Pemmican Crust Raw Panna Cotta

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This recipe is an exploration of what’s possible. It’s not for everyone and I can totally appreciate that.  But this works for me, this nourishes me. This is pushing against the status quo, the super sweet and processed. This is asking the question, what if we give it to the earth? What if we give it to the animals?  To nourish and heal our bodies and to celebrate with.  

This is an exploration of animal based cooking. And quite frankly, the answer is delicious …

There is a highlight on my Instagram page with videos walking you through the process. This recipe yields one 8″ spring form pan. Serves at least 8.

[Our Gelatin Recommendations: 100% grass-fed gelatin from Perfect Supplements. Enjoy 10% off your entire cart with the coupon code “nourish.” Other brands we’d recommend include Bernard Jenson sold by Radiant Life and Vital Proteins sold by Radiant Life.]

[See Spencer’s original post about this recipe on Instagram, as well as the raspberry cream variation.]

Ingredients

Pemican Crust

• I lb ground beef
• ½ lb melted butter
• ⅓ cup maple syrup 

Raw Panna Cotta

• 3 cups raw milk or cream
• 2 cups yogurt
• 6 egg yolks
• ½ cups sweetener (maple syrup or honey)
• 1 vanilla bean (can sub 1 Tablespoon extract)
• ¼ cup unflavored gelatin

Instructions for the Crust

1. Line bottom of 8″ spring form pan with parchment paper.  No need to cut it out. 
2. Cut a square bigger than the circle and place it over. 
3. Clamp the top over the paper and into the bottom. This is going to set you up for an easy release.  Not doing this is risking having the crust stuck to the bottom and making it hard to get off the pan.
4. Dehydrate 1 lb of ground @140⁰ F for 5-10 hours until cracker dry.
5. Blend dehydrated beef in a blender or food processor.
6. In a bowl mix the beef flour, butter, and sweeter.  
7. Add to your parchment lined spring form pan.
8. Place in fridge to set the crust.

   Tips for success

• I cut parchment to line my stainless steel trays so the beef won’t fall through 
• Crumble the beef into the tray.  Handle it as little as possible and spread it out.  1 lb covers two of my trays spread out.
• If you have a meat grinder, use the smallest die and run it through a couple of times or ask your butcher to do it for you.
• Find what works best for you to grind it up, a vitamix, a food processor, mortar pestle, etc
• The more care you take crumbling the beef and avoiding big clumps that dehydrate into jerky like pieces the finer product you will have in the end.  Bigger pieces in your pemican can be very toothsome and hard so be careful when chewing.

Instructions for the Raw Panna Cotta Recipe

1. In a heavy bottom pot combine the raw milk, yogurt, egg yolks, and sweetener.  Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla bean and add to pot.
2. You need to take the cold edge off the ingredients.  So put in the lowest heat and stir until the mixture is 70⁰ F and remove from heat.  Failure to do this might cause your gelatin to set before you can mix it.
3. Bloom the gelatin a mixing bowl.  This means you add water to hydrate the gelatin.  Make sure all the dry gelatin is bloomed, you might need to stir it up to exposure the dry bits.
4. Add 1 cup just boiled water to the bloomed gelatin and mix well.  This might take a good bit of stirring but it’s possible to dissolve all the gelatin so you don’t have any clumps.  Allow to cool a few minutes to take the hot edge off.
5. Whisk the gelatin slurry into the raw dairy mixture, stirring as you pour it in.  Once incorporated pour on top of your prepared pemmican crust. The mixture should remain below 85⁰ F doing it like this.  Carefully transfer to the fridge to set.
6. Once set, it is ready to be removed from the spring form pan and cut into slices.  
7. Take a pairing knife and cut carefully along the edge of the pan to release the gelatin mixture from the sides.  
8. Undue the clasp and gently remove the rim.  
9. Carefully transfer to a cutting board with a burger or offset spatula.  Try to get under the parchment to remove from the bottom.  It is fragile!! So be careful.  
10. Cut into slices with chef’s knife being sure to cut through the pemmican crust.  Transfer to plate and enjoy.  
11. If allowed to warm up the texture will soften and the gelatin will loosen.  So consider that as you slice and serve it.

This is a whole other animal than a gluten based crust. It will behave differently. You are relying on the butter to hold the crust together so keep that in mind. The neat thing about using gelatin is you can do layered pours. I have made this with creamy raspberry puree layered in and it was beautiful!

Check out the story highlight on my Instagram page if you want to see the videos of me walking you through it. This is also a great introduction to pemmican if you have never made it before. Instead of butter it is made with rendered tallow but the process is more or less the same. In the past I have used pemmican as fuel on an ultra marathon and while working hard manual labor. It’ll get you through, let me tell you!

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