Courtesy of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian - “The Mitsitam Cafe Cookbook” by Executive Chef Richard Hetzler

Author and executive chef Richard Hetzler shares recipes for 90 dishes with colorful photography and archival photographs of similar recipes being prepared by the Native peoples whose cooking inspires the popular Mitsitam Cafe at the museum in Washington, D.C.

“Native food reconnects us to the land,” Hetzler says. “Simple, abundant and—most of all—flavorful, it is life-giving and a way of life.”

From roasted venison and Peruvian ceviche to pork pibil tacos and quinoa salad, the new cookbook offers the café’s modern perspective on foods that have been raised and harvested or hunted and gathered from the wild in North and South America for thousands of years. Mitsitam (mitt-SEE-tom) means “let’s eat” in the Piscataway and Delaware languages.

Hetzler has said that before the museum’s opening in September 2004, there was a debate about what food the cafe should serve. At the time most of the restaurants in the Smithsonian Institution’s 19 museums, galleries and National Zoological Park served hamburgers and hotdogs, he said. But this museum cafe would be an extension of the American Indian museum.

Hetzler was on the team that developed the groundbreaking concept for the cafe: serving indigenous foods that are staples of the five regions: Northern Woodlands, South America, Meso American, the Great Plains, and the Northwest Coast.  At lunchtime snaking lines of intrigued diners crane to read menu boards and ask about regional specialties.

The cookbook contains a glossary of Native ingredients, as well as a list of websites and specialty markets from which these foods can be ordered. Hetzler’s step-by-step instructions make cooking even unfamiliar ingredients doable.

“Every recipe in the book has been home-tested,” Hetzler told Jess Righthand in a blog on Smithsonian.com. “The staff at the museum each took three or four recipes home, made them and critiqued them, and we adjusted the recipes. One of the pushes behind the book was to really find and make recipes that any person could make. You don’t have to be a chef to recreate any of it.”

Recipes in the book include:

• Cedar-Planked Fire-Roasted Salmon
• Smoked Trout and Dandelion Green Sandwiches
• Corn and Chocolate Tamales
• Fiddlehead Fern Salad
• Squash Blossom Soup
• Buffalo Chili and Fry Bread
• Sugarcane and Mint Agua Fresca

And with each recipe, the book invites the reader to understand more about Native peoples and how they harvest the ingredients and what these ingredients mean to their cultures.

The book is available at bookstores nationwide, at Amazon.com and through the museum stores at the National Museum of the American Indian. To order go to www.smithsonianstore.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=154781&categoryId=3184&parentCategoryId=3175

To view a video discussion between museum Director Kevin Gover and Mitsitam Cafe Executive Chef Richard Hetzler about Native American culinary traditions, go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5AxLfAuGiQ.

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The American Indian News Service

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Serves 4

Photo by Ellen Dobrowolski, Métis, and Glenna Augborne, Diné, of the National Museum of the American Indian - The buffalo and duck burger by Executive Chef Richard Hetzler is one of the most popular menu items this summer at the Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe in the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Duck confit is the secret ingredient in this buffalo burger from Chef Richard Hetzler’s summer menu at the popular Mitsitam Cafe in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Hetzler combines a homemade confit to moisten and add richness to flavorful ground buffalo. Fresh herbs, roasted tomatoes and Dijonaise sauce complement and amplify the taste of a unique burger that draws on two different indigenous American meats.

—Kara Briggs

INGREDIENTS

For burger

1 3/4 lbs. ground buffalo meat

8 oz. duck confit (see recipe below)

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 medium shallot finely chopped

¼ tsp. fresh thyme finely chopped

½ tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped

2 oz. ground duck fat, if available

3 oz. baby lettuce

4 slices aged cheddar cheese

4 brioche rolls (or roll of your choice)

1 small onion sliced thin and caramelized

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 Roma or other plum tomatoes cut into halves and roasted (can substitute sundried tomatoes packed in oil)

For homemade confit

4 duck legs

1 clove garlic

1 clove shallot

2 sprigs of thyme

2 sprigs rosemary

8 oz. olive oil or vegetable oil

For Dijonaise sauce

1 poblano pepper, roasted and peeled

1 chipotle pepper, diced

2 tsp. red wine vinegar

1 tbsp. Dijon mustard

4 tbsp. mayonnaise

1 tsp. Creole or whole grain mustard

1 oz. roasted garlic

To make confit

1. Place duck legs in roasting pan with all confit ingredients and cover.
2. Place in a 325-degree oven for three hours. Remove duck legs from oven, being careful not to burn yourself with the hot oil. Place on a baking sheet to cool.
3. When meat is cool, pull off bone and shred meat with your fingers, then season with salt and pepper.
4. Cool duck meat in refrigerator until use.

For Dijonaise mustard sauce

1. Place all Dijonaise sauce ingredients in a blender. Blend well.
2. Season with salt and pepper.

To make burger

1. Place cut tomatoes in 300-degree oven for 1½ to 2 hours until semi-dry. Remove and cool.
2. Caramelize onions in saute pan with a little oil and set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, mix ground buffalo with confit and if available duck fat, saving lettuce, tomatoes, and caramelized onions for later. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Form into four patties and refrigerate for at least half an hour before grilling.
5. Cook on grill to desired doneness, and top with aged cheddar cheese.

To build burger

1. Lightly toast both sides of bun and spread with about 1 oz. of Dijonaise sauce.
2. Place baby greens, then tomato, on the bottom of the bun and place meat on top.
3. Heap caramelized onions on the meat, put top of the roll in place; serve and enjoy.

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By Richard Hetzler, executive chef of the Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe

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Photo by Glenna Augborne - The Mitsitam Cafe's Mexican Hot Chocolate

Using arbol chiles and dried poblano peppers to season the chocolate, as ancient Mayans and Aztecs did at the time of the conquistadors’ arrival, Hetzler blends the hot with the sweet to make this indigenously inspired drinking chocolate.

For summer cookouts and late nights watching fireworks, try this twist on an old favorite. Or taste it all year round at the Mitsitam Cafe in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

The Mitsitam Cafe’s Mexican hot chocolate recipe

Serves 4-5

1 gallon milk

½ stick Mexican or regular cinnamon

3 arbol chiles

1 pasilla pepper, or dried poblano

1 cup sugar

3 pieces Mexican chocolate

1 cup cocoa powder

To prepare:

Heat milk with cinnamon and dried peppers. Once milk has scalded, remove cinnamon and dried peppers, and remove from heat. Break up Mexican chocolate into small pieces. Whisk in sugar, cocoa powder and Mexican chocolate pieces. Place the combined chocolate milk on heat, and whisk until it simmers. Serve immediately.

Download as a Word document: Mitsitam Cafe Mexican Hot Chocolate Recipe

The American Indian News Service is produced for the National Museum of the American Indian by journalist Kara Briggs, Yakama/Snohomish. All content is free to publish or post. Email her at editor@americanindiannews.org. Visit the American Indian News Service at www.americanindiannews.org.

Photo by Leonda Levchuk, Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian Cherry-dusted sea scallops from the Mitsitam Cafe at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian.

Cherry-dusted sea scallops, with roasted-garlic potato hash and cherry reduction, is an elegant dinner that can be made year round, but is never more suitable than in the sweet months between cherry blossoms and cherries ripening.

Cherry-dusted sea scallops, roasted garlic and potato hash with cherry reduction, serves 4

Ingredients

12 sea scallops

1 cup dried cherries

3 oz. olive oil

2-3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, diced small

4 cloves roasted garlic

3 tbsp. cornstarch

Note:  For roasted garlic, place garlic cloves with about 2 tbsp. vegetable oil on a roasting pan in a 350-degree oven for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

For sauce

2 cups cherry juice

½ cup red wine vinegar

½ cup sugar

To prepare cherry dust

1. Lightly coat dried cherries with cornstarch and place in a 200-degree oven overnight, about 12-14 hours.
2. Remove from oven and let cool completely at room temperature.
3. Puree in coffee grinder and set aside. (Note: If cherries still feel like they have a lot of moisture in them, dry for longer in oven.)

To prepare sauce

1. In a medium sauce pan, add in all ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce by three-fourths and cool completely (should be the consistency of syrup; if too thick thin with more cherry juice).

To prepare potato hash

1. Heat a medium non-stick sauté pan with 2 tbsp. of olive oil.
2. Mash the roasted garlic in the saute pan with a wooden spoon or spatula.
3. Add diced potatoes and sauté until potatoes are golden brown and soft through.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To prepare scallops

1. Heat a medium non-stick sauté pan with 1 tbsp. of olive oil.
2. Season the scallops with salt and pepper, and lightly dust with cherry dust. Sear scallops for 2 to 2 1/2 minutes per side.
3. Remove scallops from pan. Let rest for 1 minute before plating up.

To plate up (7-inch round plate or a plate of your choosing)

1. Using a 1 ½-inch ring mold in the center of the plate, fill with potato hash and pack down with a spoon.
2. Lightly drizzle about 1½ ounces of the cherry sauce on the plate. Then place the seared scallops as if on the face of a clock at four, eight and 12. Serve warm.

Courtesy of the American Indian News Service

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By Katherine Fogden. New tastes are part of the "Power of Chocolate," a festival, which will be celebrated at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian on Feb. 13-14.

Mayans transplanted the cacao tree from the rainforest to their villages and fermented, dried and roasted its seeds to concoct a decidedly unsweet drink involving chilies and lots of froth.

The Aztec were drinking the bitter brew when the Spanish Conquistadors arrived in the 1520s. Although the Spaniards didn’t like the beverage, they hauled the cacao seeds back to Europe. A century later, when someone thought to add sugar—a luxury the ancient Mayans didn’t have—this indigenous American flavor became a lasting worldwide sensation.

Native ties to making chocolate continue into the 21^st century via Bedré Fine Chocolates, a company the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma bought in 2000. Bedré, sold in Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdale’s department stores, is particularly proud to provide the guitar-shaped chocolates to three of the Seminole Nation’s Hard Rock© hotels. Guests find the delicious products of the only Native American-owned chocolate company in the United States on their pillows.

At the Smithsonian’s Mitsitam Cafe, Hetzler likes to cook chocolate the old-school way, though with a twist. His Mexican hot chocolate is both sweet and spiced with pasilla peppers. And the Mitsitam’s Chocolate and Coconut Soup draws out the chocolate’s distinctive flavor with coconut milk, onions and pasilla negro chile peppers.

Hetzler will demonstrate cooking with chocolate during the museum’s “Power of Chocolate” festival on Feb. 13-14. The festival will travel back to the roots of chocolate with Bolivian cacao farmers and presentations about the history, mythology and art surrounding its origins.

Mitsitam Cafe shares the flavor, originally sipped with chilies by the Mayans, with two quick, tasty recipes.

The Mitsitam Cafe’s Chocolate and Coconut Soup, garnished with cocoa-dusted plantains

Serves 3-4

• 1 medium white onion, diced
• 2 medium shallots, diced
• 3 dried pasilla negro chile peppers
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 14-oz. can of coconut milk
• 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate (74 percent)

For garnish:

• 1 green plantain
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• ¼ cup sugar

To prepare:

For the soup, sauté onions, shallots and the dried chiles until translucent. Add cream and half-and-half; bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Whisk until blended. Add coconut milk. Puree in blender. Season lightly with salt.

For garnish, peel a green plantain and slice fruit into thin discs. Lightly deep fry until crispy. Stir together cocoa and sugar, and use the mixture to lightly coat the fried plantain chips. Scatter the cocoa-coated chips atop each serving of soup.

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By Kara Briggs
American Indian News Service

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