"In its simplest form, pemmican is nothing more than dried meat (jerky) mixed with animal fat. The result was a high-protein, high-fat, high-nutrition and high-energy food."

One of the most oft-asked questions I receive from people who attend my workshops is "what do you eat when you're on the road?" I'm fortunate in that I often have the good luck of staying with people who've adopted an approach to nutrition similar to my own. Still, there are times when I'm on the road or even when I'm out for a full day and don't have time for or access to a normal meal.

For those times, I rely on that old standard, the energy bar. Now before you begin wondering whether I've sold out to the processed food industry, the energy bar I'm referring to dates back to our Paleolithic ancestry. I'm referring, of course, to dried meat. For quite some time, I was a big fan of beef jerky, still am, but I found that when I relied too heavily on dried lean meat, I often suffered an upset stomach, constipation and even headaches.

It was after being introduced to the work of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, an early 20th century explorer who lived with the Inuit for over a decade, that I became acquainted with the condition colloquially known as rabbit-starvation. This paradoxical condition of nutrient-starvation in spite of a ready supply of lean meat was the result of a lack of fat in the diet. Victims could eat rabbit or any other lean meat until their stomachs were distended, but still show signs of illness.

I once observed something similar in a small herd of cows who had plenty of grass to eat, but as the soil in which the grass was growing had been depleted of key nutrients, the cows were reduced to skin and bones, despite having plenty to eat. We see the same phenomenon of starvation in the midst of a plentiful food supply in the growing ranks of the overweight and obese. People addicted to a poor diet eat and eat and eat, but as the Stones have so eloquently noted, they "can't get no satisfaction." The result is obesity, diabetes, heart disease and death.

There were no Denny's restaurants conveniently located on every corner during the Pleistocene epoch. In fact, there were no corners. And yet, we can be reasonably certain that our Paleolithic ancestors must have fared quite well when they were on the move. How did they and the generations of road-trippers that followed them do it? My curiosity stoked, I burrowed deeper into Stefansson's writings and discovered pemmican. Pemmican was a favorite source of nutrition for the Native Americans whose travels carried them far and wide across the trackless wilderness of the land that would someday be known as North America.

In its simplest form, pemmican is nothing more than dried meat (jerky) mixed with animal fat. The result was a high-protein, high-fat, high-nutrition and high-energy food. The base ingredients favored by the Lakota, one of three tribes of the Great Sioux Nation was dried buffalo, tallow (rendered buffalo fat) and wild cherries. Stefansson notes in his book, "Fat of the Land" that adding berries to pemmican was originally a European convention designed to suit their cultural tastes, which tended toward sweeter foods.

Finding a good recipe for pemmican that adheres to the 'original' recipe is a challenge. You won't find suet (buffalo, beef or mutton fat) or tallow (rendered beef fat) next to the "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" display in most grocery stores. Nevertheless, it is possible to make pemmican that honors the spirit of the original with ingredients from most any store.

Richard's Homemade Pemmican
Ingredients:

• Lean beef (or buffalo). Lean works best because dried fat is really difficult to chew.
• Tallow (from beef or buffalo). You could also use lard or even coconut oil, but I've found tallow to provide the best combination of flavor and stability.
• Celtic sea salt
• spices/berries (optional)

Tools:

• food dehydrator or oven
• food processor
• meat grinder (optional)

Step 1: Render the fat
This assumes you can't purchase tallow from your local grass farmer or render your own from suet, so the next best option is to render tallow from beef fat and bones. Add bones to a stockpot along with 2 - 4 quarts of filtered water (depending on the amount of meat and bones). Add two tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice. Simmer on low heat for about 24 hours or more. Traditional food enthusiasts believe in efficiency and minimizing waste and so as it happens, this is also how you make *beef broth. If you like, why not kill two birds with one stone and add some veggies (celery, onions, carrots) to make some really fine *broth.

Step 2: Make the jerky
I like to grind my own beef or you could buy a steak or some other cut of beef (the best cuts are better) from your usual source and have the butcher grind it for you. If you have a trusted source for your meat, buying ground beef is OK, but I'm leery of conventional hamburger because you never know what's ground up with it. Make thin patties from the ground beef and deposit them in the dehydrator (or oven). Set the temp to between 100 - 150 degrees. The lower the heat you use, the longer it takes, but the more nutrients you preserve. The beef will dry out from between 12 - 24 hours. It should be very dry... brittle in fact.

Step 3: Process the broth
Scoop out the bones/veggies from the broth and strain the remaining liquid into a jar. Put the broth into the fridge. The tallow should 'set up' at the top of the jar pretty quick. Note: You can throw away the bones and veggies or save the bones for your dog and toss the veggies into your compost bin.

Step 4: Process the jerky
Take the dried patties and pulverize them in a food processor. Note: Most people make jerky by starting with thin slices of meat, but I've found it is very difficult to pulverize in that form once it's dried. It will generally choke a food processor and pounding it with a rock as the Native Americans did is way too much work. Making your jerky from hamburger yields textured meat that pulverizes much more easily. You can experiment with the coarseness of the jerky to find a texture between powdery and crumbly, but most authoritative sources suggest that a finely ground powdered texture was the norm.

Step 5: Mix the jerky and tallow
Now remove the broth from the refrigerator and skim the tallow off the top. Put it in a pan and gently heat it to melt it. Add the melted tallow to the jerky. There's a lot of speculation as to the traditional ratio of fat to lean meat. A ratio of 40/50 to 50/50 fat/lean seems to be the consensus among the experts. Experiment. It may take several batches to find the mix that works best for you. Stir. At this point, you can add sea salt, berries, spices and any other flavors.

Step 6: Finishing your pemmican
You can roll the mixture up into balls, sausage-sized links, or use a cookie form. Put everything into the refrigerator and in an hour or so, the tallow will set up again and you'll have pemmican. So far, I've carried pemmican around in my briefcase, unrefrigerated, for up to three days. If you need to preserve it over a longer period of time, it is important to moisture seal it. Traditionally, pemmican was coated with melted fat to keep moisture out. According to this site, wrapping pemmican in wax paper and dipping it in wax might work.

I've found this food to be exceptionally high in energy. It also seems to act as an appetite suppressant as I'm never hungry when I'm eating it and can go all day on nothing but pemmican. Traditionally, three quarters of a pound were considered sufficient (although I do well on far less), however where energy output needs were greater, 1 to 2 pounds were thought to be more appropriate. However keep context in mind. These amounts were for guys who could run down a buffalo on foot, or spend their days slogging through America's unspoiled wilderness wearing bearskins. They may not be appropriate for you today if you work at a desk.

Notes:
Technically you could eat the jerky as-is without making pemmican, but depending upon your circumstances, you may also need to consume an equal amount of fat along with it so as to avoid the unpleasant side effects of too much lean meat.

Dried fish:
Dried fish is another great portable energy food that doesn't need refrigeration and travels really well. If making pemmican sounds like too much work, there's an even simpler solution: dried fish. Start with any fish you like (I typically use sardines that have been packed in water). Put the fish into your dehydrator and dry (from 12 - 24 hours).

*A comprehensive recipe for broth can be found in Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon, the book from which this recipe is derived. .................................................................................................................................
The information contained herein represents the sole opinion of the author and should not be construed as medical advice. Readers should consult with a knowledgeable medical care provider before beginning any new diet or exercise program.