Interest in Pemmican or Suet??

[crofter]

yes, most definitely. the trick is to get the meat/jerky very dry, cracker dri so it snaps and crumbles and use rendered fat that has been rendered out very dry. also make sure anything else you add is very dry like cacao paste or any berries, freeze dried berries or othe friut can be easier to find.

you get the moisture content down and that stuff will last a long time. parfleches of pemmican have been found that were hundreds of years old and still edible inside

I found this article about what the Lewis & Clark expedition ate, kind of interesting the amount of wild game they consumed. At the very end, they are trying to make pemmican in the rain, and it's just too wet. Also talks about how much jerky they ate as fast food.

Modern buffalo hunters quarter their game with a chainsaw and come away with heavy quarters to handle. This article says in 1805 they divided the bison into 20 pieces which could be handled more easily.
-crofter

Description: article on preparing wild game in 1805.
http://www.lewis-clark.org/article/384

 

[RoadtripsAndCampfires]

My dad's uncle's father had been making chili since he was taught as a young boy by a Mexican lad when they were working together in the coal mines of Illinois in the mid 1800's.  The rendering of suet is part of the recipe.  In 1902 he opened a saloon in Auburn, Illinois and started making his chili to sell with his suds.  In 1913 he moved to Green Bay and opened a chili joint.  I have an old article that tells how the chili made it by boat with a man from Belgium who said it was still fine when he got home with it. 

Nabisco created the small oyster cracker (also known today as "soup crackers") for him.  The waxed paper butter comes in was also created for John to wrap his chili bricks in.  Note that papermills were well established in the area.  He sold to several restaurants as well as selling in his own joint.  The recipe has been stolen more than once but I don't know what direction or who, etc., I'm just stating it was, including again stolen fromt he current owner who said the manual with recipes, instructions and photos were stolen.

Anyway, pemmican has been dated at least to the 1500's as was a chili with the same consistency as John's and which included the suet.  This type of chili was/is (if made right) a pemmican but without the berries added.  Instead chile and spices are used.  Note that Montezuma was known to add humans at times as part or all of the meat portion, and fortunately over time the Mexicans of that time period eventually (fortunately) dropped that practice.

The fat used in suet is pure kidney beef suet.  It is a fat that is of a different consistency then the rest of the fat in the animal.  All veins, blood or anything not belonging there is cut out before using.  The suet is then melted.  It is cooked down UNTIL IT NO LONGER HAS ANY WATER IN IT.  This is important.  It is the lack of water in the meat (by drying or cooking it out) and the lack of water in the suet that allows the food to last a very long time.  There are of course versions of pemmican recipes but rendered suet is only properly rendered if there is no water left in it when finished.

I was taught by John's son who worked with his father for years in Green Bay and later came to California.  I have the old photos and newspaper artiles as well as Ernie's stories.  There were a lot of lies told by those Texas cowboys and I hope I live to correct it.  My dad was taught by John's son long before I was and he carried on the business  until he retired and SOLD IT OUTSIDE THE FAMILY.  In 1975 dad's chili was rated along with 2 others the best to be found in Los Angeles by Los Angeles Magazine.  Fast forward to the new owners.  I have a copy of a Los Angeles Magazine which rated "The Best (and worst) chili in L.A."  The new owners only recieve a photo of the condiments at the counter with a note that these were good with chili.  Other restaurants received good reviews and writeups.  I'm banned from the restaurant now because I told the new owner his chili sucked.  I had tasted his brother's (or maybe cousin's) chili and it was really bad.  I did not taste the new owner's chili but he told me (when we were still speaking) that he was asking "old customers" if he had tweaked it so it was now tasting original.  He also mentioned he did shortcuts.  Ha ha, I told him to look at the magazine article I had framed and was still on the wall and he would see dad's quote that he believed someone would get the recipe, take short cuts and ruin it.  I told him dad was right (thus I got banned) LOL.  Note that before he banned me I offered to resend him the recipe but he took offense that I wanted proof he was the current owner.  He refused (paranoid I was going to use a copy of an official document for what purpose other than varifying he was the owner is beyond me.)

Here on this list and elsewhere I just want people trying to make pemmican understand what suet really is.  It is not lard or regular fat.  It is beef kidney fat that is free of moisture by rendering.

So get the water out!  You'll get steam as the water evaporates.  When it stops boiling you'll have pure suet and cracklings.  There is no water in a suet recipe.

Hope this is informative.

 

[crofter]

....So get the water out!  You'll get steam as the water evaporates.  When it stops boiling you'll have pure suet and cracklings.  There is no water....

So do the berries need to be dried also?
-crofter

 

[RoadtripsAndCampfires]

So do the berries need to be dried also?
-crofter

Anything going into pemmican needs all moisture removed to prevent mold, etc.  That is what made it last so long.

 

[RoadtripsAndCampfires]

P.S.
I often get asked why I did not take over the restaurant. Simple answer, since I was 17 I said I was going to retire and go camping until I was tired of it and nothing was going to stand in the way of my dream. Not even that.

 

[trailer-t]

"In 1902 he opened a saloon in Auburn, Illinois and started making his chili to sell with his suds. In 1913 he moved to Green Bay and opened a chili joint. I have an old article that tells how the chili made it by boat with a man from Belgium who said it was still fine when he got home with it."

Is that "Chili John" Isaasc by chance?
this is really cool -- I am an Illinois greasy chilli fanatic -- I have old book somewhere discussing about the Green Bay connection to Illinois. Auburn is down around Carlinville (Home of Taylors Mexican Chilli) that stuff swims in a sea of suet. They are like 30 minutes south of Springfield. There are still a couple Chilli joints that were still going like the DEW or den Chili Parlor and Joe Rodgers chilli parlor. Both probably shuttered presently. Thanks for this post.

 

[RoadtripsAndCampfires]

Rendered kidney suet should be a required ingredient in chili (or chilli if from Illinois).
Springfield Illinois "tavern chilli" as they call it swims in that layer of fat.  Wonderful stuff.

ABSOLUTELY!  Note that Auburn is next door to Springfield where John first brought his chili to the public.  Taylor's Chili was along the same line as well, used to be able to order by cans not sure if they are still around I'll have to look.

 

[RoadtripsAndCampfires]

"In 1902 he opened a saloon in Auburn, Illinois and started making his chili to sell with his suds.  In 1913 he moved to Green Bay and opened a chili joint.  I have an old article that tells how the chili made it by boat with a man from Belgium who said it was still fine when he got home with it." 

Is that "Chili John" Isaasc by chance?
this is really cool -- I am an  Illinois greasy chilli  fanatic  -- I have old book somewhere discussing about the Green Bay connection to Illinois.  Auburn is down around Carlinville (Home of Taylors Mexican Chilli) that stuff swims in a sea of suet. They are like 30 minutes south of Springfield.  There are still a couple Chilli joints that were still going like the DEW or den Chili Parlor and Joe Rodgers chilli parlor.  Both probably shuttered presently.  Thanks for this post.

Yes, the one and only.  His son was Ernie who moved to California with his wife and my grandmother, his wife's sister, and the rest of the family including my dad.  WWII and meat rationing delayed his opening in CA but in 1954 he opened.  Re the chili parlor list I am aware of those and actually have a future trip planned to go all the way up to Wisconsin stopping in chili parlors along the way.  I have spoken with Taylors and he gave me permission to post some old photos on a website I had in the mid 1980's about chili history.

 

[trailer-t]

I guess you have the book I referred to--Bill Bridges --" The Great chili Book" --1981. excellent book imo on chili of all kinds.
Taylors is open as far as I know- my sister lives in Carlinville. One of the ones I mentioned has closed, but my memory escapes on which one.
Joe Rogers aka The Chili Parlor is open I think (subject to corona shutdown). Dew Chilli parlor appears to be open from website.

A recipe --Beans should be cooked separately :

https://www.food.com/recipe/springfield-tavern-style-chilli-526993

 

[RoadtripsAndCampfires]

The taste of pemmican will vary depending upon the ingredients. Just like today, not everyone is going to make the same dish the same way with the same ingredients. The fat and meat are the primary ingredients. The same spices/berries, etc. will not be found in southern Mexico as is in Canada or other places. Look how many variations there are just in the making of bread.

 

[WILD@HEART]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]
Pemican, the original ultimate superfood, was created by the many native american tribes. In north america. It was intriduced to [/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]European immigrants beginning in the 18th and 19th centuries, to fur trappers, traders, voyagers and soldiers. The Metis of canada were well known for their pemican, and responsible for most of the pemican sold and traded through out the northern regions of North America. Bison was primarily used and deer, elk or moose when needed.[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]While the men hunted, the women would process the animal, wasting very little. The meat sliced thin, dried on wood racks near the fire and in the sun. Suet was rendered into tallow, bones cracked opren for marrow. A bison cow would yeild about 250 lbs raw meat or 50 lbs dry meat, that was pulverized by hand and 50 lbs rendered tallow.[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]The hair was removed from the skin and dried to make rawhide.[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Pemican was made with two, sometimes three ingredients, dry meat, tallow and dried berries such as blueberries or another berry that was available. [/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]After the ingredients are mixed well in a 2:1 dry meat and tallow fat.[/font]
It was packed & sealed in pieces of rawhide. It is said that it could last 10, 20, even 30 years when stored properly.
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]In our world today, It was primarily used for preserved portable food that could be easily carried for survival while hunting, travel and food storage for lean times. [/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]In our world today,[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]it takes less effort to make pemican,[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]with modern conveiences & money.[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Although, for some of us, [/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]our ancestors made pemican out of necessity (not novelty) for their survival and existance in this world.[/font]

 

[crofter]

I had success drying some regular salami in a slow oven. Turned out as chips and is keeping fine with no refrigeration. That is about half fat and half meat.
-crofter