Title: Baked Corn Bread ... Ogahagq'wa` Wata'`gqda'`
Categories: Amerind Canadian Corn Bread
Yield: 1 Servings

No Ingredients Found

The name signifies "under the ashes cooked," and is applied to bread baked in the embers, or on flat stones placed over the fire. As reported in Samuel de Champlain's, "Voyages of Samuel de Champlain" Prince Society ed., (Boston 1878-1882), this seems to have been formerly in much favour. Its disuse is probably owing to the abandonment of the open fireplace and to the general adoption of European foods.

The mixture used was practically the same as for boiled bread. About three-quarters of an hour was required for cooking. As the loaves baked somewhat more quickly on top, they were turned over to be evenly done. To tell when they were finished, the cakes were tapped with the finger. If not sufficiently cooked, they felt heavy to the touch and, when done, felt lighter and more spongy. The last part of the operation was to wash them in cold water to free them from ashes or cinders, as was reported by Peter John (Onondaga) and his wife (Mohawk). The Senecas are said to have omitted the beans or berries. On the other hand, several informants at Grand River, Ontario, state specifically that beans, berries, and sometimes maple sugar were included in the baked corn bread mixture. James Adair, in "History of the American Indians" (London, 1775), remarks about the use of a similar food among the Choctaw and Chickasaw. Mrs. John Williams (Mohawk) of Caughnawaga states that red beans used to be mixed with the paste for baked corn bread, and the whole covered with cabbage leaves or corn husks. Boiled bread is the only kind made there now. Peter John (Onondaga), Grand River, Ontario, relates that some fifty or sixty years ago a fire was frequently made in the open field, while they were harvesting or husking corn, and bread baked in the ashes in the old-fashioned manner. A single cake of this bread was said, by John Echo (Onondaga), to have formerly been placed in the coffin with a corpse. According to Peter Atkins (Mohawk) and others of Grand River, Ontario, besides the food which is set aside for the dead at wakes and which they are supposed to require for their own consumption, a little is sometimes put into the hand. This is to be thrown to a savage cat and dog which guard a bridge over which the dead have to pass. While the animals are devouring the food the dead person slips over in safety. Source: "Iroquois Foods and Food Preparation, Memoir 86, No. 12, Anthropological Series" by F. W. Waugh, (Ottawa Government Printing Bureau, 1916) pp. 82-83

Submitted By BILL CHRISTMAS

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