Authentic Thanksgiving dessert from Native Americans

"When you look at the big picture," pastry chef Bill Yosses and restaurant critic Bryan Miller, co-authors of "Desserts for Dummies," maintain, "Native Americans in the 16th and 17th centuries probably made a big mistake by teaching Europeans anything at all that helped them survive in the wilderness -- especially anything about cooking." Had the Indians simply ignored the colonists, these authors suggest, the Europeans might very well have gone back home.

That might have been a preferable outcome in the eyes of many Native Americans, but it certainly would have been unfortunate from a culinary standpoint. Had that happened, the English colonists might never have had the chance to develop an appreciation for what food historian Elisabeth Rozin calls the essential American food -- corn, which, among other things, is the basis of what to me is the archetypal Thanksgiving dessert, Indian pudding. After all, Indian pudding, or something very much like it, was quite likely on the first Thanksgiving table, yet we know there was no pumpkin pie or even roast turkey.

After cooking awhile, the combination of cornmeal and milk thickens and becomes Indian pudding, arguably America's first comfort food. (TOM HARTE)

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, perhaps it's time to rediscover Indian pudding, a dish which, even in its native New England, has over the years become increasingly scarce. That's too bad, because an argument easily can be made that Indian pudding, not at all glamorous and in fact downright dowdy, was the first American comfort food. No wonder the early settlers are said to have eaten it three times a day.

Like all comfort foods, Indian pudding is a simple concoction. Essentially it is nothing more than cornmeal boiled with milk, sweetened with molasses or maple syrup and cooked until thick. In other words, it's basically mush. You can fancy it up a bit, say by making it the base of a soufflé or dust it with sugar and brûlée it, but why would you? Its uncomplicated coziness is part of its appeal.

Despite its name, Indian pudding didn't actually originate with the Native Americans, though it's a variation of similar Indian porridges called variously nasaump, rockahominy, supawn or sagamite. Rather, Indian pudding is more medieval than Native American, a descendant of hasty pudding. That dish was made from wheat flour or oatmeal, but the colonists didn't have much of that, so they resorted to cornmeal, which they called Indian corn to differentiate it from European grains, hence the name Indian pudding. They also added ingredients which are not strictly Native American, like molasses, eggs and milk.

Indian pudding is made simply by sprinkling cornmeal over sweetened milk and cooking it until thick. (TOM HARTE)

Among the earliest recipes for Indian pudding is one given by Amelia Simmons in what is considered to be America's first cookbook, "American Cookery, or The Art of Dressing Viands, Fish, Poultry & Vegetables, and The Best Modes of Making Pastes, Puffs, Pies, Tarts, Puddings, Custards & Preserves and All Kinds of Cakes from the Imperial Plumb to Plain Cake, Adapted to This Country and All Grades of Life," published in 1796. Not surprisingly, the recipe is shorter than the title of the book.

Most recipes since have more or less followed Simmons' prescription, meaning whichever one you use you'll end up with the most authentic Thanksgiving dessert possible.

Indian Pudding

This Indian pudding recipe, adapted from Kings Cooking Studio, uses both maple syrup and molasses and is typically accompanied by ice cream, but the addition of the dried fruit compote, adapted from Gourmet magazine, dresses it up a bit for Thanksgiving.

3 cups milk

6 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons molasses

1 and 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon cornmeal

Though hardly glamorous, Indian pudding, served warm topped with ice cream and gilded with fruit compote, is the most authentic Thanksgiving dessert possible. (TOM HARTE)

1 cup apple cider

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup dried apricots

1/2 cup pitted prunes

1/2 cup dried cranberries

ice cream

candied walnuts

* Whisk together milk, maple syrup, molasses, ginger, and salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium. Sprinkle cornmeal over milk mixture, whisking constantly. Cook over low heat, whisking, until cornmeal is cooked and thickened.

* For compote simmer cider, brown sugar, water, and lemon juice, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Add dried fruits and simmer another 5 minutes until fruits are softened and plump. Serve pudding warm, topped with ice cream, compote and walnuts.

Tom Harte's book, "Stirring Words," is available at local bookstores. A Harte Appetite airs Fridays 8:49 a.m. on KRCU, 90.9 FM. Contact Tom at semissourian.com or at the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699.