Native American Cooking:
   Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations
   Lois Ellen Frank
  1991 Clarkson Potter/Crown Pub. NY USA
   ISBN: 0517574179


The real American cooking - the food of the Native Americans - is easy to prepare, rich in natural flavors & perfectly in tune with today's healthy eating. Authentic dishes with a contemporary flair using squash, corn, venison, chiles & fruit.

I was hunting for a recipe of Indian Frybread because we'd eaten it up at the Makah Nation's summer celebration & wanted some at home. I found Lois Ellen Frank's Native American Cooking: Foods of the Southwest Indian Nations & gave my Southwest-raised Webmaster a palatable surprise. Then, after hunting season, neighbors brought over some venison & I was off into the rest of this beautifully presented cookbook.

Part Kiowa herself, Lois Ellen Frank, spent 4 years visiting Southwestern Native American reservations, documenting the time-honored techniques & recipes of the Zuni; Kiowa; Apache; Anasazi; Aztec; Mayan; Hopi; Navajo; Papago; Picuris Pueblo & Pima nations(only a partial listing of the tribes, pueblos & people who helped the author fulfill her dream.) With the invaluable aid of food expert, John Sedlar, chef-owner of Saint Estèphe, she has adapted traditional recipes to our modern palates & kitchens.

While Lois Ellen Frank's Source Guide offered me a number of places to purchase ingredients not found up here in the Northwest, a local food cooperative cooperated by ordering others & with a large Hispanic population carries many of the suggested condiments.

I tried Pozole because hominy has such a primal aroma & flavor - incredible & so simple! We do not, of course, eat anywhere near as elegantly as the photos which present Cornsicles, Arrowheads of Blue Cornmeal Gnocchi or Lamb Stuffed Chiles or Cactus Pad Salad with Fiery Jalapeño Dressing. However, Hohoise Ice or Prickly Pear Ice refresh us up here in our plain bowls just as well!

This clearly written recipe book is graced by Lois Ellen Frank's professional photography of food stylists Susan Southcott's & Norman Stewart's talents which made not only my mouth water. The imagery, both modern & primal, brought into my home the brightness of the Southwestern Sun & the coziness of a nightime hearth.

The Traditional Yellow Piki Bread with Spinach Greens in Tuitsma Sauce was scrumptious; as too the Wild Mint & Lamb Stew; Pumpkin-Piñon Bread; Azafrán Soup; Garbanzo Bean Stew; Spicy Pinto Bean Ravioli with Corn & Chile Cream Sauce; Stuffed Doves(Cornish game hens actually) with Sautéed Purslane fresh from our garden & the Apache Stew(courtesy of our hunting neighbors) simmered over our outdoor fireplace.

The Adobe Bread was heavenly, the Dandelion Salad with Mustard Greens Vinaigrette energizing & the Picuris Indian Bread Pudding with Apricot Sauce - dreamy! What I liked the most was bringing home the sights, smells, tastes & textures of a sunburned country & its people - both in the ingredients I hunted up & Lois Ellen Frank's book.

For a taste of the American Southwest & a glimpse into what has sustained healthy & contented generations, I heartily recommend Lois Ellen Frank's Native American Cooking. While it is out-of-print, lots of places on the Web have second-hand copies, even Amazon.com!

A portion of the proceeds from the sales of Native American Cooking are donated to help the futures of Native American children: The Foundation for Indian Leadership, P. O. Box 5335, Santa Fe, NM 87502. A 501C3 foundation, your contributions are tax deductible.

Lois Ellen Frank is a Los Angeles-based photographer whose work has appeared in major magazines & newspapers such as L.A. Style, New Mexico Magazine & the Los Angeles Times Magazine.
(05/13/01)

Rebecca