Native American cooking and recipes cover a broad spectrum. From the east, south, west and northern regions each with their own indigenous food sources. This article covers the Western Plains Indians, specifically Lakota (Sioux).
Many techniques and methods of cooking are not used today except on rare occasions when a ceremony would require it. In ceremony, the food is cooked outdoors over hot coals or buried in the ground over hot coals. Originally, cooking vessels were rawhide containers. Heated stones were added to the mixture to heat. Most meat and produce were dried. So this method worked well since the ingredients were dried there wasn’t any “cooking” per se, just a heating of ingredients.
Most foods were eaten raw or dried, since the process of building a fire is time consuming and uses a lot of wood. The dried foods were not dull or lacking in flavor. They were mixed with other ingredients. An example of this is what many people know as “Pemmican”. In Lakota it is called “Wasna” (Was-nah).
Wasna is also a traditional food for sacred ceremony. When prepared for ceremony there are specific methods and actions required. I will write another article on Cooking for Ceremony at a later date.
The following is the traditional recipe for making this wonderful and tasty food called “Wasna”.
Wasna
Dried meat without any seasonings, not even salt.
Canpa (choke cherry patties) or raisins
Kidney fat or lard
Sugar
Put dried meat in a pillowcase and pound with a hammer until very fine. Put the
pounded meat into a bowl and mix in the choke cherries or raisins and sugar.
Heat the kidney fat , suet or lard until melted. Cool until you can handle it with your hands and
not burn yourself. Pour enough fat or lard into the meat mixture to slightly moisten and
mix well. You want this mixture to stick together only a bit for ease of eating. Eating is done with a spoon or pinched into the hand.
For a complete Native American cookbook please see my website at: http://www.nativetalismanart.com
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