Cuisine of My Ancestors: Native American

Continued from Cuisine of My Ancestors: Early European American

My 9th-great-grandmother was Wampanoag, a Native American tribe of the northeastern woodlands, specifically the eastern Massachusetts area. 

My time frame here is the 1600s at the latest, and I thought I'd have trouble finding recipes for my Wampanoag ancestors. Actually, I found quite a few, including from:

• Plimoth Patuxet Museums
• Many Hoops
• Delishably

 

Regional foods at that time included:

• venison
• wild turkey
• clams
• mussels
• fish (Namâhsak)
• sunflower seeds
• Jerusalem artichokes
• flint corn (Weeâchumuneash)
• squash (Mônashk8tashqash): winter varieties and pumpkin
• pole beans (Tutupôhqâmash): true red cranberry, 
• wild onions
• wild garlic
• ground nuts
• cranberries
• maple sap / syrup

Like my early American cuisine, the cooking method is open fire, so this is slow food! Clay pots were used as cooking vessels. While I sourced authentic ingredients, I used a stove to cook everything.

Menu

Sobaheg 

Puttuckqunnege 

Sobaheg (Stew)

Sobaheg is the Wampanoag word for stew. To describe it simply, it's a Three Sisters stew with meat. Three sisters companion planting (corn, beans, and squash) was standard agricultural practice for the Wampanoag, so to find all three ingredients in a stew isn't a surprise. I added turkey, but Max Miller (Tasting History YouTube channel) has a video recipe using venison.

Like most stews, this one is easily adapted to seasonal ingredients. Corn and sunflower seed meals serve as thickeners, although ground nuts (hopniss) is mentioned as a thickener at the Plimoth Patuxet Museums website.

There are a number of recipes for this around the internet, and I suspect that originally, there was no set recipe for it. It was a matter of using what one had on hand. This one is something of a combination / adaptation.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry white beans (I used small red beans, soaked overnight)
• 1 cup coarse hominy grits
• 1 pound turkey meat, on the bone, with skin (I used 3 turkey wings)
• 12 cups Water
• 1 cup green beans, cut in 1" sections
• 1.5 cups winter squash, cut in 1" cubes (I used our sweet potato squash)
• 1/2 cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds, ground to meal
• 1/4 cup chopped green or wild onion (I used a tablespoon dried onion flakes)
• fresh herbs as desired (I used sage)
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 cup clam juice or salt to taste (used 3/4 cup clam juice + 1 tbsp salt)

Instructions

• Combine water, dried beans, grits, and turkey in a large pot and simmer until the beans are tender (about 2.5 hours). Stir occasionally to keep grits from sticking to the bottom of the pot. 
• Skin and bone turkey, returning bite sizes pieces to the pot. Add the squash, green beans, onion and herbs. Simmer until tender.
• Add sunflower seed meal and clam juice. The clam juice is salty, so add a quarter-cup at a time and taste test with each addition. Adjust with salt to taste. 

What did we think? 

• Dan declared it a keeper. I was curious about the texture, since the thickeners are corn grits and sunflower seed meal. That meant the texture was different from typical flour-thickened stews, but it was good. The flavor was excellent and I'll make it again.
• It's a one-pot meal, which is well suited to our lifestyle. Except for the clam juice, all the ingredients are locally available, so that's a huge plus. We got quite a few good meals from it, but for just the two of us, halving the recipe would work too.

Changes?

• Add more vegetables. 
• I'm sure Dan would like it if I added more meat. 
• Use my own cornmeal instead of the grits.
• Try it with hopniss next time, since it's one of my perennial garden additions. It's a thickener that  lends itself to moist heat cooking methods. 
• Omit clam juice. It's a specialty item that I tried for authenticity, but didn't add anything as far as I could tell.

Puttuckqunnege (Boiled Corn Bread) 

Recipe adapted from Many Hoops

• 1 cup cornmeal (I used home grown, home ground)
• 1/2 cup dried berries (I used the cranberries I dried last year)
• 1/2 cup crushed nuts or seeds (I used sunflower seed meal)
• Maple syrup to taste (I used about 2 tablespoons)
• 1/2 tsp salt (not in original recipe)
• Slightly boiling water (this water can be a broth from boiled greens)

Combine all ingredients in large bowl and mix thoroughly. After mixing, slowly add a spoonful at a time of slightly boiled water. When the mix is thick enough to be sticky, shape round patties (about 3 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick). Return water to slight rolling boil, shape patties about 1-inch thick and 3-inches round. Drop carefully into simmering water, making sure they do not stick to the bottom. Turn them when they float to the surface. Boil for a total of about 30 minutes. 

These can also be baked wrapped in fresh leaves and baked in coals and ashes.

Recipe notes:

• Suggestions for other dried berries included blueberries, currents, or raisins. 
• Other suggestions for sunflower seed meal are walnut or hazelnut meal. I have pecans and chestnuts, so I'll have to try those.

What did we think? 

• Initially, I thought, okay, these are just cornmeal dumplings with fruit. And of course, they are, but they are very different from the wheat flour dumplings I make with chicken stew. I was surprised that they were cooked all the way through. For some reason, I expected them to be doughy in the middle, but they weren't. I credit that to turning them after they rose to the top and simmering for the full 30 minutes. I'm thinking, though, that cooking these in coals would produce a much harder (dried out) bread. 
• The cranberries added a strong zing of tartness. Without them, maple syrup probably wouldn't be necessary. I produce neither cranberries or maple syrup, but I think these would be good without berries too. Dan would probably like them with raisins. 
• I plan to try Puttuckqunnege again, boiled in a pot of greens. I think they would be really tasty using lambs quarter, which is a mild green. If using a stronger flavored green, like turnip greens, raisins in the breads would balance their flavor nicely. 

Here's the link to my Native American holiday series post last year: 

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Native American

Next up, our Irish meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Native American © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Early European American

Continued from Holiday Series: The Cuisine of My Ancestors

My early American ancestors were English and migrated to Massachusetts in the 1600s. That gives me a time period spanning some 400 years for choosing recipes. That's a long time to cover! The time period I focused on is the 1700s, because there are many good sources for recipes. Many old cookbooks are now public domain and available free online. Plus, there are a number of websites keen on preserving early American history, skills, traditions, and recipes. 

Menu

Salt Pork and Pease

"French" Bread

Ginger-bread Cakes

Ale

Salt Pork and Pease

This recipe comes from AmericanRevolution.org. The asterisks by the ingredients indicate changes I made to the recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs salt pork*, rinsed and cut into small chunks
• 4 cups water (or enough to cover the pork in the pot)
• 2 cups dried peas*, soaked overnight and drained
• 4 large potatoes, *peeled and quartered
• 1 large onion, chopped
• Salt* (if needed, depending on the saltiness of the pork)
• pepper to taste

Instructions

• Put the pork in a large pot and add water until covered. 
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for about 1 hour.
• Add the soaked and drained peas, potatoes, and onion. 
• Return to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender and the peas have broken down slightly (45 min to 1 hour).
• Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
• Serve hot.

Recipe Notes:

• I couldn't find salt pork so I used fresh pork. But I think using fresh instead of salt pork likely changed the texture of the stew, because salt pork is drier and saltier. So I'm not satisfied that our eating experience was truly "authentic." 
• I substituted split peas for whole dried peas
• I didn't peel the potatoes and chopped them to the same size as the meat chunks
• I added 2 teaspoons of salt and 1/8 tsp pepper.
• Next time I would use bone broth for the liquid instead of water. 

How did we like it? 

• It was what I'd call plain, hearty fare. Easy to make, very tasty, and very filling. Our kind of winter food.
• It's a recipe I'd like to experiment with. Maybe substitute lentils for the peas and ground pork for cut up chunks. If I can ever find salt pork, I'd like to try it with that.

"French" Bread 

I put "French" in quotes because this isn't like our modern French bread. Yet it's a very old recipe, dating back to 1665 and found in numerous 18th century cookbooks. This one comes Dr. William Salmon's 1710 The Family Dictionary: Or, Household Companion. (The link will take you to Internet Archive where you can download a free public domain PDF copy).

Why did they call it French bread? After watching the Townsend's video, Ancient Bread: 350 year old recipe, it seems it's because the ingredients and pricing of bread used to be legally set. Most of the cooking at the time was done in large fireplaces, so regular folk didn't often have ovens. Instead of baking bread, they bought it from a baker. Price controls kept the sale price of bread low, but meant the bakers had a difficult time making ends meet, so they also sold what they called French bread, to differentiate it from legal bread. As a specialty bread it wasn't subject to government pricing. 

Here's the original recipe I used, found on page 209.

And here's my adaptation of the above recipe.

Ingredients

• 4+ cups flour
• 2 teaspoons ale yeast
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp melted butter
• 3 eggs
• enough warm milk or water to make a soft dough

Instructions

• Make the sponge
• Stir warm water into about half the flour. The mixture should resemble pancake batter. 
• Cover with a cotton towel and set aside for 12 to 16 hours until the yeast is active and bubbly
• Dissolve the yeast in warm water and let proof.
• Add the beaten eggs and yeast to the sponge and mix well. 
• In another bowl, mix the remaining flour, butter, and salt together. 
• Add flour mixture to the sponge and mix into a soft dough. Knead minimally.
• Let rise in a covered bowl 1.5 to 2 hours or until doubled in bulk.
• Shape into rolls. 
• Let rise about half an hour
• Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
• Bake the rolls for 30-35 minutes or until they sound hollow when tapped.

Recipe Notes:

• The Townsend's video uses a slightly different recipe, but gives a good idea of dough handling and texture. It's meant to be a soft dough with minimal kneading to not develop the gluten.
• Flour. My questions was, what type of flour? Almost all modern versions of this recipe call for all-purpose or unbleached flour. They did have unbleached white flour during this time period, so I ended up using that, even though it was mostly used by the wealthier class of people (which wouldn't have been us!)
• Yeast. Originally barm was used for baking leavened breads. Barm is the yeasty foam that forms on ale and beer as it's fermenting. Ale barm is preferred for bread because beer contains hops which imparts a bitter flavor to the bread. I don't brew so I substituted ale yeast. Bread yeast could be used, but ale yeast imparts a more traditional flavor to historical breads like this one.
• Because ale yeast isn't formulated to rise bread, the rolls were heavier than typical. But they rose well enough and were perfect with the stew. Ale yeast isn't something I usually buy, so next time I'd make them with baker's yeast.
• It could have used a little more salt.

Ginger-bread Cakes

This one is from The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy published in 1796 by Hannah Glasse, page 209. (The link will take you to Internet Archive where you can download a free public domain PDF copy).

A modern version can be found at ColonialWilliamsburg.org. They halved the original recipe and I halved theirs. 

Ingredients

• 3 cups unbleached flour
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup. butter, softened
• 1 tbsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tbsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 2 tbsp cream

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C)
• In a large mixing bowl, blend dry ingredients thoroughly.
• Warm the molasses and cream together in a small saucepan, stirring to blend. 
• Work the butter into the flour mixture with your hands until evenly mixed.
• Add the molasses and cream mixture and work it up into a stiff dough. If too dry, add a little more cream to it. The dough should be stiff but not dry.
• Roll out the dough on a floured surface about ¼ inch thick and cut into whatever shape you please. 
• Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes. They should still be soft to the touch before they come from the oven, not hard.

To cut the dough into cookies, I used an old cookie cutter that was my great-grandmother's.

Yield: 35 three-inch cookies.

Recipe notes

• No leavening, not even eggs. So I was curious how the baked texture would turn out. I was pleasantly surprised. The cookies were soft and tasty.
• The ingredient amounts were perfect. The dough is very stiff. The warmed molasses made it pliable for the first batch, but I needed to add a spoonful of milk after that so the dough would be workable for rolling out.
• The flavor was just a bit different from the Ginger Cookies I usually make (recipe here). The texture was different because that recipe has eggs and baking soda. But it was also the spices. My ginger cookies contain cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. But this old-fashioned recipe used only ginger and nutmeg. Lots of nutmeg. So they were different but good!
• This would be the perfect recipe for gingerbread men. 

I have to say that it somehow seems significant that my first recipe post in this series is for early American cuisine and falls on our Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving first became an official holiday in 1863 and was set as the 4th Thursday in November in 1941. While my early American ancestors didn't have a set holiday or traditional meal as we think of it, they did know how to be thankful. So thankfulness is part of my heritage.

I'll close with a link to a related post from my genealogy series last year: 

Christmas Songs of My Ancestors: Early American

Next up, our Native American meal.

Cuisine of My Ancestors: Early European American

 © 2025 by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Holiday Series: The Cuisine of My Ancestors

I had a lot of fun doing last year's Christmas series, Christmas Songs of My Ancestors. One of my hobbies is genealogy, and exploring my family tree from a cultural point of view is really interesting. Earlier this year, I found this book at the public library . . .

Uhtred's Feast: Inside the World of the Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell. If you haven't seen The Last Kingdom TV series but like historical adventure, I definitely recommend it. It was based on the book series, which I've also read and enjoyed. (If you like historical fiction, anything by Bernard Cornwell is highly recommended.) When I saw this book on the library shelf, I immediately picked it up. It contains short stories and recipes from the time period of The Last Kingdom, the Saxon era of England. It interested me because I have Saxon ancestors. The idea for a cultural cuisine research project grew from there. 

My research goal this year has been to find and make authentic recipes from each of my genealogical culture groups, focusing on the time period in which they show up on my family tree. 

Here's the genealogical timeline I've been working with:

• American: from the early 1600s (New England) to present (Midwest, except me who's been  in the Southeast for decades.)
  
• Native American: 1600s
• Irish: 1800s
• German: 1400s to 1700s (I learned this year about this one)
• English: 1200s to 1500s
• Norman: 1000s to 1100s
• Viking: 700s to 900s
• Saxon: 400s to 1000s
• Celtic: Between 600 to 450 BC up through 400s AD

My research for this project focused on the regions of these peoples and the foods they ate. In planning the meals, I looked for traditional regional recipes. My goal was to use as many original ingredients and I could source, with an emphasis on ingredients that I can grow too. My cooking methods are modern slow-cooking ones.

Thanks to the internet, I've been able to find quite a few recipes from the time periods I'm looking at. When I couldn't, I had to settle for modern but regionally traditional recipes. 

I tried to choose recipes that focus on ingredients that can also be grown in my part of the world. But for the sake of authentic flavor, I was willing to buy additional ingredients as well. Even so, there were some things that I couldn't find at my local grocery stores. For these, I made reasonable substitutions. 

This project appealed to several of my interests: genealogy, cooking, cultural studies, and lifestyles that have a stronger relationship with nature than with technology. One happy lesson has been combining available foods in new-to-me ways, such as blueberries in stew and using cream in sauces and gravies. 

Anyway, my plan is to publish one "Cuisine of My Ancestors" post every 3 or 4 days or so until around Christmas. I hope you enjoy them.

Holiday Series: The Cuisine of My Ancestors

© 2025 by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Garden Notes: November 2025

I'm getting a jump on posting my November garden notes, because I want to clear my blogging calendar for my holiday series. It's 10 parts, which will take about a month, starting next week. I'll be updating this post as the weather and other garden events require. 

My early November view from the goat barn.

Rainfall

• 8th: 0.13"
• 21st: 0.01"
• 22nd: 0.62"
• 25th: 0.31"
• 30th: 0.25"
• Total: 1.32 inches

 Temperature 

• range of nighttime lows: 25 to 58°F (-4 to 14.4°C)
• range of daytime highs: 42 to 80°F (5.5 to 26.6°C)

 First freeze: Nov. 11

• Outside: 25°F (-4°C)
• Greenhouse: 32°F (0°C)

Weather Notes

• We skipped first frost this year and when right to first freeze. There had been scattered frost in the neighborhood, but somehow it missed our garden.
• We could use some rain, but with cooler temperatures at least the ground doesn't dry out as quickly as it does in summer.
• Nov. 19th we had what felt like Indian Summer. We don't really have this seasonal reprieve here in the South, but it was reminiscent of my childhood.

Harvested

• lettuce
• kale
• cherry tomatoes
• Jerusalem artichokes
• red raspberries
• parsley
• oregano
• sweet potatoes
• green beans
• turnips
• collards
• carrot
• sage
• thyme

Transplanted

• lettuce
• kale
• broccoli
• aloe vera
• horseradish
• parsley

Preserved

• bell peppers, sliced and frozen

Garden notes

• I got the last of everything harvested before the freeze
• Garden chores now consist of finishing bed cleanup and mulching each. 
• After I get the beds mulched, I'll start working on the aisles between the beds.

Raking and hauling leaves to the garden for mulch is an almost daily chore.

More Photos

Jerusalem artichokes

The sunchokes were from a volunteer plant in a greenhouse container. Somehow it survived the hot summer temps in the greenhouse and I think I only watered it once out of pity. When I emptied out the pot for winter planting, it was loaded with the chokes you see above.

Here's how the greenhouse looks at present - 

This year's greenhouse experiment is peas. These are the edible pod peas we like so well.

When I harvested the sweet potatoes, I decided to try digging up and potting my bell pepper plants. I tried this several years ago but those didn't make it. Maybe they'll do better in the greenhouse.

4 potted bell pepper plants

I also dug up one nicely sprouting sweet potato. So it went into a pot as well.

Struggling sweet potato. I may have to move it indoors when it gets really cold.

The other thing I did before the freeze was to cut off a bunch of cherry tomato vines. These were set on the table in the carport. The leaves are drying out but the tomatoes continue to ripen, so we're still eating fresh cherry tomatoes even though the rest of the garden is done. 

The weather has been lovely so I spend part of each afternoon working in the garden. With sunny mild days in the upcoming forecast, I should get a lot done.

How about you? Anyone growing a fall garden? Anyone got a greenhouse?

Garden Notes: November 2025 © Nov. 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Our First Baby Buff

Our Buff Orpingtons are 7-months-old and already we've got a baby chick. When we realized one of them had gone broody, we were surprised to say the least. Especially so late in the year. So we didn't mark the calendar to count the 21 incubation days for hatching chicks. About the time we figured she was setting on all duds, Dan said he'd give her another week. The very next day she presented with one baby chick!

The problem was that the dominant hen is pretty mean and she set out to kill it. That meant a scramble on our part to catch the remaining hens and move them to the big chicken coop. We'd recently thinned the flock to winter numbers and Rooster Shooster was a bit mopey with so few hens left. 

We shut the Buffs by themselves in the coop for the rest of the day and Dan let them out in the evening. Amazingly there were no territorial challenges and no fighting. Everyone seems to be getting along fairly well.

Of our Buff rooster, he didn't make the cut.

He was very handsome and attentive to his ladies, but he was too aggressive and came after both Dan and me. We won't keep aggressive animals so he had to go.

Mama Buff is an excellent mother and seems perfectly fine with just her and Baby Chick in the chicken tractor yard. Eventually, we'll move them in with the other chickens.

Our First Baby Buff © Nov 2025 by Leigh

at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Front Room Closet Progress

Making progress, a little here and a little there. (Continued from this post.)

Corner molding installed and front edge of floor added.

Track for sliding bypass doors installed.

In my last closet post I mentioned that the door opening is 79 inches. The longest track we could get was 72 inches. But it wasn't a problem because the wheels were inset somewhat on the door.

Slider wheels attached and door hung on the track.

Doors installed

Floor stained. Dan used leftover cherry stain.

Brace for upper shelf.

Under side of upper shelf

The left-hand and middle boards in the photo above are the boards from the original closet shelf. Since we added four inches of depth to the closet by tearing out the wall, Dan had to add another board to complete the new width.

Inside view of the new upper shelf

Dan's going to add a pair of sliding doors here, using cabinet door track. And of course, the new shelf needs to be painted. And polyurethane put on the closet floor. And the doors stained and polyed. And then, I think, the closet will be about ready to use. (Yay!)

Front Room Closet Progress © Nov 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com

Front Room Closet: Decision About the Doors

I make a trip to the library once a week and on one of those recent trips I stopped by Lowes and Home Depot to see what they had on offer for closet doors. As I mentioned in my last closet post, I was hoping to find hollow core wood bypass doors, but alas, these apparently aren't popular nowadays. What both stores did have was a vast selection of bifold doors.

My reluctance toward the bifold doors is because they need unhindered space to open them. For two 36-inch width doors, that would be 18 inches of space out into the room. But space is a premium feature in this room and I'm not sure I want to give it up for bifold doors, especially against the outer wall, where I'd like to use the wall space. Lowes does carry sliding mirrored closet doors, but I really don't want to look at myself that much. Home Depot offers barn door kits, but sheesh, they are expensive. 

The other problem with finding doors is that the closet opening is almost 79 inches wide. The widest doors of 36 inches each would only cover 72 inches, and that would leave a gap of 7 inches. 

The solution? Dan decided to make the doors. He made the sliding doors for the chicken coop, old goat barn, new goat barn, and hay loft. The track is available separately, so why not?

He knocked out two doors for the front room closet in a couple of afternoons.

First of two barn style closet doors.

So that's done and they're ready to install after the door track is installed. 

There's still the question of how to finish them. At first I thought to paint them the same color that the walls will eventually be. But then we talked about staining them. That would certainly enhance the rustic look of the plywood, which would be perfect for the rustic farmhouse look I want in this room.

Anyway, that's done and I'm quite pleased with them.

Front Room Closet: Decision About the Doors © 2025

by Leigh at https://www.5acresandadream.com