(By request)
Chicken Coop Chatter©
1 pound raw ground poultry
1 cup coconut oil (or enough to hold the ingredients together in a ball)
1 cup ground/dried fruit
2 T. Honey (optional)
Grind the raw poultry meat to a fine grind. Roll out thin, or pat as thin as possible (this works best if the meat is cold). Place on dehydrator sheet or plastic wrap. Dehydrate at 145 to 155 degrees until it is thoroughly dry and breaks easily. This should not be pliable or it is not fully dehydrated.
With a food chopper, blender, food processor or grinder, grind the dried meat to a powder. Finely chop the dried fruit. Place all ingredients in a bowl large enough to knead the ingredients together, thoroughly. Roll out the mixture. Place in the dehydrator until pliable. Cut into bars. This may be refrigerated or frozen in sealable containers for long term storage or eaten as is. Pemmican gets better with age and has a very long shelf life.
I developed my recipe for poultry and used the coconut oil rather than lard or beef fat for a healthier version of the original pemmican, however Beef, Venison, poultry, and Buffalo meat can be used to make pemmican. Pork and Bear meat are NOT recommended. Grains, dried fruits, nuts and berries can all be used as ingredients in the pemmican, however there is no other seasoning or flavoring added to the mixture, this would be purely optional and a matter of taste. I used a tropical mixture of dried fruits, with coconut, bananas, raisins and mango. But any dried fruit and/or berries of choice will work fine. Pemmican is a great food source for hiking trips and for an emergency food item. This would be like a high protein bar you might find in a health food section of your grocery store. There are some brand names with Pemmican in the title.
Whatever meat and fruits you use, you want about 1:3 ratio. 3 of the dried meat, 1 of the fruit and enough oil/fat to hold it all together. If using for hiking or emergency food, vary the fat content for the season. Less for summer and more for winter. Pemmican is actually a complete balanced protein, making it the ideal food source for emergency purposes.
The American Indians are credited with the high energy, high protein concoction. They render entire buffalo to be used for pemmican, which yielded approximately 90 pounds of dried meat. It was used for long journeys and when explorers came to this country it was traded for other goods. Pemmican was ordered for each man in 90 pound quantities, as the food source for American explorers as they sought out new territory. Lewis and Clark made notes of eating Pemmican in their journals. Pemmican was originally made from buffalo meat and placed in satchels of 90 pounds for hunting excursions. The Native Americans could go many hours without another food source and often this was the only food source.
Chicken Coop Chatter© All Rights Reserved 2011-2016