Covering meats in fat may not be common as a storage method, but call it by the French name “confit”, and it’s considered gourmet cooking: http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/01/ask-the-food-lab-what-the-heck-is-confit.html
I have a cookbook by Michael Ruhlman that had pretty much half the book dedicated to confits.
Like pemmican?
Many traditional methods are now considered gourmet, but given the lack of practical skills these days, it’s no wonder. The artisan food movement is all about the rediscovery of traditional methods and its a good thing. I prefer adventurous foods, though I still shy away from tripe—from preference rather than sanitation fears.
Farming was never as consistent as buying groceries, so people had to do something with the overabundance. I used to be amazed that people don’t know how to cook, can, pickle, smoke, and dry; but that’s just because my grandparents were poor Okies who raised a dozen kids through the Depression. Raising my own (kids, produce and livestock) gave me an appreciation for how hard it must have been. We were able to can and freeze most of ours, so it was a lot easier.
I read about a discovery of a pemmican cache that was over 100 years old and still edible.