~Thanksgiving Greetings~
~THE FIRST THANKSGIVING~
In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and the
Wampanoag Indians enjoyed an autumnal
feast which became famous as
"The First Thanksgiving."
They dined on wild fowl and on venison;
ducks, geese and turkey shot by the
colonists, and five deer provided by
Massasoit's men, and other foods besides.
Very little specific information is available
on simple dishes that would have comprised
the bulk of the 1621 Harvest Feast.
Furthermore, it is probable that none of the
housewives had access to cookbooks.
Still we can assume that they would have been
aware of larger trends and fashions in cooking.
The event we now know as "The First Thanksgiving"
was in fact neither the first occurrence of
our modern American holiday, nor was it even
a 'Thanksgiving" in the eyes of the Pilgrims
who celebrated it.
It was instead a traditional English harvest
celebration to which the colonists invited
Massasoit, the most important sachem among the
Wamapanoag. It was only in the nineteenth
century that this event became identified
with the American Thanksgiving holiday.
The association of the Pilgrims with the
Thanksgiving holiday has a complicated history.
The holiday itself evolved out of a routine
Puritan religious observation, irregularly
declared and celebrated in response to God's
favorable Providence, into an single, annual,
quasi-secular New England autumnal celebration.
The first national Thanksgiving was declared
in 1777 by the Continental Congress, and
others were declared from time to time until
1815. The holiday then reverted to being a
regional observance until 1863, when two
national days of Thanksgiving were declared,
one celebrating the victory at Gettysburg on
August 6, and the other the first of our
last-Thursday-in-November annual Thanksgiving.
On September 18, 1996,
Plimoth Plantation
re-created the famous meal using only
17th-century recipes and culinary techniques
under the direction of Plimoth Plantation
Foodways manager, Kathleen Curtin.
At Plimoth Plantation, the recipes used were
primarily to establish patterns in spicing,
saucing and preparing foods.
The relationship between food and hierarchy
was very strong in the 17th century.
At Plimoth Plantation's re-creation of the
1621 feast the foods were prepared, in some
cases, in two ways; the more elaborate
preparation and costly spices used only for
the "better sorts" at the head table.
In addition, some spices would just have been
conserved as the colonists did not know when
another ship might arrive with additional
supplies, or even if the Mayflower had made
it back to England to let people know where
the colonists had settled.
If you would like to include an historic
dish to your Thanksgiving Dinner Menu, try
this recipe of one that may have been served
at the First Thanksgiving Dinner.
"Sautauthig"
A favorite dish of the Native Americans
during colonial times was Sautauthig
(pronounced sawí-taw-teeg), a simple pudding
made with dried, crushed blueberries, dried,
cracked corn, and water.
Later, the settlers added milk, butter and
sugar when they were available. The Pilgrims
loved Sautauthig and many historians believe
that it was part of the first Thanksgiving feast.
Here's a recipe that gives us an idea of
what Sautauthig tasted like.
It's called Cornmeal Blueberry Mush but
you can give it any name you want.
"CORNMEAL BLUEBERRY MUSH"
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup cornmeal or quick cooking grits
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
2 cups fresh, frozen or canned blueberries
or 1/2 cup dried blueberries (see note)
Directions:
In a 2-quart saucepan heat water and milk
until bubbles form around edge of pan.
Stirring constantly, slowly add cornmeal or
grits and salt until well combined.
Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer,
until thickened, about 10 minutes,
stirring occasionally.
Stir in maple syrup or honey until well combined.
Gently stir in blueberries.
Makes about 4 3/4 cups or 6 servings.
NOTE:
Today, we don't have to pick and dry
blueberries in the summer to enjoy them year
round. We can always find them in our local
supermarket, either fresh, frozen or canned,
sometimes even dried.
If you are using frozen blueberries in this
recipe, defrost them between 2 layers of
paper towels to absorb excess liquid.
If you are using canned blueberries, drain well.
Fresh or frozen blueberries can be dried
on a cookie sheet in a 250 degrees F oven
for about 1-1/2 hours.
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Jnor
1999