Cooking Native Foods
Some tips for outdoor cooking, and protocol for using native foods while honouring Aboriginal intellectual rights to local species and food preparation methods.
The Secret!
The secret of outdoor cooking is your coals. You need a good, hot, deep bank of glowing embers, and if you get that, then nothing in the world will taste better than what you cook there...
The wood is the key. You need a good hardwood with no sap, that is non-aromatic. I'm from Australia, so I don't know what tree species you have in your country that work the best. Ask your local Indigenous elders. These coals can then be formed into a bed, and your meat placed directly on top. The coals are not dirty - they actually season the meat and make it taste amazing. Your other option is to use the coals in a ground oven, but then you should heat some stones or pieces of antbed to put in as well.
Making A Ground Oven
- Dig a pit
- Put the coals and hot rocks in,
- Wrap your meat in bark or banana leaves
- Place the wrapped parcels amongst the coals and rocks
- Cover the pit with sheets of bark
- Cover the bark with dirt to trap the heat and air inside
- Leave for at least five hours
- Feast on the most juicy, tender meat of your life!
Birds And Poultry
For birds and poultry, there is an easier way than messing around with plucking and gutting to prepare the carcass. Instead, coat the entire animal with a thick layer of mud or clay, then bury this beneath the ashes. Light a new fire on top, let it burn down, and wait an hour. When you crack the baked mud off the bird, the feathers will come away with it, revealing a very juicy and tender meal. The guts should be set and sealed inside without mess. Even the toughest game bird softens with this method.
Kangaroo or Deer
For larger animals like kangaroos, or I suppose in other countries you have deers and such, you leave the fur on, take out the guts and bury the carcass on its back in a massive mound of coals. Put two big red-hot rocks in the belly cavity. Build a new fire on top of the carcass until it is completely immersed in hot ash. After a a few hours, take it out. The belly cavity should be full of a rich gravy you can dip the meat in.
Fish
For small fish, put them straight in the coals without gutting. Char the skin, so it will peel away, revealing the juicy meat beneath. And don't throw back your catfish if you catch them! They taste amazing when cooked like this. For bigger fish, I like to gut them and then sort of rip them open until they are a large, round, flat platter of meat. Lay this on top of the coals - gut side down first. Turn over onto the back then, until cooked through. Fatty juices will seep up into the slightly concave gut side, making for a culinary delight that defies adequate description.
Once you try this, I swear you'll never want to use a kitchen again!
Where can you buy native foods?
Use of native foods needs to be part of constant discussion and negotiation with the native people in your area. Many foreign businesses are based on the theft of native foods from Indigenous lands and people, so really it is more ethical to establish relationships with local Aborigines to learn about
how to harvest native produce sustainably in your area, and how to plant back as much as you take. In this way, epicurean pleasures can be linked to care for the environment.
Check out my Interview at Cindy's Seasonal Cooking site here at Suite 101.
