Native American Recipes

At the end of the story about Yellowstone Kelly last week he told how the Indians made Pemican. That got me thinking about Indian cooking and so I started looking for recipes for that category. I found three that had very interesting stories to go with them. The first one I found online and the last two I found in a cookbook I forgot I had titled “Indian Cookin’” Compiled by Herb Walker.

The Three Sisters

Source: www.native-american-online.org

“I first heard the story of THE THREE SISTERS over 30 years ago. My father-in-law planted the family garden each year and we were all to go and regularly admire the progress. About six weeks after planting, I was duly impressed with it’s progress, but automatically bent down to pull ‘a couple of weeds’ I saw that did not appear to be normal vegetation around the bean plants. They sure looked like weeds to me. Grampie explained to me what was growing. He told me the story of the Three Sisters…the corn stalk, the bean vine and the squash. He then took me to his sister’s house where another garden was growing. There I saw mounds of earth where the same type of vegetation was growing. She planted those three vegetables every year in the traditional way.
Margaret hoed up mounds of earth, and planted three seeds in each mound….corn, two varieties of beans, and a squash seed. She told me the corn stalk provided a sturdy stem for the beans to ‘twine’ up on. The beans in return took nitrogen from the air and put it in the ground for nutrients for healthy plants. The squash, on the other hand, laid on the ground to prevent weeds and to preserve moisture for all three.
Margaret is 92 years of age today, and is still planting her garden. She is one of the most incredible ladies I have ever met. Margaret is the genealogist of our family, and is fascinated by the computer and the print-offs I provide her.
She also educated me in the nutrient value of the bean, corn and squash combination. Three Sister Soup is a perfect food. Frozen in cup increments, it’s a wonderful tonic, and a wonderful taste.”

Three Sisters Soup

6 cups liquid - (water, homemade chicken broth, or vegetable broth)
2 cups fresh corn off the cob
1 cup fresh green/yellow beans
1 cup fresh peas
1 cup light yellow pinto beans
1 ½ cups butternut - buttercup squash (or pumpkin)
2 bay leaves
Salt
pepper to taste
Simmer all the veggies for about an hour and a half. (The simmering for that amount of time blends the flavour to an incredible flavour).
The blend of spices/herbs is your taste. I like a southwestern blend….chilies, cumin, etc. or a nice mild flavour blend of parsley, basil, savory, oregano is wonderful. Place in blender and puree.
Serve with biscuits, bannock or scones.

Assiniboine Hot Stone Cooking

The Assiniboine “stone boilers” were a Siouan tribe living in northeastern Montana and adjacent parts of Canada. This tribe, as well as many others, used the hot stone method to boil water and cook some of their food. A hole was dug in the ground and a buffalo hide pegged over the hole to form a primitive kettle. The hide was then filled with water, meat, wild vegetables and greens. Small red-hot stones were dropped into the water to make it boil. The cooled stones were replaced with hot stones to keep the water boiling. Some tribes used birch bark containers in a similar manner with the same results.
A more modern way to do this follows: Dig a hole big enough to hold the necessary equipment for boiling the water and food to be cooked. A piece of plastic can be used, in place of the buffalo hide, to line the hole. Fill with water and place four cold stones of similar size in the bottom. Make a basket out of slender branches and set it in the water on the stones. This basket will hold the hot cooking stones, otherwise they would burn holes in the plastic. Meat and vegetables are placed outside around the basket. As they cool, cooking stones must be replaced with hot stones to keep the water boiling.

Partridge Stew

3 partridges
6 T. bear grease
1 handful miners lettuce
4 wild onions
1/2 T. coltsfoot salt
1 handful mint leaves, finely chopped
Skin and draw the partridges. Wash real good inside and outside. Put the partridge on a long stick and brown over the open fire. Baste the partridge with bear grease until it is golden brown.
Put the partridges, the rest of the bear grease, miners lettuce leaves, onions, coltsfoot salt, and mint in the pot and cover with cold water. Place the stone basket in the pot and add the red hot stones. Bring the water to a boil by adding more hot stones. Keep it at a slow boil for 2 hours, stirring once in awhile. If you want to you can thicken the stew with some flour. Can be served on hot griddle cakes.

Stone Griddle Cooking

The griddle, on whose polished surface many dishes are prepared in these modern days, is not a new invention. Indians used a form of griddle, made of a highly polished flat stone instead of the shiny piece of metal now used to cook their food.
These Indian griddles were carefully made by polishing out a piece of sandstone which had been rubbed with grease and tallow. It probably took weeks to finish making them and they probably were used to cook cornbread, fish and other kinds of meat.
A stone griddle of the kind the Indians used may be made for use today. Find a flat piece of sandstone (no other kind will do). Place it on four cornerstones and brush and wash the surface of it until it is perfectly clean. Only sandstone will stand the heat of the fire under it. Other types of stone may explode into small chips and injure the cook.
Make a good steady fire under the stone to get the griddle hot enough to dry out. Be sure to get the griddle dry and clean before using it. Bear fat or bacon rind may be rubbed into the griddle and now you are ready to cook the following recipe.

Blackfeet Indian Jellied Snake

Any fat snake will do for this recipe but the Indians were particularly fond of the rattlesnake.
1 medium snake
2 C. Indian vinegar
1 handful mint
2 fingers coltsfoot salt
Cut off the head and skin of the snake and take out the intestines. Cut into 1-inch pieces. Wash in cold water. Put the vinegar, mint and coltsfoot salt in some kind of container; put the pieces of snake on top and cover with cold water. Let stand overnight. Put the container over the hot coals in the morning and simmer slowly for about 35 minutes. Remove from the fire and cool. The dish is ready to eat when the jelly has set. Print this post