Jack Lawson Sends: Not Just Your Everyday Pemmican, Part Two – An Ancient Answer?
This excerpt comes from Jack Lawson straight out of Chapter 14 of his two volume masterpiece, “Civil Defense Manual”. You can grab a copy of his book here. Jack is a strong supporter of American Partisan, and even had NC Scout write the chapter on Radio Communications (Chapter 17 in Volume I). I bought my copy the day it become available and I highly recommend you do as well.
Pemmican will provide you with all the protein, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins necessary to sustain you indefinitely. It is the perfect survival food store if made from the proper ingredients. Pemmican is a combination of tallow, dried meat (sometimes dried fish and dried duck) and dried berries prepared in a manner that preserves it for long periods of time as a food.
Pemmican was an important food of Native American and Canadian Indians of North America and they still make this today. The word ‘pemmican’ comes from the North American Cree Indian tribe, native to Canada, Montana and the northern border areas of the United States.
It’s a variation of their word pimihkan, which comes from the Cree word pimi for ‘fat or grease.’ This food kept them alive during harsh winters where hunting and fishing were next to impossible to provide enough food.
Depending on the ingredients, it has a flavor of sweet and salty. Pemmican is portable, efficient and convenient food source that gives you all the protein, fats and carbohydrates necessary for sustenance. Folklore has it the North American Indian didn’t put berries in their pemmican… supposedly that was the white man’s idea. Who knows? …but the berries make it verrrrrry tasty.
European trappers, fur traders and Arctic explorers quickly adapted this high-energy food source for their own needs. In the late 19th Century, the British Army issued thousands of emergency rations containing primarily pemmican.
If you’d prefer to buy prepared pemmican rather than make it, go to https://grasslandbeef.com/pemmican …or look for pemmican ‘Tanka Bars’ and other pemmican products from Lakeside Gourmet.
How to make pemmican by hand
How to Make Pemmican: Meat or fish
Ingredients
- Meat (venison or beef-it’s important to use grass fed beef… lean-lean) or salmon fish
- Fat (substitute tallow if beef or venison fat trimmings are not sufficient-store bought tallow will most likely be rendered)
- Berries (blueberries, cherries, chokeberries or currant berries)
One of the best essays on pemmican was written by, in my opinion, ‘the authority on pemmican, Lex Rooker. He has quite the amazing story as to his personal journey with nutrition. Lex Rooker’s “The Pemmican Manual.” You can access it at…
http://www.traditionaltx.us/images/PEMMICAN.pdf
Pemmican properly prepared will dry into a very hard, almost wax-like texture. You might have to cut it with a knife to eat… as gnawing a piece off, may take some teeth out. 10 pounds will provide all the nutrition requirements of an adult for about one week. No food is as nutrient and calorie dense as pemmican.
Expect that it will take 48 to 72 hours to air dry meat/fish and berries. The colder, the longer and vice versa… the hotter, the shorter time. Be patient… the meat/fish and berries must be thoroughly dry. I use the same drying process to make South African biltong (beef jerky, but waaaay better). Many more ingredients are added to biltong, but that, you don’t do in excess with pemmican.
Most herb additions are okay, but if you add untried ingredients, it may make your pemmican spoil or spoil quicker… that is, if you wander off the path of the recipe too far. So, it’s best to stick to the recipe adding a few common sense ingredients for some taste variations.
Rendering is cooking the fat over low heat until it turns to liquid. If you buy tallow from a grocery or store it will most likely be rendered. Strain the melted fat into a fire compatible container. Rendering of fat simply puts it in a more pliable state, enabling it to mix well with the other two ingredients.
Let the rendered fat cool in another container. It’s the same principle as trying to butter your toast with cold hard cut pieces of butter compared to having room temperature butter. Rendered fat spreads, works and adheres better in making pemmican.
You can use your oven and blender, but try the Grid-Down air dry and mortar and pestle pulverizing method so you know how to do this when the lights go out. Store in the dark away from moisture and pemmican will last for years. Freezing pemmican will give it an almost indefinite shelf life.
Prepare the ingredients
The basic pemmican ingredients
- Lean meat-1-pound meat/fish (grass fed beef or venison-try salmon; you won’t be disappointed)
- Dried berries… 12 ounces berries (blueberries, cherries, chokeberries or currant berries-but make certain your mixture is still mostly the first two ingredients) or use raisins
- Fat… 12 ounces of rendered fat
- 1 teaspoon of salt per pound of meat (half that much if I salt or vinegar coat the meat for drying)
Extras for a sweeter tasting pemmican
- 8 ounces of nuts (use unsalted nuts, sunflower seeds or almond flour)
- 8 ounces of raw honey (make sure there is no High Fructose Corn Syrup in it)
Dehydrate the meat or fish
Normal Civility Method: You can speed up the process of drying meat/fish in your oven if sliced very thinly. Place it on a flat tray in your oven for 8 hours at about 115o Fahrenheit. If you heat lean meat at a higher temperature, it virtually ‘cooks’ it and removes much of the nutrition, ruining your pemmican. After the oven, lay the meat/fish out on paper towel lined trays to let it finish air drying. Depending on its environment… about another 12 to 36 hours.
Grid-Down Method: You can dry meat or fish in most climates by slicing the meat/fish very thinly. You must use lean meat. Make certain it is cut very thin so the inside part will dry as well as the outside. Then, on meat, put a liberal amount of salt or lightly coat it with red wine vinegar, covering it thoroughly. Lay it in a paper towel lined cookie pan or hang it inside on wire or coat hangers, out of reach from flies, at room temperature until completely dry (48 to 72 hours).
I’ve cured meat outside in the sun from just about everything that walked or crawled in Africa (except humans) with no ill effects. I do this now when making South African Biltong. Another recipe that will be going into the Civil Defense Manual. You won’t eat American Made beef jerky again after one bite of Biltong.
With either method: When you think it’s dry, cut your thickest pieces open to ensure they have dried inside. Any moisture or areas that are not dry of meat/fish may cause the pemmican to spoil quickly, defeating the feature of long shelf life of pemmican.
Dehydrate the berries
Normal Civility Method: Spread out on a cookie pan and heat in your oven for 4 hours at 200o Fahrenheit.
Grid-Down Method: You can dry berries inside at room temperature (48 to 72 hours).
With either method: Lightly crush the berries to expose the inner moist parts to air drying. Lay the berries in a paper towel lined flat cookie pan and dry at room temperature. Again, they must be completely dry or remaining moisture may spoil your pemmican.
Render the meat or fish fat
Normal Civility Method: Heat in a pan on your oven until all fat has melted.
Grid-Down Method: Heat over a low fire until all the fat has melted.
Strain out impurities: Separate out the impurities and any pieces out of the fat with a wire mesh strainer by pouring the rendered fat through a strainer into a fire compatible container.
Pulverize the ingredients
Blend, pound, crush or hammer the dried ingredients… meat/fish, and berries into a saw-dust like consistency.
Normal Civility Method: Use your blender to make into the closest consistency of a powder you can get.
Grid-Down Method: Use a large, flat and smooth river stone as your grinding base (the mortar, so to speak) and a smaller smooth river stone that you can hold in your hand as your crushing tool (a sort of pestle. Not pounding so much, as rolling the ingredients to crush. Roll and crush the meat or fish. Let it dry while you roll and crush the berries. You want as close to a saw-dust type mixture of meat/fish and berries as you can get.
Mix the ingredients
Combine all ingredients. Wash your hands thoroughly. The more bacteria on your hands, the quicker your pemmican will spoil. Using a round bottom mixing bowl, pour your saw-dust ground ingredients into it. Heat your rendered fat back to liquid form and pour some of it over the ingredient in the mixing bowl. Squeeze the liquid fat into the other ingredients through your fingers, like when you were a kid squeezing nutty putty through your fingers, until the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
Form the mixture into a pan
Take a pan or whatever you want to use. I used a cupcake tray once. Press the pemmican mixture into the tray evenly. Pemmican will dry further the more it ages. Cut it into pieces the size and shape you want. Refrigeration or freezing makes pemmican last longer.
After a week or so of continued open-air drying, I wrap mine in paper towels with a rubber band around or it in sandwich baggies with a hole poked in the baggie to let any further moisture out. I don’t seal mine air tight in baggies at room temperature, because moisture accumulation in the sealed bag will actually cause pemmican to spoil.
One of my favorite English actors… Toby Jones (Dr. David Pilcher in Wayward Pines) made a quote about life threatening Catastrophes and issues in the television series “Wayward Pines” that goes something like this…
The problem is the concept of time… it seemingly goes on forever… nothing is of a demanding urgency to some and the problem isn’t real unless it affects them directly… and then it’s too late.”
The same is true of encouraging people to have stored water and Emergency Foods when disaster strikes. It isn’t real until it directly affects you… then it’s too late. Don’t live in gloom and doom… prepare.
Think of your family… you’d do anything for them…
Then live how I live as follows…
– Jack Lawson
It’s interesting to note Mr. and Mrs. American… that in some of the ‘Liberal Areas’ there’s a growing movement back to localized food production. This started as producing organic food but has evolved into providing much of the food needs of people on a localized basis. People put their heads together to address a real-life issue and have come up with a transition back to the “Garden to Table” food supply system.
In these areas, local farmers are beginning to bring their produce to ‘Farmer’s Markets’ which are, along with stores that are dealing only with natural and organic produce from area farmers and suppliers, providing the primary food sources for these areas.
Many of these areas are starting community gardens out of necessity because of the ever-increasing cost of food. This is a real positive movement. Nutrient dense organic foods… without the complex, sophisticated and prone to stoppage normal grocery store supply chain.
As for this time of abundant food stocks… go to your favorite ‘Big Box’ store and buy rice, beans and bottled water. It’s just sitting there waiting for you… and it’s cheaper than taking the family out for one dinner.
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This sounds delicious.
Johnny Paratrooper,
I was going to reply to your question on one of the comments… it was about a book you asked if I had read, but I digested to something else which demanded my attention at the moment.
I’m up to my eyeballs in mud with this book and can’t find the comment with your question.
Do you recall the title of the book?
Jack Lawson
Member, Sully H. deFontaine Las Vegas Special Forces Association Chapter 51
Author of “The Slaver’s Wheel”, “A Failure of Civility,” “And We Hide From The Devil,” “Civil Defense Manual” and “In Defense.”
As one member of our Commando wrote in later years: “That country (Rhodesia) has cast a long shadow over our lives, has it not?”
As one struggles to endure the daily mundane of life, I realize he is right. He wrote on…
“Rhodesia is a woman whose name is forever written upon our hearts – against whom no earthly flesh and blood of female can ever compete. We shed our blood, sweat, tears and the blood of others answering her siren call. Now that the winds and the rains have washed away the stench of the rotting corpses, we remember only the flair of our youth as we jousted lockstep with an opponent equally as determined to rid the world of us, as we him.”
“Anoma – Anoma – Anoma!” Swahili for “I am a poor man – I am a poor man – I am a poor man!”
“But I am a rich man and she (Rhodesia) has made me so. We loved her like no other. Oh, how I miss her and my friends so!”
What amazing words, from yet another one of the guys in my Commando who appeared so ignorant that I didn’t think he knew how to read, let alone capture the spirit of then with such eloquent words.
https://www.generalspalding.com
His Book is “Stealth War”.
It’s ridiculous how backwards everything is.
Hmmm I haven’t made it that far in the manual, but it looks mighty tasty
The Resister used to talk about dried foods, jerky etc, being far more portable than MREs or canned foods. Nuts are also really good, pecans, walnuts, peanuts, and things of that nature. They are energy and nutrient dense. I often eat nuts before going to the gym. Off of a handful, I can easily work out for a couple hours.
I think a key thing is glycemic index. Most modern foods have a very high glycemic index, which has the effect of making people consume more of it, and therefore dependent on more of it. Obesity is another effect. I have found that by consuming things like nuts, eggs, berries, fish and meat almost exclusively, that I don’t require as much food. I can eat just one time per day, go to work, the gym, and not get hungry. I have also found that I can go a couple days, almost wholly without food, and not really be bothered by hunger. I’ve been eating in this manner for a good 20 years. I have all of my teeth with no issues, and my weight is well within proper bounds. The time to rethink your eating is NOW though, and should be regarded as a critical aspect of preparedness.
The thing you are missing is the calorie density of fat. Protein and carbohydrates have a caloric value of around 3 calories/gram. Fat has a value of 5 calories/gram. Nuts and properly prepared pemmican, as well as cheese, butter and other high fat but harder to keep and store foods, have a much higher calorie density.
Could one use duck fat for this? I made duck breasts for dinner a little over a month ago and part of the process included draining the excess fat off of the breasts as they cooked and I saved it all in a jar, which was then placed in the coldest part of the fridge. I have around two and a half pints worth and the only thing in it are salt, pepper and cardamom (part of the recipe) and if I could use it for this application, so much the better. BTW, the breasts were purchased from a local farm and locally raised.
Would inserting the drying tray work inside a vehicle parked in full sunlight ? Left on top of the dashboard with a backer of refletive window screenm you would have a massive ‘heat sink’. Leave the wndows slightly cracked for airflow.
Yes you turned your automobile into a solar dehydrator. Must keep some windows open or you created a solar steam cooker not good.
Keeping bugs off your food is kind of nice, most solar dehydrator plans have that designed in.
Your vehicle will always smell like whatever you dehydrated.
Too many easy to build solar dehydrators available but maybe disabled cars could be useful.
I lived entirely on Pemmican, I made, for six weeks and never tired of it. I always found it tasted like turkey stuffing. I loved it. In 1988 I hiked from The Dalles, Or to Elk City, Idaho and back wearing only Buckskins and carrying 1840’s weapons and survival gear. I was researching a gunsmith I planned to write about who made that exact trip in 1848 and wanted to see what he saw.
It’s the perfect grid down survival food for me.
I was doing the same thing on horseback in the summers, in Utah, MT and Idaho, from 1985-1992. Went from Salmon to McCall in ’91, long trip of 7 weeks that started in Mackay ID , up towards Butte MT and then west to McCall ID. Everything hand made from saddle, leggings to rifles. Used to work for GRRW and OTR, built well over 100 rifles in those days.
I got into “Buck skinning” as my daughter went into HS so we’d have a father/daughter activity we could do together. She really embraced it. We also had horses but never used them for Rendezvous. We made all our ‘skins’. I taught her ancient survival skills. We hunted and competed with Black-powder. She came in first in a Seneca Run where you had to first fire BP pistol hit gong, run to next station throw your hawk at the black raven avoiding the white owl, run to long gun station and again gong, next station bow, next station set a beaver trap in a swamp and then beat feet to the finish line. She won using a borrowed flinter long gun. I had ours in another competition. We came in second national in the pancake competition. From nothing you lay out fire pit, start fire with flint/steel and char. Make and then eat pancakes from scratch. This was in snow. I came across a mention of a gunsmith in The Dalles who made a shotgun for his friend Kit Carson. Carson came to The Dalles to take possession. I could not believe that happened in The Dalles so I spent years researching the guy and finally got pictures of the shotgun. On my Elk City Idaho trip I carried a two man tee pee and only 1840s equipment. I mention it because I was interviewed by newspapers along the way. Some on board here might have seen an article about a buckskin nut in 1980s. This was when Claude Dallas had escaped prison and everyone was looking for him. I had my friend The Dalles Sheriff send word to all LE that I was ok. Not a threat. I got eyed pretty well by patrol cars when I passed through a town. I went through several pairs of mocs on that trip. I wanted to return via dugout canoe but I couldn’t get permission from one of the Locks up by Lewiston. I made it up the Columbia on a commercial River boat tour boat and hiked the rest of the way through the Clearwater and Selway to Elk City. Met some really fine folk. I miss Buckskinning and hope to get back into it once my house sells. Might see you out there.
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Funny you mention Claude Dallas; I have a newspaper clipping Oct 18, 1986 from Pinedale WY (just south of where I live now) and it says Dallas was sighted several weeks before in Daniel Jct (where we used the store on Sept 14) and some cabins were vandalized. It was my riding partner, a spitting image of Dallas, and myself who rode thru, we talked several times with the local deputies who I’m sure were checking us out. Lotsa pics were taken as we rode thru downtown Pinedale in our ‘skins.
Here’s one of mine that popped up at RIA a year ago, built in 1996 and not a clue who I sold it to;
https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/79/3198/sig-schulz-contemporary-flintlock-american-long-rifle
Your Flinter is beyond awesome. Impressive craftsmanship. Did you forge the barrel. Swamped? When ARs run out of ammo and parts BP will always remain primed and ready. We can make our own powder and shoot rocks if we ave to. I know that area of Wy. In the 70s I went to NOLS in Lander. Paul Tetzel was there then. It was the best damned decision I ever made. I carry lessons learned to this day. I bought a lot of his equipment. He had the best deep winter mountain bags period. The class spent a month in the Wind River Range traveling by XC skis. Because of that training I always fell confident and comfortable going into the High Lonesome for weeks at a time. I prefer going into the mountains during winter when there are no people bugs or snakes. Mostly people. I hitchhiked all over Wy and passed through Pinedale several times. Is there or was there a small museum? I repaired some clocks for a small museum I think in Pinedale. I don’t have any pics I can upload right now but I use to demonstrate clock making in Colonial Williamsburg. Not the case. The clock. Studied in England. With your skill sets you probably knew some of the gunsmiths there. I also hung out in Jackson Hole. Back then I thought I’d come back or retire there. I was offered a job in Rock Springs. Had great experiences there. One of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I’m leaving Wa and heading to Id when/if my place sells. I’m giving up lots of wilderness here I hope I can afford to replace in Id. I don’t have any heartburn with Dallas. I understand where was coming from. Should leave it there. Our sheriff was a close personal friend. He knew me and my daughter well. It might have been his idea to write letters to all LE of the towns I was passing through. I kept a copy with me. For the trip I carried a capper .50 Hawken & pistol. I had a back up in case but I did not want a pissing contest with LE. I’m doing research they can have my guns. on my Elk City trip I had a really incredible encounter. I was in my camp by the fire late one night. From out of the dark a voice said “Yo the camp”. I told them to come on in. Turns out a male and female couple for National Geographic was doing a wolf study. The woman of the pair said, after learning what I was doing, that her mother felt compelled to make copies of a 19th century manuscript that detailed every restaurant, saloon, laundry, bridge/toll from The Dalles to Elk City. The woman says now we know why. They sent those to me to add flesh to the story I was writing. Well..I’ve waxed verbose. Nice talking to another Buckskinner. Fantastic work, sir. I can’t see a thing I’m typing so apologizes in advance.
Please do read the Pemmican guide that is linked in the article. It covers everything in much more detail, and in years of research it’s the most definitive information I’ve found on the subject.
With all due respect to Mr. Lawson, he is glossing over many of the details, likely for the sake of brevity – his guide cannot go in depth on every topic.
For instance, rendering fat is not simply heating it into a liquid. Fat, as removed from the animal (from around the kidneys works best) has a certain amount of water in it. Water is the enemy of pemmican and will cause it to spoil. Rendering fat is the process of heating it to just above the boiling point of water and holding it there for long enough for the water to boil away. How long depends on how much fat is being rendered. Rendered beef fat is called tallow, and is preferred for pemmican due to its higher melting point. Rendered pork fat is called lard, and is amazing to cook with instead of any kind of modern supermarket oil or shortening, but its not so good for pemmican due to lower melting point.
Another tip: adding honey or dried berries will shorten the storage life due to introducing vectors for moisture retention. For flavoring, I recommend freeze dried orange peel. A little goes a long way and it will be absolutely dry.
Vacuum sealing it with a desiccant pack is a modern touch that will absolutely help with storage life in the field.
Until it’s needed, freeze it.
You should research any commercially available products that claim to be pemmican. As far as I know, FDA regulations require meat used for jerky or jerky-like products to be heated to 160F before drying. This will destroy a significant amount of the meat’s nutritional value. It’s best to make it yourself, in a sterile environment, with meat carefully handled to prevent bacteria contamination.
While pemmican has been on my radar for a while since I read about it on another blog, making it myself has always been something that I just can’t pull off. Maybe once I get a house of my own…
Anyway, I wasn’t aware that you could buy it until I read this.
However, looking at the US Wellness pemmican pages, it states that it will only last for seven to ten days.
This goes against what I’ve always read, that it lasts damn near forever.
Anyone know what’s going on? Is that just something they say for the lawyers?
Thanks!
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