She was a half blood Shawnee Indian born in 1891. Married at the age of 15 with a third grade education she more or less taught herself to read and write. Her old tattered oil cloth bound cook book served a dual purpose as a text book reader and a recipe book.
She raised me from a baby and through out my years at home I don’t remember her cooking anything gourmet. I do remember her pan fried Indian bread.That was a great treat in my younger years, pan fried bread dipped in a small dish of sugar.
Of course there were a lot of corn dishes as was common in most Indian familes. One of my favorite was corn fritters:
Corn Fritters: A simple recipe.
2 cups of corn, fresh or canned 1 teaspoon vegitable oil
1 teaspoon salt 1/2 cupmilk
1/8 teaspoon pepper 2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder 1 egg
Chop the corn fine and add salt, pepper, well beaten egg, vegitable oil, milk, flour and baking powder. Fry to a light golden brown (two or three minutes) in a skillet with deep vegetable, peanut or your favorite oil at 360 degrees. Enjoy.
