I'm making jerky

Quoted message said:

2. Maybe you simply do notlike the taste and texture of pemmican. Not
all things are liked by everybody.

i

The last batch I made was not gritty and tastes good, but using the manual
meat grinder to make a few ounces was a lot of work. I think I'll try the
blender again and then put it through the grinder. It should be a lot easier
to crank it if the chunks are smaller. I can also try adding a little of
that rendered fat to lubricate it through the grinder. When I try my next
batch in about a week, I'll let you know how it turns out.
Tom

In article LivOc.144281$ek5.54418@pd7tw2no said:

Quoted message said:

2. Maybe you simply do notlike the taste and texture of pemmican. Not
all things are liked by everybody.

i

The last batch I made was not gritty and tastes good, but using the manual
meat grinder to make a few ounces was a lot of work. I think I'll try the
blender again and then put it through the grinder. It should be a lot easier
to crank it if the chunks are smaller. I can also try adding a little of
that rendered fat to lubricate it through the grinder. When I try my next
batch in about a week, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Good luck experimenting, although I am not sure what is wrong with a
blender alone.

i

Tom said:

It does explain the process fairly well, but I guess practice
makes perfect.

Thinking back to books on the Lewis and Clark expedition there must be
a simple way to make pemmican. While they travelled they shot and
jerked deer and buffalo but they had no way to render fat. One of the
items they purchased whenever they had the chance was rendered bear
fat by the gallon. Clearly pemmican can be made from the meat of
almost any land animal and the fat of any other land animal that can
be rendered into grease. I wouldn't bother using a liquid fat like
rendered duck or goose oil.

If Lewis and Clark made pemmican as they travelled, powdering jerky
must be a simple process. Simple doesn't mean not labor intensive,
though. They had plenty of strong young men and plenty of time.
They also didn't have much equipment.

I think a couple of hours with a stone grain mill would convert
plenty of jerky into powder usable for pemmican, but that's not a
reasonable option for modern folks. A flat stone and a round stone
put plenty of pressure on grain to convert it to flour. The same
movement should smash jerky into powder for pemmican.

So my speculation that's not confirmed by experience - Some sort
of crush grinding will work better than some sort of cut grinding.
Two passes through a meat grinder with course and then fine plate
should beat any efforts with a blender or food processor. Hand
turned meat grinders are a lot less work than a grain mill
consisting off a couple of stones.

Hi Doug. I'm going to try running the jerky through a blender, and then
grind it up. My Mother-in-law gave me an old hand crank meat grinder to try
it out. I don't know how long the explorers would have spent making it, but
it must have been very useful or they wouldn't have bothered. I was actually
considering pounding it down with rocks or mortar and pedestal. I do
believe, as you also seem to, that a grinding motion rather than chopping
would better suit the situation. Thanks for looking this up. Good
information on the actual process of making pemmican are hard to find. Most
articles seem to be copied from the same data source, only describing what
it is and what it was used for. If you happen upon any other useful info on
this, that would be great. I'm going to keep trying small batches over a
long time period 'till I find a easier way to make smooth rather than gritty
batches.
Tom

"Doug Freyburger" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Tom said:

It does explain the process fairly well, but I guess practice
makes perfect.

Thinking back to books on the Lewis and Clark expedition there must be
a simple way to make pemmican. While they travelled they shot and
jerked deer and buffalo but they had no way to render fat. One of the
items they purchased whenever they had the chance was rendered bear
fat by the gallon. Clearly pemmican can be made from the meat of
almost any land animal and the fat of any other land animal that can
be rendered into grease. I wouldn't bother using a liquid fat like
rendered duck or goose oil.

If Lewis and Clark made pemmican as they travelled, powdering jerky
must be a simple process. Simple doesn't mean not labor intensive,
though. They had plenty of strong young men and plenty of time.
They also didn't have much equipment.

I think a couple of hours with a stone grain mill would convert
plenty of jerky into powder usable for pemmican, but that's not a
reasonable option for modern folks. A flat stone and a round stone
put plenty of pressure on grain to convert it to flour. The same
movement should smash jerky into powder for pemmican.

So my speculation that's not confirmed by experience - Some sort
of crush grinding will work better than some sort of cut grinding.
Two passes through a meat grinder with course and then fine plate
should beat any efforts with a blender or food processor. Hand
turned meat grinders are a lot less work than a grain mill
consisting off a couple of stones.

Try:

http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/paleofood.html

Good archives and if you do a search for Pemmican you'll find any
number of recipes.

I just made a batch this weekend and it came out awesome. I went to
the butcher and got them to put aside 10 lbs of suet for me, and had
them grind it. You need to go to a full service butcher that actually
butchers the animals, they'll have suet. Anyway, I rendered it in a
pot at low heat for a few hours, straining out the chunks a couple
times until there was no water left in it (You'll know when bubbles
stop coming up).

Then I dried an eye of round roast in my dehydrator well past jerky
till it was brittle. Once it was brittle it was easily powdered in my
blender. Then its just a matter of letting the rendered fat cool some
and mixing it into the powdered beef until it is just barely
saturated.

Also, if you want to try Pemmican without actually making it, you can
order it from a grass fed beef company (which has much better Omega
6-3 ratios than anything I can make) thru Ray Audette's web site:

www.neanderthin.com

Hope that helps.

[email hidden] (Doug Freyburger) wrote in message >

Quoted message said:

Maybe Ray Audette can say more on the topic?

Pemmican is available on my website. If you want to make it at home,
several sets of instruction are available at Don Wiss' site
www.paleodiet.com.

Ray Audette
Author "NeanderThin"
www.NeanderThin.com

Thanks Ray. Don has some good pictures of the process. Had to dig around a
little to find them but it was worth it.
Tom

"Ray Audette" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

[email hidden] (Doug Freyburger) wrote in message >

Quoted message said:

Maybe Ray Audette can say more on the topic?

Pemmican is available on my website. If you want to make it at home,
several sets of instruction are available at Don Wiss' site
www.paleodiet.com.

Ray Audette
Author "NeanderThin"
www.NeanderThin.com