Great meal ideas for summer too!
Roast Turkey, cranberry sauce and stuffing. We all know the standard table fare of Thanksgiving Day. But what if we say that none of these delicacies were part of the very first Thanksgiving feast?
Historians and culinarians have long known that modern Thanksgiving staples are later accretions that have been added to the day’s menu over the years. What does this mean? The settlers certainly didn’t have potatoes, pumpkin pie and corn on the cob.
What we now call ‘traditional’ Thanksgiving foods today weren’t present at the first meal. In fact, even turkey wasn’t probably on the menu, and the settlers probably ‘settled’ for roast duck or goose.
Not to mention, the forest provided chestnuts and walnuts. Crops included squash, carrots and peas, which served as sides. And while corn is now an iconic Thanksgiving item, it wasn’t on the cob. It is more likely that settlers had dried crop this time of the year.
But most interestingly, seafood made a prominent appearance at the meal in the New England colony. Seafood items included mussels, clams and lobster.
All this shows that the settlers had a varied but excellent diet. They also grew beans and also had all kinds of pumpkins or squashes.
In other words, when you go for seafood this Thanksgiving, you are actually making things more authentic. You can, for instance, go for soft shell steamed clams, also known as steamers. These are fun to eat and easy to prepare.
Soak the clams in salty water, preferably sea water. Leave the clams to soak overnight in a cool place. Once well soaked and clean, steam in an inch of water in a large, deep pot with a steamer racked on the bottom. Cover the pot, bring to a boil and then let the clams cook in the steam from the boiling water for up to 10 minutes.
Follow Us!