"Venison barbecuted, that is, wrapped up in leaves, and roasted in the Embers."

OK, thinking through this over the last couple of days, I am leaning towards using cabbage and / or Swiss chard leaves instead of burlap and foil. First, leaves are what the author described and two, I can get those kinds of leaves.

After investigating this style of cooking further, I have learned that the coals heating the ground play a part in this cooking technique, too. So, I am working on a way to replicate that in my Weber. Apparently, the heated ground and the leftover ash all play a part in preventing the leaves from burning. Stay tuned.

Sweet!

Here is an update on my research on this Indian cooking technique.

From "The Tlingit Indians" By George Thornton Emmons, 1903, pg 140

"I have seen Chilkat hunting parties cook goat meat by putting it in a hole dug under the fire after it had died down. The hole was lined with skunk cabbage leaves and the meat was covered with leaves and ashes. Then hot coals were hauled over the pit and the fire was rebuilt with heavy logs and left until morning."

Notice that the Chilkat Indians in Alaska let the fire thaw the ground before digging a pit to cook in. As all they had were stone, bone, and wood tools, thawing the ground was important before trying to dig a pit. Also notice how that not just leaves protected the meat from the heat while it cooked but so also did ash. The leaves of Skunk Cabbage are the biggest of any plant in the pacific northwest. They can be 1.5 to almost 5 feet in length (0.5 to 1.5 m)! Native Americans used the leaves like wax paper to wrap up salmon and to line baskets for berry gathering. The leaves were eaten only in lean times when other food was scarce.

I'm still looking for the leaves that Virginia Indians used. I have some leads but nothing solid yet.

dadsr4 said:

Skunk Cabbage is found in Virginia. I just never though of it as being something you would want near food.
http://wildflowersofvirginia.com/skunk-cabbage/
It's listed as being toxic to livestock, I know.

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Yep, it is. But, the kind native to Virginia is a different variety and has much smaller leaves. Heat is supposed to reduce the toxicity of the plant but I have no interest in testing that out. :laugh:

Here is another account of a similar cooking technique from the 1922 book "American Indian Life."

"Squashes did not keep like corn and beans, unless they were cut into long strips and dried. More often the squashes were eaten fresh, at harvest time. A hole was dug in the ground and lined with stones and in this a fire was lighted until the stones were hot. Then the fire was removed and replaced with squashes, and the whole covered and allowed to remain all night. In the morning the squashes were perfectly baked and delicious."

In 1880's West Africa from the book Travels in West Africa by Mary Kingsley -

"The meat is eaten fresh or smoked, boiled or baked. By baked I mean just buried in the ground with a fire lighted on top, or wrapped in leaves and buried in hot embers."

Going all the way back to John Smith in Virginia, I see no reason to believe that meat wasn't mixed in with the corn mush used to make "Virginia Dainties" which is what we call nowadays tamales. Here is what John Smith observed Virginia Indians doing when he arrived in the Virginia Tidewater region.

“Their corne they rost in the eare greene, and bruising it in a morter of wood with a Polt, lappe it in rowles in the leaves of their corne, and so boyle it for a daintie.”

I think it's a strong bet that they also added meat in the leaf wrap when it was available.

2dumb2kwit said:

Well whatdoya know.....Tidewater tamales!:becky:

(And yeah, I'm getting old. I remember when they started calling Tidewater "Hampton Roads".) Hahaha

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You nailed it! :grin: That's exactly what they were.