A cornbread that could have been served at the first Thanksgiving!
I swear I intended to have Jane represent the experience of settlers in Jamestown, but let's be honest: it's hard to ignore Plymouth as a source for early colonization and interactions between Europeans and Native communities, particularly when it comes to exchanging food.
This corn bread is very different from the corn bread you've probably enjoyed alongside chili and fried chicken, but if you're looking for something that can pass as authentic for your Thanksgiving table, this really fits the bill. Read on to find out how to make this yourself!
This corn bread is very different from the corn bread you've probably enjoyed alongside chili and fried chicken, but if you're looking for something that can pass as authentic for your Thanksgiving table, this really fits the bill. Read on to find out how to make this yourself!
Despite its important role in modern American understandings of our country's early history, there are very few first person accounts of the first Thanksgiving held in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and it was not immediately established as an annual event. As food historian Joyce White explains in a blog post from 2017, the tradition is actually derived from the British tradition of Harvest Home, held only when it was felt God had blessed a community in a particularly special way. After nearly starving to death during the first winter of 1620 and 1621, it's pretty obvious why the community of European settlers would feel that they'd been blessed with a much better outlook as 1621 came to a close.
Although the exact day wasn't recorded, the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth was celebrated in early fall of 1621 and lasted for three days. We know that several English settlers went out to hunt for fowl, 90 members of the Wampanoag community were invited and brought venison to share, and the colonists held games and other celebrations to mark the occasion.
This leaves quite a bit of interpretation for anyone looking to recreate an "authentic" menu for the first Thanksgiving. I've seen people hypothesize that anything from oysters to moose could conceivably been on the table, although it's a pretty safe bet that dishes using the three sisters (corn, beans, and squash) would have been involved. Many dishes may have been fully inspired by Wampanoag dishes and customs, while others might offer a blend of English and Native traditions.
Joyce White offers a recipe for corn bread inspired by ingredients the early settlers and Wampanoag would have had access to in 1621, adapted from a Narragansett recipe she found via the Tomaquag Museum located in Exeter, Rhode Island. As I said above, it's a weird corn bread by modern standards, as it's very dense and not at all fluffy because - of course - it doesn't rely on chemical leavening agents. If you make it really authentically, you can even avoid using milk and eggs, both of which wouldn't have been available to people in Massachusetts until 1624.
To make this corn bread, whisk together 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/4 of a cup of melted butter, 1 egg, and 1/4 of a cup of maple syrup in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/4 cups of corn meal, 1 cup of flour, and 4 ounces of dried berries, making sure the berries are well coated in the flours so they don't sink to the bottom of the pan. You can use any dried berry you prefer. Although Joyce White notes that there's no evidence the early colonists would have been eating cranberries at this point, I like cranberries and had already decided to use milk and eggs, so the final product wasn't going to be wholly authentic anyway.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until the dry ingredients are just incorporated. It'll be a really thick batter. The bread bakes at 400 degrees in an 8 inch oiled pie or cake pan for about 25 minutes, and is finished when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
The end result is an extremely dense slice of corn bread.
Like most recipes I've made for Jane that claim to be at least somewhat authentic to the early 1600's, this corn bread was definitely a little weird, but absolutely not bad. It's much less sweet than modern corn bread even with the berries and maple syrup, and I found it to be generally very bland. Inoffensive, but bland. The texture was also a little weird, somewhere between dry and gummy, but very dense either way. While I'm happy I tried it, and while I see how this would probably be a huge treat to someone like Jane, who isn't used to the sugary, fluffy cakes we enjoy today, I'm not sure I'd make it again, or if it's earned a permanent spot on our Thanksgiving table.
On the other hand, Jess really enjoyed it, and happily took charge of the leftovers. I do think she has a point that it's a good breakfast snack, as eating it alongside a cup of tea or coffee kind of helps with the slightly boring flavor. Without the berries, I'm not sure it would be worth eating at all, though!
So that's a look at an interpretation of historical corn bread. As always, check out the rest of Joyce White's blog for other interesting peeks at historical recipes. She's one of my favorite bloggers and a big source of inspiration to continue peeking into the very distant past for other strange recipes to try out!
Although the exact day wasn't recorded, the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth was celebrated in early fall of 1621 and lasted for three days. We know that several English settlers went out to hunt for fowl, 90 members of the Wampanoag community were invited and brought venison to share, and the colonists held games and other celebrations to mark the occasion.
This leaves quite a bit of interpretation for anyone looking to recreate an "authentic" menu for the first Thanksgiving. I've seen people hypothesize that anything from oysters to moose could conceivably been on the table, although it's a pretty safe bet that dishes using the three sisters (corn, beans, and squash) would have been involved. Many dishes may have been fully inspired by Wampanoag dishes and customs, while others might offer a blend of English and Native traditions.
Joyce White offers a recipe for corn bread inspired by ingredients the early settlers and Wampanoag would have had access to in 1621, adapted from a Narragansett recipe she found via the Tomaquag Museum located in Exeter, Rhode Island. As I said above, it's a weird corn bread by modern standards, as it's very dense and not at all fluffy because - of course - it doesn't rely on chemical leavening agents. If you make it really authentically, you can even avoid using milk and eggs, both of which wouldn't have been available to people in Massachusetts until 1624.
To make this corn bread, whisk together 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/4 of a cup of melted butter, 1 egg, and 1/4 of a cup of maple syrup in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/4 cups of corn meal, 1 cup of flour, and 4 ounces of dried berries, making sure the berries are well coated in the flours so they don't sink to the bottom of the pan. You can use any dried berry you prefer. Although Joyce White notes that there's no evidence the early colonists would have been eating cranberries at this point, I like cranberries and had already decided to use milk and eggs, so the final product wasn't going to be wholly authentic anyway.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients until the dry ingredients are just incorporated. It'll be a really thick batter. The bread bakes at 400 degrees in an 8 inch oiled pie or cake pan for about 25 minutes, and is finished when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
The end result is an extremely dense slice of corn bread.
On the other hand, Jess really enjoyed it, and happily took charge of the leftovers. I do think she has a point that it's a good breakfast snack, as eating it alongside a cup of tea or coffee kind of helps with the slightly boring flavor. Without the berries, I'm not sure it would be worth eating at all, though!
So that's a look at an interpretation of historical corn bread. As always, check out the rest of Joyce White's blog for other interesting peeks at historical recipes. She's one of my favorite bloggers and a big source of inspiration to continue peeking into the very distant past for other strange recipes to try out!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I love cornbread! As I don't cook, I pick it up at the grocery store. I have never had cranberries in my cornbread but it does sound festive.
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