Seasonings on pemmican, and best cuts of meat for pemmican?

[infinitenexus]

I'm making my first batch of pemmican, and I'm a little worried about it tasting bland, so I put a little sea salt, cracked pepper, basil and oregano on the beef as it's drying.  Will this negatively affect my pemmican?  I'm not putting any berries or anything in it, I want to stick with just animal parts, but like I said, I'm afraid of it being bland.  Also, I used a london broil for the meat.  Is this a "recomended" cut, or is there one that's better (leaner/less expensive)?  I don't have a ton of cash and grass fed beef is expensive.

[Hannibal]

The best cut of fat for the pemmican is the fat outside the muscle-meat and marrow.
The best cut of meat is the leanest muscle-meat.

[djr_81]

I'm making my first batch of pemmican, and I'm a little worried about it tasting bland, so I put a little sea salt, cracked pepper, basil and oregano on the beef as it's drying.  Will this negatively affect my pemmican? 

I believe the salt will prevent it from storing as well. When I made pemmican in the past I sprinkled a bit of salt over the top as I was eating the pieces.
FWIW IMO the best way you could flavor the pemmican would be to add whole dry herb leaves, perhaps as a bouquet garni, to a batch of rendered fat near the end. Let it simmer and infuse it's oils into the fat for a bit then remove.

[infinitenexus]

Well fortunately this batch won't have to be stored, it'll likely be gone in a week's time.  Now that I think about it it makes sense, the salt would draw water to it and speed up the spoiling of the meat.  So instead of the dried crushed herbs, maybe just some fresh whole leaves tossed into the warm tallow for a bit, then remove.  I have a basil and a rosemary plant, so I could definitely do that.

Another quick question, I want to make sure I ration it enough to last a bit, but I don't want to starve myself.  A golf-ball sized chunk of pemmican, roughly how many calories would that have?  Would that be enough for maybe 500 calories?

[TylerDurden]

Please put ALL pemmican-related discussions in the Hot Topics forum in future, where it belongs. I'll move this topic now.

[infinitenexus]

Ahhh my bad.  I posted another one abut my pemmican tasting like ass before I read this.  Information assimilated, I'll put them in here from now on.

[PaleoPhil]

My favorite cut of meat for jerky and pemmican for taste, rather than preservation, is top round instead of the leaner eye of round. The bit of fat in the top round gives it some flavor and it's still lean enough to make jerky.

[donrad]

I buy plain grass fed ground beef from my butcher and he grinds some heart in with it (10% or so). He sells the heart for only $1.00 per pound. I don't care how fatty it is. Too much fat is gooey. I'm sure he just uses trimmings and I get a price break

Any spices available go in but I'm fond of chile pepper, garlic, and onion. Some currants add a nice sweet touch and keeps it moist.

I make rather large batches, using a calk gun like device to squeeze out strips. Half dry it at low temp (100') and store in freezer. Eat it every day at work. Half drying keeps it from getting dry gritty.
 
A good dehydrator with forced air and temp control is a must.

[PaleoPhil]

How do you get currants in the USA with currant plants banned here?

[RawZi]

    In 1966, the federal ban on black currants was moved to individual States' jurisdiction. This led to many savvy states lifting the ban, as did the New York State in 2003 thanks to the efforts of the Currant Company and Greg Quinn. Other states lifting the ban were Oregon, Vermont and Connecticut, whereas others, such as New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine did not lift it as of 2007

The 20th century ban has greatly lowered the popularity of black currant across the United States, and still today blackcurrants in the USA don't have the popularity they enjoy in Europe and the U.K.

    Are red currants banned too or not sweet?

[djr_81]

How do you get currants in the USA with currant plants banned here?

They're easily found here in New York. Rawzi's quote corroborates this.

[PaleoPhil]

Oh, cool. It was only black currants that were banned? Be careful if you grow them, though. My mother once had red and white currant bushes that developed some sort of a fungus or something (maybe it was the white pine blister rust originally associated with black currant bushes?) that spread to a lovely tree in the neighbor's yard and killed it. She pulled them up and told me that she learned there was a ban on currant bushes anyway, but according to the Internet it looks like only black currant bushes were banned, despite my mother's red and white ones killing a tree. I haven't seen a currant bush since then. I'm hoping they'll come back into popularity, unless they are a threat to trees, of course.

[donrad]

I buy currants at an organic grocery store in Kansas. The bushes have some type of disease that infects other trees but you can buy certified disease free plants on the internet. Some states still ban their import probably. The fruit itself has no relation to the plant disease. You can buy on the web. They are considered a superfood by some. Lots of color, small, not too sweet. Antioxidants & bioflavs. Typical Paleo gathering food.