I was searching for a library book that specialized in Native American cooking prior to the arrival of the English in New England since the Thanksgiving holiday is approaching. The only book I can find at my local library is Native New England Cooking by Dale Carson. Many of the recipes in this book represent a blending of European and Native American ingredients and techniques.
Some recipes seem to be of Native New England origin. For example, recipes, involving corn, beans, and squash, appear to be of Native American origin. However, many recipes include apples, milk, cream, butter, beef stock, and bacon. In the book, Native New England Cooking, Carson explains that apples, molasses, cows, and pigs are not native to the Americas, so the Natives adopted these ingredients into their diet. It is very hard for me to find a purely Native New England recipe without an imported European ingredient included as I intended.
Based on the book, Native New Englanders ate corn, beans, squash, salmon, clams, oysters, lobsters, sardines, mushrooms, watercress, berries, turkeys, and maple syrup. However, there are no recipes for roasting turkeys in this book, Native New England Cooking. Some recipes are accompanied by a brief story, explaining tradition or cooking technique. For example, opposite the page for the “Squaw Bread” recipe, Carson explains that Native New Englanders pounded nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts, and acorns into flours, which were used as thickening agents. However, the “Squaw Bread” recipe calls for flour, baking powder, salt, butter, and milk. Carson does not say specifically that the flour is a nut flour, so I assume it is regular wheat flour as is the case in most popular American cookbooks. Can nut flours be made into breads in the same way as wheat flour? I can’t tell by reading this book.
Many of the recipes sounds very tasty, but they are not the purely Native New Englander recipes, prior to the arrival of Europeans, I had hoped to find. Carson explained in his introduction that recipes were passed from person to person. However Native New Englanders cooked their native foods prior to the European invasion must have been lost, forgotten, and polluted with the new European ingredients, European cooking techniques, and declines in the supply of wild, native foods as a result of immigration or I just need a different Native American cookbook.
There are a few recipes that hold some promise for the coming Thanksgiving holiday. Carson’s book contains a Thanksgiving menu. It lists things like roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and apple pie. Most of us are familiar with these foods for the Thanksgiving menu. There are other foods mentioned in Carson’s menu, but I see other recipes throughout the book that might be closer to traditional Native New Englanders’ diet that can be served at a modern Thanksgiving feast. Carson says that “Rich Oyster Dressing” can be used for turkeys or by itself. Carson provides a recipe called “Scallop of Turkey,” which calls for cooked turkey among other ingredients. This could be a new way to use up our turkey leftovers. Other recipes include “Mohawk Corn,” “Succotash,” “Watercress Salad,” “Dill Bean Salad,” “Herbed Wild Rice,” “Mushroom Soup,” “Popcorn,” “Pumpkin,” “Pumpkin Bread,” “Gingerbread,” “Indian Pudding,” and “Bread Pudding.”
I am disappointed that this book contains very few purely Native New Englander recipes with purely native ingredients. As I suggested before, the traditional recipes must have been lost, forgotten, and polluted or I need to find a different Native New Englander cookbook, written and published in the 17th century. I suspect that if there is a Native New Englander cookbook dated for the 17th century, it might contain the traditional food ways I am seeking.
Despite my disappointment, I still recommend this book. Prior to reading it, I have never known popcorn to be a Native American snack. This book mentions Native Americans ate popcorn with maple syrup. I have learned a few things from reading Native New England Cooking that I did not know before. For those of you, who love to show off your cooking abilities at Thanksgiving, Native New England Cooking can offer you some new side dishes to serve along with your turkey.
Consider learning more about Native Americans at your local library as we come closer to the Thanksgiving holiday. Perhaps, using Native New England Cooking or some other Native American cookbook can yield a new tradition for immigrants such as using the Thanksgiving holiday to promote and preserve Native American traditions and heritage. For those of you, who love to cook for Thanksgiving, you can be the first in your family, the first in your circle of friends, or the first person at your office potluck to serve a Native American dish.
Reference
Carson, Dale. Native New England Cooking. Old Saybrook: Peregrine Press, 1980.
Copyright © 2018 www.landofbooksandhoney.com. All rights reserved.
Pingback: fda hydroxychloroquine shortage