Native Canadians Recipes

Recipes

Pemmican Cakes

Three Sisters Soup

Bannock Bread

Ojibwa Wild Rice

Strawberries Poached in Honey Syrup

1 GEOGRAPHIC SETTING AND ENVIRONMENT

The phrases "Native Canadians" or "Aboriginals" describe the descendants of the people who were living in what is modern-day Canada before European colonists, explorers, and traders arrived in the 1600s. Giving labels to these groups is complicated by emotional and historical issues. Aboriginals inhabited all regions of Canada and the United States, and lived, hunted, fished, and foraged (gathered native plants) all across North America. The provinces of modern-day Canada obviously did not exist when the Europeans arrived on the east coast of Canada.

2 HISTORY AND FOOD

In general, most Canadians agree that the approximately 800,000 Aboriginal Canadians counted by the 1996 Census of Population may be identified as belonging to one of three groups: First Nations (554,000), Métis (210,000), and Inuit (Innu, 40,000). The First Nations people are members of the approximately 50 recognized "First Nations" or tribal groups in Canada, and they inhabit all parts of Canada. The Métis are descendants of the intermarriages that occurred between the men employed by the early European fur trading companies (Hudson's Bay Company and Northwest Fur Company) and Native Canadian women.

The Inuit are the descendants of the Thule people who migrated from the Canadian arctic 700 to 800 years ago. They have been inhabiting the territory of modern Canada for thousands of years. They were historically hunters and fishers. Because of the harsh climate of their northern homelands, the Inuit diet included very few fresh vegetables or fruits. In the short summers, they would gather berries, both for eating fresh and for drying to eat during the long, cold winter. They would also gather seeds and nuts to store to supplement the winter diet. Grains such as corn, wheat, and wild rice were harvested and dried. Grains would sometimes be ground to produce flour, or mixed with water and cooked.

Pemmican is a nutritious, high calorie food that can be prepared in quantities and stored. The French and English explorers, trappers, and traders, bought large quantities of pemmican from the Aboriginals, and even learned to make pemmican. Pemmican would be sealed inside an animal skin or stomach cavity to preserve it. Europeans carried these pemmican stores on long furtrading expeditions.

Pemmican Cakes

Ingredients serves 12

300 gr beef jerky
300 gr dried berries, such as dried blueberries, cranberries, or cherries
300 gr chopped nuts
110 gr vegetable shortening
20 gr Honey
12-cup muffin tin

Method

1. Line muffin cups with paper liners (or grease cups well).
2. Grind or chop beef jerky into confettisize pieces to make about 250 gr Melt shortening in a saucepan.
3. Remove from heat, stir in beef jerky, dried berries, and seeds. Stir in honey.
4. Spoon about 85 gr of the pemmican mixture into each muffin cup. Press down firmly to make a cake, smoothing the top.
5. Refrigerate until well set.

Three Sisters Soup Serves 12

Ingredients

2 L chicken Stock
500 gr frozen corn, thawed
250 gr green beans or yellow wax beans
350 gr of butternut squash (or pumpkin)
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Pour the chicken Stock into a large saucepan or kettle. Heat until the broth begins to boil.
2. Add the corn, beans, squash, and bay leaves.
3. Lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
4. Add optional spices if desired, and simmer 15 more minutes.
5. Remove the bay leaves, and transfer the soup in batches to the blender to puree if desired. Serve with bannock (bread).

Bannock Bread

Bannock may be baked in the oven or over a charcoal or open fire

Ingredients

1 kg all-purpose flour
15 ml sugar
15 ml baking powder
3 mlteaspoon salt
500 ml milk (or water)

Method

1. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
2. Measure the milk (or water) and add it to the flour mixture, stirring with a fork to combine. A dough should form. If the mixture seems too dry and crumbly, add more liquid, few drops at a time.
3. Turn the dough out onto a surface lightly coated with flour. Knead for about 3 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to180°C .
5. Pat the dough into a circle about 2 cm thick. Transfer the dough to a well-greased cookie sheet. Prick the surface of the dough all over with a fork.
6. Bake about 20 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Man-O-Min (Ojibwa Wild Rice) serves 12

Ingredients

250 gr wild rice
1 lt water
5 ml salt
Method

Wash the wild rice in a colander or bowl, changing the water two or three times.
Measure water into a large saucepan; add salt. Heat the water to boiling.
Slowly add the rinsed rice to the boiling water. Lower heat to medium and simmer the rice, undisturbed, for about 40 minutes. (Do not stir the rice.)
The rice grains will swell to four times their original size.
Serve hot or at room temperature.

Strawberries Poached in Honey Syrup

1 lt fresh strawberries, washed and stemmed
85 mlhoney
30 ml sugar
85 ml water

Place honey, sugar, and water in a saucepan, and boil rapidly for 5 minutes.
Reduce heat, drop in whole strawberries, and simmer for 5 minutes.
Turn off heat and let the berries cool to room temperature in the syrup.
May serve warm or cold, ladling syrup over each portion.