Hamburger Pemmican Experiment - 1

I've read a few articles about how to make pemmican, and it seems like rendering the fat and grinding the dehydrated meat make it difficult. I remember reading on some OAMC sites that some people boil their hamburger, then pour off the water and fat so they can use just the hamburger in their bulk recipes.

So I'm thinking that if I boiled hamburger, drained the water and fat into a container that was put into the fridge, that I could easily scrape off the fat once it had risen, then have leftover broth for soup or beans.

Meanwhile I could dehydrate the hamburger, and since it was pre-ground, it might be easier to grind once dehydrated.

I used a five pound tube of 73/27 hamburger that hubby bought from Walmart -- minus two medium sized burgers. I think that's their fattest hamburger blend, which is good, since I hope to have as much fat as dehydrated hamburger.

I put the hamburger into my electric skillet along with about 1/4 cup of soy sauce, then broke it up with a wooden spoon (skillet is non-stick). I then topped it with water I had boiled in the kettle, to within 1/2 inch of the top. I set the temperature as high as it would go -- 400F -- covered it, and stayed nearby until it boiled. I washed breakfast dishes, and the wooden spoon I had used to break up the hamburger while waiting.

It didn't take very long to boil since I had added boiling water; it boiled over a little, and I had to be quick with the paper towels to clean up the boiled over mess. I uncovered it and lowered the temperature to simmer, and broke up the meat again, since it had big chunks in it that had pink in the middle.

I let it simmer longer at around 220F to get rid of the pink, and washed the wooden spoon and plastic slotted spoon I used to break up the bigger chunks. I'm guessing it simmered for about 20 minutes longer.

I used a plastic spoon to remove the bigger chunks (not as big as the first group I had broken up, but about meatball sized), and place them into a colander draining over a large glass bowl. Once I removed most of the hamburger chunks I could easily get to, I put the colander and drain bowl into the fridge. Then I covered the broth and fat with the smaller bits of hamburger to let it cool down before I do a pour-strain, since I usually burn myself if I don't let the liquid cool down a bit first.