&nbsp; Grinding jerky is tough, you want to feed it in small pieces.&nbsp; I also ground the other ingredients, but in retrospect I think I'd chop some of the nuts and fruit to make the pemmican a little more chunky.&nbsp; But it was good like I made it.<br><br>2lb jerky<br>8oz&nbsp;walnuts and pecans<br>4oz dried apples<br>4oz raisins<br>grease from a pound of bacon<br>4oz additional lard<br><br>Grind the jerky, nuts and fruit.&nbsp; Mix together, then pour grease over the dry ingredients and mix to thorughly coat.&nbsp; Add additional grease until the mix is thoroughly saturated with grease.&nbsp; I think mine was a little dry, and while I could shape it into bars it never&nbsp;got as&nbsp;hard&nbsp;as it was supposed to.&nbsp; Maybe more lard would have helped that.&nbsp; I&nbsp;hand-shaped about&nbsp;two dozen bars 1"x2"x1", and let them sit on a cookie sheet to dry.<br><br>I eat a low carb diet, so this pemmican is a good blend of high fat, high protein and fairly low carbs.&nbsp; I ate a bar or two a day as a snack, and this stuff is a great blend of savory&nbsp;with a touch of&nbsp;sweet.&nbsp; It is also very satiating due to the fat and protein&nbsp;content.<br><br>Iv'e read you can fry pemmican, or put it in water to make soup.&nbsp; I didn't try that on this batch.&nbsp; I'd thinkyou might want to adjust a recipe for a soup-type pemmican, maybe add some herbs and less fruit.&nbsp; I bet my recipe would taste good fried a bit.<br>

Hey Lennie,<BR><BR>When I was a kid my Granpa would make a similar thing, I don't think he put nuts in it though. He used an old coffee grinder to chop everything up. He was a coon hunter, and I can remember eating lumps of the stuff while bouncing on the back of his mule in the pitch dark. I liked it, he liked it and the mule liked it too! His seemed to have a good deal of salt in it. It may have been bacon grease he used instead of lard (thus the salt). There was always a treat for the kid and the mule in bottom of his hunting bag.<BR><BR>Thanks for the recipe (and the recalled memory).<BR><BR>OkKeith<BR>

<P>Cool memory Keith, thanks for sharing.<BR><BR>This recipe&nbsp;gets salt from the bacon grease and the jerky which I typically marinate in soy sauce and seasonings before drying.&nbsp; I guess if you used unsalted dried meat, you might want to add some salt.&nbsp; I think you could add that to taste, after you mixed the whole mush together.</P>To be honest, when I tasted the first piece after making it, I thought "what the he77 did I do?"&nbsp; But by the end of that piece I was hooked, and from then on I hoarded the stuff.<BR><br>

It does have an odd texture for sure. I reckon it would be good energy food. Sort'a like the kid in the movie that survived the endurance dog sled race on his mom's homemade fruitcake.<BR><BR>OkKeith<BR>

<P>Never seen a recipe before, but I remember reading that the native version had berries and meat and fat all pounded and dried. I have often wondered about making something like your recipe. Thanks for the inspiration.</P>

<FONT face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, Serif">Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.</FONT><br><FONT face=Georgia></FONT>&nbsp;<br><FONT face=Georgia>-Brian</FONT><br>