PEEL RIVER - It's a summer afternoon on the Peel River and Tommy Thrasher has put a slab of whitefish out to dry.

There's a small fire burning well below the fish, which is hung across a wooden pole. The rising smoke from the fire keeps the flies away and adds a bit of flavor.

But don't be fooled. Making dry meat is not the same as making smoked meat or jerky.

The scene at the camp on the Peel is common all across the NWT. Dry meat from either fish or game is common to most of the traditional cultures throughout the NWT.

Most civilizations learned early on that removing the moisture from food was one of the best ways to preserve it. Removing the moisture prevents bacteria from breaking down the food and it can be stored for months or even years.

The first European explorers who came to the North were quick to make use of what they called pemmican.

The word has Cree origins and describes powdered dry meat that was made from game. After drying the meat, it was wrapped in cloth and pounded into a fine powder.

Samuel Hearne described the production of pemmican in his writings. He traveled with several hundred pounds of pemmican, which was carried in sacks like flour.

Today people in the territories rarely grind their dry meat into a powder, but dry meat is still widely produced and eaten year round.

The beautiful thing about making dry meat is that it is simple to produce. Making jerky or smoked meat requires heat, smoke, spices and time. But making dry meat is as easy as slicing the meat to the right thickness and hanging it up in a clean, dry place either indoors or out.

Basically any meat can be dried if you have the know-how. Caribou and fish are the two most commonly dried meats. But people in Paulatuk often dry geese. In Sachs Harbour dried muskox is popular. Inuvialuit in the Beaufort Delta even dry whale meat.

Sandra Ipana said she learned the art of drying whale meat from her mother-in-law and from her aunt Effie Rogers.

Ipana preserves beluga whale flesh by drying it in two distinct ways.

"When you catch a whale there's meat right along the spine. You take the chunks out of there that have the least sinew because if you go too low it becomes straight sinew," she said.

Ipana uses the meat from the back to make basic dry meat. At first she leaves the flesh to sit for a day so the blood can drain out. She then cuts the meat into slabs that are about an inch think and about a foot and a half long.

"You don't want it too thick because the inside gets sour. Then we cut it into slabs and we put it onto homemade racks made out of driftwood. Those are kind of high, about six feet off the ground. The wind and sun dries them. You keep turning them and you watch the weather," she said.

Ipana said the sun and wind dry the meat out fast enough so that flies and parasites cannot infect it.

"Then you just find a dry storage place," she said. "In my house as soon as it cools off in the fall or winter I keep it in the grub box. Kids like the meat with butter and salt. They just chew on them."

Ipana said there is also a section of meat near the whale's stomach that is free of sinew. She uses that to make a delicacy called killitaq.

She begins by only partially drying the sinew-free meat from the stomach.

"Not too dry, we just dry the top. We always check it with our hands to see if it is too soft. Once you know that texture, you know when it is good," said Ipana.

Once properly dried, the meat is put in the smokehouse for one or two days and then cut into bite-sized pieces to be placed in whale oil. The resulting dish is killitaq.

Nutritionist Audra Donison said that dry meat is perfectly healthy, although it is best eaten in smaller servings.

"Dry meat compared to boiled or baked meat is a little more concentrated because you're removing the water. So most of the nutrients are two to three times what you would find in the same weight of cooked meat," she said.

Any fat that was in the meat is also more concentrated. The drying process does not remove fat. While most people enjoy the meat with lard or butter, she does not recommend eating it that way. Margarine and natural oils such as whale or goose are healthier choices. Eating it dry is probably healthiest.