Native American, New Orleans and Southern Cuisine

Today I focused on creating dishes that belong to the first Americans and settlers in the south. Dishes that we cooked from New Orleans were more heavier, thicker and included spice, beans, chicken, seafood and pork. Dishes from Native American cuisine was vegetarian and much healthier and lighter in taste. General Southern dishes we cooked were similar to New Orlean dishes in being heavy, yet lacked as many greens and vegetables.

From the New Orleans dishes we cooked, Diaspora Gumbo, Southern Cooked Greens, Calas, and Red Beans and Rice was chosen. Diaspora Gumbo, which is a thickened soup consists of vegetable oil cooked with chicken, shrimp, ham sausage, okra, celery and peppers. It is savory and liquid yet rich in taste. The broth was clear brown and all of the ingredients were visible. Southern Greens, when tasted although may appear savory and large in vegetable quantity, actually has a lot of fat involved. Cooking this, I was shocked to see the amount of fat that bacon gave off when fried. This fat was used to fry onions, scallops, garlic and 3 lbs of collard greens. This dish was very different in that it contained malt beer, molasses and hot sauce, giving it a spicy yet thick and heavy taste, although very tasty! Calas, is a sweet rice desert which has thick consistency. It is batter fried rice pudding and has nutmeg with sugar sprinkled on top, giving it a thick yet sweet taste. The Red Beans and Rice dish consisted of two different dishes: the rice which is quite dry similar to asian rice in its thick volume and the bean stew which is thick in its contents but watery and includes ham with onions, scallions and kidney beans, giving a very savory and flavorful taste.

From the Native American cuisines that were made, there were Three Sisters Psole, Baked Squash and Toasted Seeds, Red Pop and White Popcorn, and Wild Rice. The Three Sisters Posole included a delicious vegan type stir fry of olive oil wih pinto, anasazi, kidney beans, onions, garlic, cinnamon sticks, whole bay elaves, jalapeno peppers, cumin, celery, carrots, turnips, squash and peeled tomatoes. This dishw as healthy and reminded me of Mediterranean/middle eastern vegetable dishes, except for its addition of the three beans which gave it a more thick consistency. The Baked Squash and Toasted Seeds were delicious! This dish, which is commonly cooked in America around the fall and winter time is actually from Native American origin. This squash tastes like a sweeter orange potato and included olive oil and maple syrup. The seeds were toasted and were boiled first and were very tasty and crunchy. The red and white popcorn were different in taste. Both were made by using vegetable oil in a large pot and allowing the corn to pop and salt sprinkled on top. While the red popcorn was snow white in color and lighter in taste, the white popcorn actually became yellow in color and had a thicker taste. The Wild Rice that was cooked was dark black and had a grain, nutty taste and much chewier than white rice conventionally cooked. This rice needed to be cooked for 30 minutes (longer than normal white rice) and needed to "burst open" for it to be tasty.

From the Southern food that was cooked, there were Macaroni and Cheese and Biscuits. Macaroni and Cheese consisted of 18 lbs of cheese and Panko bread crumbs that is ironically imported from Japan. This dish consisted of macaroni cooked with one stick of butter, flour, cheddar and parmesan cheese and elbow macaroni. The macaroni was white/yellow in color while the cheese and bread crumbs were very white in color. This dish, although very heavy, was very tasty and delicious to eat. The Buttermilk Biscuits were very delicious! These biscuits are made of flour, sugar, butter and buttermilk. They were small, puffy and very delicious in taste! They are similar to butter cookies but are puffier, and not as sweet, and they are used for meals, not as a desert dish.

Overall, my impression of today's laboratory class included learning new ways to cook dishes I have originally known to cook, learning the origin of dishes I assumed that were not to actually be Native American, and to be shocked by the amount of saturated fat in Southern Cuisine. Cooking the Southern Style Greens, I was shocked to see the amount of fat and sugar involved (from the frying bacon and the beer and molasses added) and eating many of the dishes made me feel heavier and very full quickly. Native American dishes were more to my liking since they were lighter and more fiber rich vegetarian dishes and colorful. Southern dishes were also delicious, but similar to New Orleans dishes, they too contained a lot of saturated fat and were very heavy in taste. Overall, using malt beer and bacon in cooking was a new method I learned how to cook collard greens, in comparison to my traditional way of cooking them with olive oil and vegetables!