092113-083
"Cooking: Cooking methods of present-day Pueblo women are probably much like those used centuries ago. Roasting was done over a pit oven - a kind of fireless cooker in the ground. The pit was heated with hot stones. When it was very hot, food was put in the pit, the mouth of the pit was covered with a stone and left until roasting was completed. Without refrigeration, meat could only be preserved by drying in the sun or in the smoke of a slow fire. Cooking jars were decorated with corrugations. Painted designs would soon be covered by soot. FIres were started with a fire drill. Drilling Fire was more difficult than striking a match, so live coals may often have been borrowed from a neighbour's firepit. Metate and mano, the stones with which corn and other seeds were ground. They were also used to ground clays and paint pigments, and to crush rock or sherds for pottery temper. Examples: Wooden scoop, pottery ladles, Pottery mug, Pottery pitcher, and Piki bread. A Modern Pueblo Recipe for Preparing Broad-leafed Yucca Fruit: Gather the fruit when it opens in September. Cut it into strips and put it in the sunshine to dry. After it is thoroughly dry, put it away for winter time. To cook, let it boil for three hours in plenty of water. Let the water boil down then stir till it is like jam. Serve with corn dumplings. A Modern Pueblo Recipe for Preparing Giant Dropseed. Giant Dropseed is gathered in the fall and threshed, then ground with corn in the metate into a fine meal. From this, a tasty mush can be made. Start a fire in the pik-ami pit two hours before making dough. Put the meal in a large bowl and pour in boiling water. Stir with a stick until it is cool enough to stir with the hand. Pour the dough into a pot and put it in the pik-ami pit, which must be good and hot. Put the lid on the pot so as not to let any dirt get in, and a flat stone over the pit, then seal with mud. Build a fire on top of it and leave it overnight. Open the pit in the morning. Stir till it is soft and mushy, and serve with stew. A Modern Pueblo Recipe for Piki Bread: Grind blue corn very fine on the metate. Mix with water and the ashes of sagebrush to a very thin batter (the sagebrush ash brings out the blue color). Spread quickly with the hand on a flat, heated stone under which there are hot embers. It bakes almost instantly and is peeled off the stone in thin sheets like blue crepe paper. A Modern Pueblo Recipe for Preparing Prickly Pear Cactus: Prickly Pear cactus is good to eat in the spring when the sap retuns to the joints from the roots. The plants can be picked off the ground with the roots and all. Put them in a big cooking pot with plenty of water, with sweet corn cobs to add flavor. Let this cook for four hours so that it will be well done. Take them out of the pot and pick the thorns off good and clean. Serve it in the water which has been strained many times to remove the thorns. Serve with boiled cornmeal bread. A Modern Pueblo recipe for preparing Tomatilla Berries: Cook the berries in a pot with just enough water to cover them for one hour, then drain the water out. Grind the berries on a metate to a jam-like consistency. Add fine clay to do away with the sourness. Serve with fresh tiki bread. A Modern Pueblo Recipe for preparing Indian Millet. The seeds of Indian millet are gathered in June. They are ground on the metate with corn into a fine meal. Put the meal in a bowl and pour boiling water over it. Mix with a stick until it is cool enough to use the hands. Roll the dough in thin mounds . Bake on a hot flat stone. Serve as bread. A Modern Pueblo Recip for preparing Tamay mustard: Tamay mustard is gathered while it is nice and tender in the spring. It is baked in a small firepit about 10 inches deep and 12 inches square. The pit is lined with flat stones. When the fire has been built in it, pile many more flat stones around over the fire so they will get good and hot. While the pit is heating cflose the greens. Wash them very carefully. Beware your cooking bot is very hot. First put a layer of small hot stones in the bottom of the pit over the live coals. Then a layer of greens about 4 inches thick or more. Again another layer of small hot flat stones. Then a large flat stone for a lid over the whole pit. Cover the lid with mud or sand. Let the greens steam for about one half hour. Open the pit, remove the greens and let them cool. Squeeze all the water or juice out of them, and serve in salted water with corn dumplings or fresh piki bread. Modern Pueblo recipe for preparing Cholla Cactus Bark. The buds of the cholla cactus are picked and put into a yucca fiber basket with many small pieces of sandstone burning or baking the basket will remove the thorns from the bark, which are then ready to cook. Put them in a pot with sweet corn cobs for flavor and let them boil for two hours. Serve with cornmeal baked bread. A Modern Pueblo Recipe for preparing wild potatoes: Potatoes are gathered in teh fall. Cook them in boiling water for two hours. Drain the water off and let them cool. They are served and eaten with clay, which had been well sealed in water." ~ park display, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, New Mexico. Driving around Colorado - Great Pacific Northwest Move 2013. Photos from Saturday, 21 September 2013. (c) 2013 - photo by Leaf McGowan, Eadaoin Bineid, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions (www.technogypsie.com/photography/). Purchase rights and/or permissions to use can be obtained at site listed here. To follow the adventure, visit www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/. To read reviews visit www.technogypsie.com/reviews/.
092113-083
"Cooking: Cooking methods of present-day Pueblo women are probably much like those used centuries ago. Roasting was done over a pit oven - a kind of fireless cooker in the ground. The pit was heated with hot stones. When it was very hot, food was put in the pit, the mouth of the pit was covered with a stone and left until roasting was completed. Without refrigeration, meat could only be preserved by drying in the sun or in the smoke of a slow fire. Cooking jars were decorated with corrugations. Painted designs would soon be covered by soot. FIres were started with a fire drill. Drilling Fire was more difficult than striking a match, so live coals may often have been borrowed from a neighbour's firepit. Metate and mano, the stones with which corn and other seeds were ground. They were also used to ground clays and paint pigments, and to crush rock or sherds for pottery temper. Examples: Wooden scoop, pottery ladles, Pottery mug, Pottery pitcher, and Piki bread. A Modern Pueblo Recipe for Preparing Broad-leafed Yucca Fruit: Gather the fruit when it opens in September. Cut it into strips and put it in the sunshine to dry. After it is thoroughly dry, put it away for winter time. To cook, let it boil for three hours in plenty of water. Let the water boil down then stir till it is like jam. Serve with corn dumplings. A Modern Pueblo Recipe for Preparing Giant Dropseed. Giant Dropseed is gathered in the fall and threshed, then ground with corn in the metate into a fine meal. From this, a tasty mush can be made. Start a fire in the pik-ami pit two hours before making dough. Put the meal in a large bowl and pour in boiling water. Stir with a stick until it is cool enough to stir with the hand. Pour the dough into a pot and put it in the pik-ami pit, which must be good and hot. Put the lid on the pot so as not to let any dirt get in, and a flat stone over the pit, then seal with mud. Build a fire on top of it and leave it overnight. Open the pit in the morning. Stir till it is soft and mushy, and serve with stew. A Modern Pueblo Recipe for Piki Bread: Grind blue corn very fine on the metate. Mix with water and the ashes of sagebrush to a very thin batter (the sagebrush ash brings out the blue color). Spread quickly with the hand on a flat, heated stone under which there are hot embers. It bakes almost instantly and is peeled off the stone in thin sheets like blue crepe paper. A Modern Pueblo Recipe for Preparing Prickly Pear Cactus: Prickly Pear cactus is good to eat in the spring when the sap retuns to the joints from the roots. The plants can be picked off the ground with the roots and all. Put them in a big cooking pot with plenty of water, with sweet corn cobs to add flavor. Let this cook for four hours so that it will be well done. Take them out of the pot and pick the thorns off good and clean. Serve it in the water which has been strained many times to remove the thorns. Serve with boiled cornmeal bread. A Modern Pueblo recipe for preparing Tomatilla Berries: Cook the berries in a pot with just enough water to cover them for one hour, then drain the water out. Grind the berries on a metate to a jam-like consistency. Add fine clay to do away with the sourness. Serve with fresh tiki bread. A Modern Pueblo Recipe for preparing Indian Millet. The seeds of Indian millet are gathered in June. They are ground on the metate with corn into a fine meal. Put the meal in a bowl and pour boiling water over it. Mix with a stick until it is cool enough to use the hands. Roll the dough in thin mounds . Bake on a hot flat stone. Serve as bread. A Modern Pueblo Recip for preparing Tamay mustard: Tamay mustard is gathered while it is nice and tender in the spring. It is baked in a small firepit about 10 inches deep and 12 inches square. The pit is lined with flat stones. When the fire has been built in it, pile many more flat stones around over the fire so they will get good and hot. While the pit is heating cflose the greens. Wash them very carefully. Beware your cooking bot is very hot. First put a layer of small hot stones in the bottom of the pit over the live coals. Then a layer of greens about 4 inches thick or more. Again another layer of small hot flat stones. Then a large flat stone for a lid over the whole pit. Cover the lid with mud or sand. Let the greens steam for about one half hour. Open the pit, remove the greens and let them cool. Squeeze all the water or juice out of them, and serve in salted water with corn dumplings or fresh piki bread. Modern Pueblo recipe for preparing Cholla Cactus Bark. The buds of the cholla cactus are picked and put into a yucca fiber basket with many small pieces of sandstone burning or baking the basket will remove the thorns from the bark, which are then ready to cook. Put them in a pot with sweet corn cobs for flavor and let them boil for two hours. Serve with cornmeal baked bread. A Modern Pueblo Recipe for preparing wild potatoes: Potatoes are gathered in teh fall. Cook them in boiling water for two hours. Drain the water off and let them cool. They are served and eaten with clay, which had been well sealed in water." ~ park display, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Aztec, New Mexico. Driving around Colorado - Great Pacific Northwest Move 2013. Photos from Saturday, 21 September 2013. (c) 2013 - photo by Leaf McGowan, Eadaoin Bineid, Thomas Baurley, Technogypsie Productions (www.technogypsie.com/photography/). Purchase rights and/or permissions to use can be obtained at site listed here. To follow the adventure, visit www.technogypsie.com/chronicles/. To read reviews visit www.technogypsie.com/reviews/.