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