Native American Recipes

[david coonce]

I can't find a thread on here dealing with authentic Native american recipes. I've found several online references but wonder about their "authenticity." I'm helping cater a multicultural festival next week and the organizers wanted "authentic" recipes from a number of cuisines, most of which I am familiar - asian, african, south american, etc. But native american, not so much. And fry bread is out of the question- this is a huge, several-hour event and the food has to sit in chafers. Anybody have any ideas?

[pennylane]

There is something called "three sisters stew", with pumpkin, corn and beans, which were supposedly staple crops for the Native Americans.

[Richard Kilgore]

I'm not sure if there is a particular region of the U.S. (and/or Canada and Mexico) you are focusing on, but if the Southwest works for you, check out American Indian Food and Lore by Carolyn Niethammer. This book includes numerous recipes for a wide variety of ingredients: cactus; nuts and seeds; grapes, berries and cherries; foods of marsh and mesa; and greens; as well as agricultural foods such as beans, chili, corn, melon, pumpkin, squash and wheat. Inexpensive copies show up on Amazon.

Of course, you could consider buffalo and wild game dishes, too. I think Brunswick Stew is generally considered to be a Cherokee or perhaps more generally a South East Indian dish.

One issue has to do with how you are defining "authentic". Cooked (today/early 20th century, 19th century/ 18th century/?) by what tribe(s) on reservations?/urban Indians? or by Native American chefs?

[djyee100]

Try Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs. This cookbook won the James Beard Foundation award in 1992. http://astore.amazon.com/paulag-20/detail/1556701861

ETA: recipesource.com has a section of Native American recipes. http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/americas/native/

Edited February 6, 2008 by djyee100 (log)

[Sam Salmon]

Wild Salmon smoked so long it's dried out like jerky-something of an acquired taste-believe me I've eaten enough.

[Terrasanct]

I recently saw a book about Native American cooking, and grabbed it right away because it's not something I see very often. Some of the recipes are:

Wild turkey with oyster stuffing

Cream sauce frog legs

Elk stew

Wild blueberry pancakes

Wild goose with apple raisin stuffing

Pigeon Pie

Pemmican

Venison pot roast with wild cranberries

Lots of recipes for frog, turtle, duck raccoon, etc. Seems pretty authentic. Lots of wild edible plants, too. I'm not sure if these may be TOO authentic!

The book is called Native American Wild Game, Fish & Other Wild Foods Cookbook, ISBN 1565230086

[david coonce]

Thanks all. I found some great stuff to work with, although sourcing ingredients can be a little tricky, especially in january. Not so much corn around right now.

Thanks, though.

[hummingbirdkiss]

Thanks all. I found some great stuff to work with, although sourcing ingredients can be a little tricky, especially in january. Not so much corn around right now.

Thanks, though.

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Please share what region you were looking for and what you found?

[Ce'nedra]

I have a cookbook with the title 'The Art of American Indian Cooking' by Yefee Kimball & Jean Anderson. While I haven't yet cooked from the book (I bought it purely for curiosity reasons actually), I've heard goods things about it.

It's fairly specific and even divides the recipes into 'The Gardeners & Gatherers of the Southwest', 'Fishermen of the Pacific Northwest', 'Wandering hunters of the Plains', 'Planters of the South' and 'Woodsmen of the East'.

You could buy this book from your bookstore at a VERY cheap price!

I only got it for $2!

Edited February 8, 2008 by Ce'nedra (log)

[david coonce]

I found this same book at the library! I decided to use an Iroquois recipe from the southwest and a Miami recipe from the midwest. One is the traditional 3 sisters stew, the other is an anasazi bean/juniper stew.

[Kayakado]

this is a good one and authentic.

Hopi Cookery by Juanita Tiger Kavena

[Hest88]

Wild turkey with oyster stuffing

Cream sauce frog legs

Elk stew

Wild blueberry pancakes

Wild goose with apple raisin stuffing

Pigeon Pie

Pemmican

Venison pot roast with wild cranberries

Interesting. It looks like the main ingredients are authentic, but some of the preparations aren't? Native American fusion?