Rare Old YUKON TERRITORY Pemmican

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For the next step you'll need a white cloth bag about the diameter of a saucer. I sew mine from worn sheeting, because new material doesn't allow surplus grease to seep out. And I make a point of boiling the sack just before use (I like to know that the fabric is sterile, and wet cloth packs more easily in any case).

Fill the sack with the steaming mixture of meat and berries, and have grease hot and ready to pour over the contents. My Yukon friend tells me that his mother used a big dipper to ladle out melted bear fat . . . about a quart for 20 pounds of meat. No real substitute exists, he claims, but adds that—since "there ain't no bear grease"—I'd better stick to good pure lard and "stay away from all that vegetable oil and shortening".

If you take Pete's advice, remember that lard will foam when heated and should be melted in a large container. Pour it into the sack at once, so that the hot fat will seep down and mingle with the hot meat mixture. (This is one reason why all cuts used must be lean.)

Another purpose of the added lard is to coat the sack and make a tight casing which preserves the contents very effectively. "Keep pemmican cold and it's good for ten years," says Yukon Pete. I store small batches in the refrigerator for short-term use, and wrap and freeze the rest.

Using pemmican is an art in itself. The old northerner said that when he was a kid he used to cut a couple of thick slices, wrap them in newspaper, and stick the package in his pocket. Then he'd snowshoe or drive his dog team to school. At lunchtime, out came the pemmican—still frozen—and he'd lay the slices on top of the old wood heater to fry. "It's a rich food and really sticks with you," he told me.

Pete could have eaten his pemmican cold—the ingredients, remember, are precooked—and you've no doubt heard stories about old-timers wolfing down the food straight from the bag. Nevertheless, the mixture is too greasy to be at its best in that form. You'll like it much better heated . . . preferably by light frying.

Pemmican is a fine breakfast meat when served with hash browns and eggs, sourdough hotcakes, or buttermilk biscuits as its sidekicks. Or you might take a hint from Pete and make a real Yukon feast by simmering a hefty chunk of the preserved meat with carrots, potatoes, and onions (as you'd cook a New England boiled dinner). It'll stick to your ribs . . . and boy, is it good!

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