A pressed cake of pounded dried meat mixed to a paste with melted fat and other ingredients, originally made by North American Indians and later adapted by Arctic explorers.  The word comes from Cree pimecan, from pime, ‘fat’.  I came across it in a story set in England, where the children use it as a more exotic word to describe the corned beef they’ve been given for their camping trip.  More redolent of proper explorers on expedition.
Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons (London: Vintage, 2015 (1930)), p. 69
