Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The First Thanksgiving Part 3

From all the bounty described by Edward Winslow, it seems likely that the colonists were able to pick and choose the menu for their Thanksgiving day feast. However, not all items on our modern table were available at the time (cranberries for example). In addition, tastes have changed a great deal over the years, and not everything that we enjoy was considered good food at the time. Historians believe that the actual menu in 1621 looked quite a bit like this:


Seethed [boiled] Lobster (not considered particularly ritzy at the time)

Roasted Goose

Boiled Turkey (boiled?! boiling meat was a very common cooking method)

Fricase of Coney

Pudding of Indian Corn Meal with dried Whortleberries (yeah, I'd never heard of them either)

Seethed Cod

Roasted Duck

Stewed Pumpkin (the open-faced pie was not a common cooking method of the time)

Roasted Venison with Mustard Sauce

Savory Pudding of Hominy (Hominy is corn that has been soaked in lye until the flavor is gone)

Fruit and Holland Cheese

1 comment:

Carrie said...

I haven't eaten hominy in a long time, I keep forgetting it exists. I really like the chewy texture.

I'm glad I was born when I was, for many reasons.. one of them being, access to cranberries! yum!