Help me cook some delicious pre-Columbian food!

September 10, 2009 9:26 PM

Help me cook some delicious pre-Columbian food!

Hello Hivemind. I was recently invited to a lecture on the food and diet of early civilizations. The guests were asked to bring a dish (either a entree, side dish, or a dessert) for those in attendance to share. However, there was a catch.

The dishes that we bring have to be pre-Columbian. For all intensive purposes, it's 1491 in my kitchen. No Columbian Exchange means no tomatoes in Italian food, etc. I'd really like to make a dessert, and an entree (or a substantial side dish). Anyone have any awesome, ancient recipes?

(I'm reasonably proficient in the kitchen and have quite a few resources for ingredients in the area, fyi.)

posted by definitely not a hipster. to food & drink (11 comments total)

Guinea pig.
posted by orthogonality at 9:32 PM on September 10 [1 favorite]

Here's a start: Antique Roman Recipes
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 9:35 PM on September 10

Sno Cones (or rather; shaved ice with fruits and fruit juices.)
posted by porpoise at 10:49 PM on September 10

Are you stuck on either side of the Atlantic? The Incas really liked Quinoa. it's great with corn.
posted by lionelhutz5 at 11:04 PM on September 10

There's a Mexican hominy stew named Pozole that is pre-Columbian. It is also still a contemporary classic served on special occasions. I've made it. It's awesome.

For dessert, some kind of chocolate / chili drink is a must:

In the New World, chocolate was consumed in a bitter and spicy drink called xocoatl, often seasoned with vanilla, chile pepper, and achiote, (which we know today as annatto). Xocoatl was believed to fight fatigue, a belief that is probably attributable to the theobromine content. Other chocolate drinks combined it with such edibles as maize gruel (which acts as an emulsifier) and honey.
posted by xammerboy at 11:16 PM on September 10

Whoops, sounds like you're in Europe. Sorry. :-)
posted by xammerboy at 11:17 PM on September 10

Ancient Rome is definitely before the Columbian Exchange, so why not make a placenta? Placenta being an ancient Roman bread, of course! There's a recipe on page 167 of this book. Mmm, yummy placenta!
posted by eatyourcellphone at 11:42 PM on September 10

I loves me some medieval gingerbread (and if you don't the Gode Cookery site has a load of other authentic medieval recipes).

You could also go with marchpane and let your imagination go wild in what you sculpt it into (Elizabeth I was apparently given a scale model of old St Paul's Cathedral in marzipan).

For your starter, there are any number of medieval pie recipes that will make very nice savoury-sweet tarts (a lot of recipes involve fruit with meat or fish - a lot like modern tagine).

Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks is an excellent book, and the google preview allows you to see at least a few of the recipes.
posted by Coobeastie at 2:25 AM on September 11

What about Dal Bhat? I couldnt find a confirmed date for the origination of the dish, but the Nepalese claim they've been eating it forever, and rice and lentils were among the very first cultivated crops, over 11,000 years ago.

This is a very basic recipe (It's really just lentil soup and rice). In country, its usually served with a kind of spicy chutney (more often cabbage-based) but anything similar works fine.
posted by elendil71 at 6:52 AM on September 11

Gode Cookery is a good site if you're doing Europe. Plus, you could have the original recipie on hand, next to the dish, a pynte of goode oyle that is fraied, and all
posted by The Whelk at 11:17 AM on September 11

Pre-Columbian pozole was prepared with xoloitzcuintli (dog) meat, or, according to the Spanish missionaries, with human meat. Nowadays it's made with pork meat, so I don't think it's a good option.
posted by clearlydemon at 11:32 AM on September 11