Jackrabbit Ruminations.

This little story came about due to the posing of a single jackrabbit.  Normally they’re zipping back and forth across roadways, or racing through the desert trying not to smash into sage brush.  Photographing them is next to impossible, those buggers don’t sit still long enough, until that one day.  Sitting at the front desk of Canyon Country Discovery Center, well I have the best seat in the house.  Large window panes allow me to look across farmland and canyon rocks stretching eastward to Colorado; in the far distance are the majestic San Juans.  Typical wildlife that entertains are mule deer, wild turkeys, red fox, antics of chipmunks, aerodynamics of hummingbirds and the zipping of jackrabbits.  Then it happened, a jackrabbit stopped on a gravel path and began to “strike the pose…vogue” (Madonna song reference).  He (assuming it was a he, I didn’t actually check) sat back on those long, power punching legs; turned his head this way and that; then turned his whole body so that the mild wind pushed his ears back.  His eyes slowly closed and I swear that little bugger had decided to take a nap there and then.

So, back to the mention of a little story and let me put the disclaimer now, so those experts on wildlife won’t get all bent out of shape.   The story I’m about to tell about this jackrabbit is totally made up, a work of fiction from my mind; call me crazy and I’ll say thank you for noticing. 

Meet Jack, Jack the Rabbit; he’s not much on commitment; loves the ladies, but doesn’t stick around long enough for a lasting relationship.  He’s a bit of a cad, loves them and leaves them in a “delicate” condition.  Now the ladies, they have their own issues; so busy running to no place in particular that when the babe comes, it’s “pop it out, it fends for itself”.  Jackrabbits don’t build nests in the ground like the cute cottontails; nope, their babies are born wide eyed, bushy tailed and raring to go-go-go.  Jack has a sister, Jackie; who happened to meet one handsome hare from Wyoming.  The Wyoming Alope family are well known in those parts for slick dealing at the gambling table and serving up watered down liquor at their establishment.  Yes sir, Jackie married and became…Jackie ALope.

Then there is Jack’s uncle, Bob; the family don’t speak much about Bob, not since “the incident”.  Seems Bob got into a bit of a mess when he was hungry and decided that elderberries would make a great snack.  Well he was a bit lazy that day too, so instead of picking those berries fresh off the bush, he ate the ones sitting on the ground, not realizing they had fermented into wine.  That Cat was so drunk, didn’t realize that his neighbor’s third daughter was sleeping under that elderberry bush.  Nope, he had his way with her, No, not that way, get your minds out of the gutter; he done ‘et her!  Yep, Bob’s his uncle, but they don’t really talk about Bob in front of pleasant company.

Ah cooking, this column is supposed to focus on cooking, so let’s cook up some rabbit, aye?  In Native American cultures, the rabbit resides in legends from being a good luck charm to a parallel of coyote; the protector of witches and a trickster.  Mesoamerican belief was that a rabbit, not a man, resided in the moon.  No matter the legend, the rabbit was prized for its meat; its fur and tanned hide made into gloves, caps, cradle board cushions or padding.

In the cookbook, Pueblo Indian Cookbook by Phyllis Hughes, there is a kitchen tested recipe for Jackrabbit Stew.  While researching recipes for this article, I found that Native American cooking techniques/beliefs resembled ones I am quite acquainted with. Before serving the meal, a small portion is offered up to the spirits; similar to the offering of a piece of bread and meat to the Greek Goddess, Hestia (protector of the home and hearth; goddess of hospitality).  When it comes to measuring, it comes down to the senses; the feel of the grains, herbs and spices, a sort of knowing, in your heart, what amounts are correct.  That’s what cooking with love and passion are!

So here’s the recipe, and if rabbit or hare are not your type of fare; substituting chicken will be just as tasty.

Jackrabbit Stew

(Pueblo Indian Cookbook, page 39)

Ingredients:

1 jackrabbit (or domestic hare or 5 lb. baking chicken)

1 large onion, chopped

1 tsp. salt

2/3 Tbsp. chile powder (optional)

1 and ½ cups flour

2 quarts water

2 large onions

6 large carrots, halved

2 sweet peppers, halved and seeded

4 tsp. salt

2 cups cooked lime hominy

¾ cup melted lard or cooking oil

Preparation:

Cut rabbit (or other) into serving size pieces.  Dredge in flour.  Put oil in large kettle and heat until sizzling.  Brown all pieces of meat on all sides, drain and pour off excess oil.  Return meat to kettle, add water and simmer for two hours, add all vegetables and simmer until carrots are tender.

Note:  Not sure if the repeat of onion and salt are intentional or a misprint.  The majority of cookbooks also have ingredients listed in the order that they are used, while this recipe is a bit of a hodge podge.

Mary Cokenour

Heirloom Beans from the Anasazi.

Settlers of the Four Corners region discovered a wild bean growing amongst the ruins, but it was not until the 1950s that it was given a name.  Within an archaeological dig, of a cave in New Mexico, sealed clay pots gave forth a bounty, beans.  Carbon dating gave them the age of 1500 years, then again, carbon dating has been found not to be that accurate.  Since the ruin sites were attributed to the Anasazi (130 AD to 1200 AD), scholars played it safe and lowered the age to 750 years, or the last known sighting of the Puebloan people.  These beans were given the name, Anasazi, and planted to see if they were still viable; surprise is, they sprouted and grew!  Cultivation of the species continued and finally introduced to the American consumer in 1983; Adobe Milling in Dove Creek, Colorado is one of the largest distributors in the Southwest.

As with corn and wheat, beans are not indigenous to southwestern North America; they too were brought up from Mexico by Native tribes seeking trade, and Spanish explorers.  Anasazi beans fall under the botanical classification Phaseolus vulgaris which originated in Peru from a species simply referred to as “common beans”.  Other popular bean varieties stemming from the common beans include black, kidney, pinto, and navy beans.  Anasazi beans are a vibrant swirl of white and maroon coloring; being low fat, sweeter and mealier gives them a unique taste and texture that adds to any recipe.  Nutrition wise, they are high in protein and fiber; an excellent source of potassium, calcium, and iron; one cup has less cholesterol and calories than three ounces of beef.  Here is the really good news, remember that saying, “Beans, beans, good for your heart.  The more you eat, the more you *ahem* pass gas.”? They contain 75% less of the gas-causing carbohydrates compared to pinto beans! 

How to cook up Anasazi beans? I referred to two cookbooks, “Pueblo Indian Cookbook” by Phyllis Hughes (1972) and “Southwestern Indian Recipe Book” by Zora Getmansky Hesse (1973); it was not as easy as my cookbooks stated.  Two cups of beans went into a cooking pot, with enough cool water to cover and soaked overnight for 14 hours.  During soaking and cooking, do NOT add salt, vinegar or anything acidic, like tomatoes, or the beans will get tougher.  After draining, rinsing, just covering with more cool water, adding chopped onion, bacon, and a teaspoon of granulated garlic; they simmered on the stove for 4 hours…and remained as hard as when first purchased.  Let’s think logically about this, the Puebloans did not use a gas stove as I did, but they did cook using a wood fired adobe oven.  Nope, did not have one of those in the backyard, so back to the stove; I checked on them every hour for an additional 4 hours.  The result was not much better.

Cover beans with water, soak overnight.

Drained and Rinsed.

Add Bacon and Onions.

After 8 hours on stove top.

 

Instead of throwing out the beans in frustration, I decided to toss the entire mixture into a crock pot, put the setting on high and waited 4 more hours.  Yes, I have patience when I want to achieve a goal.  Eureka, the beans came out wonderfully; a semi-firm texture that had absorbed the flavors of both onion and bacon.  The water, with help from the bacon fat, had reduced down to a thickened sauce with a hint of garlic.  Seems the insulation of the crock pot acted in the same fashion as an earthenware pot within an adobe oven. Paired with the Pueblo bread I had made earlier in the day, it was a meal worth waiting for.   I am certainly enjoying my adventures into the world of Native American cuisines; who knows what will come next…mutton stew perhaps?

Mary Cokenour

 

 

Grains of Our Lives.

The visual piles of dried corn, pinon nuts and beans flowing through outstretched fingers lead my mind to these words, “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives.”  While this long running soap opera, aka daytime drama, has not much to do with life in our Southwest; grains have always been a relied on staple.  Corn (maize) was introduced to the Native cultures of the Southwest approximately 2100 BC from Mesoamerica.  “Isn’t that Mexico?” you might be asking, that is only partially correct.  Mesoamerica extended from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and northern Costa Rica.  Corn cobs found at ruin sites and inside caves were much smaller than what we know of today; similar to baby ornamentals seen around fall holidays.  Great care was taken in cultivating stronger varieties that would survive higher altitudes, and weather systems that alternated between drought and flooding.

In the 1520s, explorers from Spain introduced wheat to Mexico; as with corn, it made its way up to the Southwest and into Native fields.  Evidence of trade, between San Juan County Native cultures and Mexico, was proven with the finding a macaw feather shawl, in Canyonlands National Park, by explorer, Kent Frost; housed and exhibited at Edge of the Cedar State Park and Museum.  Traces of cacao were found in pottery at Alkali Ridge National Monument; an exhibit was displayed at the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake City in 2014.

How did corn and wheat become the flour to make breads?  The Puebloan people used stone tools; a “mano”, a smooth hand-held stone was used against a “metate”, a large stone with a depression. The movement of the hand stone against the depressed stone consisted of a circular, rocking or chopping motion, using one or both hands, to grind.  Work rooms, called “mealing” rooms, were established with sets of manos and metates for mass grinding efforts; basically gossip central for the women.  Baking nowadays is much easier with gas or electric powered ovens; the Puebloans used a mud adobe-built outdoor oven.  The oven was beehive shaped, using wood as the heat source to build a fire inside.  When the proper amount of time had passed, embers and ashes were removed, or moved about the oven; bread was then inserted for baking.  This oven was also used for roasting corn and cooking meats.   Now aren’t you happy that all you have to do is head on down to the local supermarket to buy pre-ground flours and fully baked bread goods?

Using a recipe from the “Pueblo Indian Cookbook” by Phyllis Hughes, I ventured into making Pueblo Oven Bread.  As a first timer, my bread was not the prettiest, but it tasted pretty darned good, especially with butter, honey, combo of both; oh, and bacon.  Bacon makes almost everything better….not desserts though, no not desserts.  This first time I also used basic all-purpose white flour, but I’m going to be playing with other types of flours, like wheat, blue corn and corn.  It will be interesting to see if baking times vary with the flours, and especially the tastes.  Let me tell you that as a side for a freshly cooked batch of Anasazi beans with onions and bacon, the bread is so satisfying.  Ah, but that’s another story to tell…

 

 

Pueblo Bread

(Pueblo Indian Cookbook – page 10)

 Ingredients:

9 cups flour

2 packages dry yeast
½ cup warm water (110-120 degrees)
2 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. melted lard or cooking oil
2 cups water

Preparation:

Soften yeast in warm water.  Mix melted lard or oil, salt and yeast in large bowl.  Alternately add flour and water, a little at a time.  (I did 2 cups flour, ½ cup water), beating thoroughly after each addition, kneading in last of flour until dough is very smooth.  Shape in ball and let rise, covered with damp cloth in large greased bowl until doubled in size.

Activate Yeast

 

Alternate Addition of Flour and Water.

 
 
 

Need in Last Cup of Flour.

 

Dough in Bowl for First Rising.

 

Dough Doubles in Size.

Punch down, and knead on floured board for at least five minutes.  Shape into four balls, put in greased baking pans (I used 4-8 inch nonstick cake pans), cover with cloth and let rise for 20-30 minutes in warm place.

Second Kneading (1)

Second Kneading (2)

Four Equal Portions

Dough Balls in Greased Pans.

After Second Rising, Ready to Bake.

Bake in 400F oven for 50 minutes (my gas oven did require the 50 minutes) or until tops are browned and loaves sound hollow when tapped.

Mary Cokenour