BETTY'S TRAIL RIDES
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Dutch Oven Cooking and Recipes
Cooking over an open fire has always been a part of western life and is usually done in dutch ovens.
Dutch ovens actually have their origins in Europe and when first brought to this country during the days of the colonies, were the traditionally shaped iron pots with rounded dome tops and bottoms. One of Paul Revere's many accomplishments was to flatten the tops and bottoms of the original design and add a lip around the lid for holding coals. The Dutch traders in New Amsterdam were quick to realize that the local Native Americans would love these ovens and kept an ample supply to trade for furs and other goods. Hence, they became known as Dutch ovens. And since one can fry, bake, or boil anything in them, rain or shine, they became favorites of outdoor people everywhere and quickly made their way west with pioneers, mountain men, prospectors and many others. Chuckwagon cooks on the Goodnight Trail (Charles Goodnight invented the chuckwagon) utilized them and they became staples on ranches, trail drives and cow camps throughout the west.
Mesquite Biscuits
Dutch Oven Recipe for Aug. 2008.
Rusty and I utilize many natural foods from the desert. Especially delicious is mesquite bean flour. Mesquite beans are very nutritious, high in protein, sugars, vitamins and minerals and were a staple for Native Americans across the southwest. They make a very heavy flour, are especially pungent and may even have to be an acquired taste for some people. This flour may be purchased in stores, but if you buy it, keep in mind that commercial varieties are often from Peruvian or other South American mesquite and will impart a very different flavor from the Sonoran varieties growing in southwestern United States.
When the beans are dry enough to fall off the tree, or even if they have recently fallen off, they are ready to be ground into flour. This may be done by using a grain grinder, or if you have them, it is nice to use an old Indian metate and mano. When your flour is ready, use the recipe for chuckwagon biscuits that you will find by clicking on "Past Recipes" at the bottom of the page and substitute about 1/2 cup of white flour with your mesquite flour.
Mesquite flour may be used in most recipes calling for other flours simply by removing the other flours and substituting the mesquite. It is great in pancakes or waffles. You will have to experiment to see how much of it you want to use and adapt the recipes to your individual taste.
Havasupai Mesquite Bean Drink
Dutch Oven Recipe for July, 2008
During the 1980's Rusty and I spent six years with the Havasupai in the bottom of the Grand Canyon, where I worked at the school. One of the older ladies promised to make a drink for me out of mesquite beans. I was pretty excited about this and waited for her to bring in the beans. She kept telling me that they weren't dry enough. I wondered a lot about how she was going to make a drink out of a dry mesquite bean. This lady kept me in suspense for more than a week, and finally one morning she arrived with a sack of very, very dry mesquite beans which she proceeded to smash slightly with a hammer after laying them onto a flat rock--she smashed them just enough to sort of open them and lightly squash them--and then she tossed them into a bowl of water! We all watched in amazement as the yellow color and nutrients seeped out of the mesquite and into the water. The beans were left the entire school day in the water and just before dismissal she strained the liquid through a cloth, poured it into cups and we all had a delicious drink.
Since then, I have found out that many tribes across the southwest made this drink, but I have called it "Havasupai" because that is where I learned about it. Not only is it delicious at room temperature, but is very good chilled.
Prickly Pear
Recipes for June, 2008
These are not dutch oven recipes, but it is summer and the natural foods of the desert will be available. They are delicious and the use of some of them can save you money, always a plus during our present economic times. These desert foods are packed with nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Consider that they comprised much of the diet of Native Americans, who were strong and hardy.
Prickly pear cactus, the most commonly eaten of all cacti, are packed with an amazing array of nutrients. The pads, or napoles, are high in insoluable fiber, vitamins A, B and C, beta carotene, iron, sodium and a full range of amino acids, the building blocks of all protein. In addition, the fibrous pectin lowers blood sugar in diabetics and lowers LDL (bad) choloresterol while leaving the HDL (good) chloresterol unchanged.
As if that were not enough, the fruit, or tuna, and the flowers are also nutritious. The fruit contains vitamins A and C, calcium, potassium, magnesium, antioxident compounds including flavonoids, one of which is quercetin. The fruit is known to bolster the immune system.
Although all cacti are protected by law, it is permissible to harvest the fruit for one's own use as long as you don't damage the cactus. The pads of the prickly pear species that grow in our region just north of Phoenix are generally too fibrous to eat unless you get the small shoots just as they are coming out in the spring. However, edible varieties may be purchased in the produce section in some grocery stores or jarred or canned in the Hispanic food section.
Prickly Pear Juice
When prickly pear fruit is dark red and very ripe, take a pair of kitchen tongs and gently twist fuit to remove from cactus. If fruit dosen't come off easily, it is not ripe enough. Drop fruit into a bucket. Grocery bags, plastic bags and soforth are o.k., but if you use them, be careful of the thorns, as they can poke through. These thorns are very fine, small, flesh colored and are not always apparant. They are difficult to see if they get into your hands. Some people wear gloves, but the thorns will go through the gloves and stay there, making it very difficult to get out. If you do get them into your hands, the best way to remove them is to put duct tape over them and then pull it off. They will usually stick to the tape. My brother, Jim, likes to use a dust mask because the thorns are so fine that they can fly into the air and he has actually breathed some into his nose on at least one occassion. Also, when harvesting be very careful of rattlesnakes, as they love to hide under prickly pear
When you get home with your fruit, you will need to first remove the thorns. The best way to do this is to burn them off. If you have a gas range, hold the fruit with the tongs over the open flame and the thorns will burst into flame and burn off rapidly. Be careful not to singe the fruit. If you do not have a gas range, you can use a cigarette lighter, a torch, a candle or anything with a flame, taking care not to set anything else afire.
Once the thorns are off, you should wash the fruit. At this point, it is wise to don rubber kitchen gloves, as all the thorns may not have burned. Use a vegetable brush and wash them under running water in the sink. You still probably will get some thorns in your hands, but this is just one of the side effects of having delicious prickly pear products to eat or drink.
To make the juice, you can just throw the fruit into a juicer if you have one. If you don't have a juicer, just put them into a large bowl or kettle and smash with a potato masher until you get the juice all out and then strain through a cloth.
Contrary to popular opinion, prickly pear fruit is not all sweet. The variety that grows in the northern Sonora Desert is not at all sweet. You will need to add sugar or sugar substitute to your taste.
Prickly pear juice has its own unique flavor and tastes different from other products that are cooked, such as the jelly. My husband, Rusty, likes this juice better than any other way that these tunas can be prepared. He says that it makes him feel energized and really good.
Jean's Prickly Pear Jelly
After preparing your fruit, using the directions in the juice recipe, you are ready for jelly.
Napoles
The pads, or napoles, of the prickly pear may be prepared in dozens of ways. Napoles have a delicate flavor and will lend themselves to many different situations, making it fun to use your imagination and create your own favorite recipes.
If you are using the jarred napoles from the grocery, keep in mind that most are pickled in vinegar and will impart a little different taste to your recipes.
If you are picking your own napoles, use the general directions for preparing the fruit. Once you have picked, burned thorns and washed, you are ready to fix various dishes. Napoles usually are fairly mucousy, a little like okra. Many people do not like this and prefer to plunge them into boiling water for a few moments after cutting them into chunks or strips. However, this mucous is very healthful and beneficial, and if you are browning or frying the napoles, it usually won't be very apparent.
One of our favorite ways to fix napoles is to scramble them in eggs. Just slice the pads, brown in a little oil or butter and then add the eggs. You can also add onion, cheese, bacon or sausage or anything else your heart desires to this dish.
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