Traditional Foods

"Traditional" in the context of these projects means pre-contact foods. No beef, mutton, goat, chicken, pork, milk, butter, cream, wheat flour (no fry bread), rye, barley, okra, black-eyed peas, or any other "Old World" food that many of us have lovingly incorporated into our diets and tribal cultures. No processed foods (Doritoes, Lays Chips, etc), even if the base is corn or potatoes. No chocolate unless it is unsweetened cacao or sweetened with honey from the Melipona bee, fruit, stevia, camas or agave. Be adventurous and try unfamiliar foods! There are many foods to choose from. My American Indian Health and Diet Project site lists and defines many of them.



Sunday, December 4, 2011

Cooking Wild Turkey

I cooked a wild turkey Josh got a few weeks ago. Since these birds tend to be dry, I soaked it first a large water container (left, with Hank) in a solution of water, orange juice, salt water, brown sugar, black pepper, and vegetable stock.

A good recipe to follow is Alton Brown's (the guy on Iron Chef and host of Good Eats):
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe/index.html
The turkey was much juicier than other birds I have cooked without brining. After we ate the meat, I made what a friend calls "carcass soup," which is actually turkey stock. You can easily make stock and then use it when you need broth for beans, soup, etc. Here are directions on my site: