A recipe implies combining foods and spices and cooking them together. We are used to recipes from Europeans. Europeans use spices and metal cooking pots. They use many foods the Indians did not have. The Europeans brought their foods, spices and metal pots and pans to America. They brought cows, pigs, and chickens. They also introduced grains like wheat used to make flour and breads. The Europeans also brought potatoes to North America. The Europeans got the potatoes from the South American Indians, took them to Europe and then brought them back to North America. The Indians had none of these things before the Europeans brought them.

The Europeans got quite a few new foods like the potato from the Indians. Indian foods the Europeans got include corn, turkey, potatoes, yams, wild rice, many kinds of squash, watermelons, and many new kinds of beans. Today we are beginning to raise buffalo for meat. Buffalo meat is very good to eat and has less fat than beef.

Here are a few Cherokee recipes. They are all the result of contact with Europeans and mix Indian food and cooking with European food and cooking.

YOU CAN SHARE THESE RECIPES ALL YOU WANT. NO COPYRIGHT!

Bean Bread or Tsu-Ya-Ga

This is a favorite basic Cherokee food.

Boil some beans

Have a second pot of plain water boiling

See below to make wood ash lye.

Add some wood ash lye to fine corn meal till it turns yellow. We are talking small amounts of the lye here. DO NOT add any salt. You are making corn meal hominy here. You might be able to use hominy grits or ground up hominy instead.

When the beans are tender add the beans and some of the soup ( the water the beans were boiled in) to fine cornmeal and mix.

Make dumplings of the mix in your hand and drop in the boiling water. Salt in the dumplings will make them fall apart.

Boil till done. Experiment with the first few of them to see how long your size dumplings take to cook.

Serve with butter, or meat grease.

To make wood ashes lye take any kind of container with holes in the bottom. DO NOT USE ANY ALUMINUM. Pottery works best. Fill the container with hard wood ashes. Pour water into the ashes and let the water soak through them ashes and out the holes in the bottom. This is hard wood lye. Lye is strong stuff like an acid and should be handled with care. Avoid getting in on your skin or in your eyes. Let an adult do this. When mixed with corn meal in small amounts it is OK. Hominy is made by soaking corn kernels in lye and then washing the lye out. You are basically making hominy meal by adding lye to corn meal. You could use ground up hominy for this recipe.

Corn and Beans or Se-Lu A-Su-Li Tu-Ya

Mix hominy and cooked colored beans together and cook some more

Add pieces of pumpkin (optional) cook until pumpkins are soft

Add cornmeal, ground walnuts and ground hickory nuts. The nuts can be pounded to smushed up.

Add enough molasses to sweeten

Cook until done.

Squirrel or Sa-Lo-Li

Throw a fresh killed squirrel into a fire and burn the hair off. Scrape with a knife or sharp rock. Repeat until all the fur is gone.

Wash with water and wood ashes till the skin turns white.

Clean out the insides ( The guts )

Put on a stick over a fire till brown.

Cut up and use for a stew or fry till done.

Yellow Jacket Stew or S-Ka-V Oo-Ga-Ma

Gather yellow jacket combs (nests)

Pick out the grubs. Be careful to keep them intact.

Put the grubs in the oven on a pan to brown.

Make a soup of the browned grubs by adding them to water with some grease and a little salt.

Bear or Yo-Na

Cut the meat into strips and dry in front of a fire.

Hang the dried strips from the rafters of the house. Cover with cloth

Take strips down as you need them

Pound a strip until it turns to a meal like corn meal

Mix in a pot with water and boil to make a soup.

You can add some corn meal if you want.

GREAT FOR CAMPING -
FIRESIDE STEW

One serving of meat (ground beef
or finely diced meat of choice)
Onion, finely diced, (optional)
Potatoes, enough for one, chopped
into bite size pieces
Carrots, enough for one, cut into
bite size pieces
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Place the meat and all other
ingredients on a piece of aluminum
foil large enough to wrap all of the
contents. Wrap all of this up in the
aluminum foil.  Wrap again in one
more piece of aluminum foil and
place in campfire for 30-45 minutes.  
Remove and let cool for 10-15
minutes.  Check meat to make sure
it is done.  

CORN MEAL COOKIES

Cream Together:
3/4 cup margarine
3/4 cup sugar

Add the following Ingredients until
smooth :
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
Add and mix well : 1 1/2 cup Flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Optional:
1/2 cup raisins

Drop dough from tablespoon on
a greased cookie sheet . Bake at
350 degrees about 15 minutes
untill lightly browned .
Makes about 1 1/2 dozen

FRY BREAD

Modern Way

2 Cups FLOUR
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 cup Instant Dry Milk
2 Cups Shortening

Mix Flour, baking powder, salt,
powdered milk, and water. Heat
shortening until flakes of flour start
to bubble when dropped into oil.
While shortening is heating, Pull off
a palm sized mound of dough and
roll it into a smooth ball then flatten
into a disk shape. Size is a matter of
preference. Put dough into pan,
cook until brown, turn over and cook
other side until brown. You can take
a brown paper bag and place a few
sheets of paper towels on the
bottom and drop finished fry bread
into bag to let grease drain. Makes
about 6 servings.

ELK, MOOSE, DEER, BEAR, "Shepard's Pie" or "Cheeseburger pie"

pan of vegetable oil
1 lb white onions diced
1 lb ground meat

1/2 cup catsup
3 tsp prepared mustard
salt
pepper
2 - 8 oz. cans crescent rolls
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
2 eggs beaten
heat oil in skillet add onions cook
covered 10 min, then set them
aside. Same skillet brown the meat,
drain remove from heat and stir in
ketchup, mustard, salt and pepper.
unroll dough from one can of rolls
and roll into a ball. Roll out on
floured surface to 15" x 15" square.
put into a 10" X 10" baking dish so
dough hangs over the edge. put
meat mix in on dough then the
cheese then the onion. top with the
eggs. Do the same to remaining can
of dough, lay over the top and press
edge together with bottom. Make a
glaze with 1 egg yolk and 1tsp water
and brush over the top. bake at 350
for 40 min. or until brown.

I could use some more recipes here. Please send us some if you have any good ones. Modern or traditional is ok.