A wonderful document, ARCTIC DAWN -- The Journeys of Samuel Hearne, is to
be found in its entirety at http://web.idirect.com/~hland/sh/title.html

This is, essentially, the journals of an 18th Century Englishman as he
explored the Canadian wilderness.

Here is some fascinating stuff about diet and cooking from this journal.
Note especially the use of an animal's stomach as a cooking implement.  The
phrasing is a little hard to follow in places because Hearne's 18th-Century
King's English is a bit different from modern English (I believe "parts of
generation" refers to genitalia, for example) but hopefully others will
find these observations as interesting as did I.  (Thanks to David Chapman
for supplying this originally to me):


From: A Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort in Hudson's Bay to the Northern
Ocean in the years 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772; Hearne, Samuel, 1745-1792,
Strahan and Cadell, London, England, 1795.

13 July, 1771: ... Seeing some woods to the Westward, and judging that the
current of the rivulet ran that way, we concluded that the main river lay
in that direction, and was not very remote from our present situation.  We
therefore directed our course by the side of it, when the Indians met with
several very fine buck deer, which they destroyed; and as that part we now
traversed afforded plenty of good firewood, we put up, and cooked the most
comfortable meal to which we had sat down for some months.  As such
favourable opportunities of indulging the appetite happen but seldom, it is
a general rule with the Indians, which we did not neglect, to exert every
art in dressing our food which the most refined skill in Indian cookery has
been able to invent, and which consists chiefly in boiling, broiling, and
roasting: but of all the dishes cooked by those people, a BEEATEE, as it is
called in their language, is certainly the most delicious, at least for a
change, that can be prepared from a deer only, without any other
ingredient.  It is a kind of haggis, made with the blood, a good quantity
of fat shred small, some of the tenderest of the flesh, together with the
heart and lungs cut, or more commonly torn into small shivers; all which is
put into the stomach, and roasted, by being suspended before the fire by a
string.  Care must be taken that it does not get too much heat at first, as
the bag would thereby be liable to be burnt, and the contents to be let
out.  When it is sufficiently done, it will emit steam, in the same manner
as a fowl or a joint of meat; which is as much as to say, Come, eat me now:
and if it be taken in time, before the blood and other contents are too
much done, it is certainly a most delicious morsel, even without pepper,
salt, or any other seasoning.

After regaling ourselves in the most plentiful manner, and taking a few
hours rest, (for it was almost impossible to sleep for the muskettoes,) we
once more set forward, directing our course to the North West by West; and
after walking about nine or ten miles, arrived at that long wished-for
 spot, the Copper-mine River.
...

January, 1772
....

The flesh of the buffalo is exceedingly good eating; and so entirely free
from any disagreeable smell or taste, that it resembles beef as nearly as
possible: the flesh of the cows, when some time gone with calf, is esteemed
the finest; and the young calves, cut out of their bellies, are reckoned a
great delicacy indeed.

...
The tongue is also very delicate; and what is most extraordinary, when the
beasts are in the poorest state, which happens regularly at certain
seasons, their tongues are then very fat and fine; some say fatter than
when they are in the best order; the truth of which, I will not confirm.
...

Though the flesh of the moose is esteemed by most Indians for both its
flavour and substance, yet the Northern Indians of my crew did not reckon
either it or the flesh of the buffalo substantial food.  This I should
think entirely proceeded from prejudice, especially with respect to the
moose; but the flesh of the buffalo, though so fine to the eye, and
pleasing to the taste, is so light and easy of digestion, as not to be
deemed substantial food by any Indian in this country, either Northern or
Southern.
...

Chapter IX: A Short Description of the Northern Indians, also a farther
Account of their Country, Manufactures, Customs, &c.
...

The extreme poverty of those Indians in general will not permit one half of
them to purchase brass kettles from the Company; so that they are still
under the necessity of continuing their original mode of boiling their
victuals in large upright vessels made of birch-rind.  As those vessels
will not admit being exposed to the fire, the Indians, to supply the
defect, heat stones red-hot and put them into the water, which soon
occasions it to boil; and by having a constant succession of hot stones,
they may continue the process as long as it is necessary.  This method of
cooking, though very expeditious, is attended with one great evil; the
victuals which are thus prepared are full of sand: for the stones thus
heated, and then immerged in the water, are not only liable to shiver to
pieces, but many of them being of a coarse gritty nature, fall into a mass
of gravel in the kettle, which cannot be prevented from mixing with the
victuals which are boiled in it.  Besides this, they have several methods
of preparing their food, such as roasting it by a string, broiling it, &c;
but these need no farther description.

The most remarkable dish among them, as well as all the other tribes of
Indians of those parts, both Northern and Southern, is blood mixed with the
half-digested food which is found in the deer's stomach or paunch, and
boiled up with a sufficient quantity of water, to make it of the
consistence of pease-pottage.  Some fat and scraps of tender flesh are also
shred small and boiled with it.  To render this dish more palatable, they
have a method of mixing the blood with the contents of the stomach in the
paunch itself, and hanging it up in the heat and smoke of the fire for
several days; which puts the whole mass into a state of fermentation, and
gives it such an agreeable acid taste, that were it not for prejudice, it
might be eaten my those who have the nicest palates.  It is true, some
people with delicate stomachs would not be easily persuaded to partake of
this dish, especially if they saw it dressed; for most of the fat which is
boiled in it is first chewed by the men and boys, in order to break the
globules that contain the fat; by which means it all boils out, and mixes
with the broth; whereas, if it were permitted to remain as it came from the
knife, it would still be in lumps, like suet.  To do justice, however, it
their cleanliness in this particular, I must observe, that they are very
careful that neither old people with bad teeth, nor young children, have
any hand in preparing this dish.  At first, I must acknowledge that I was
rather shy in partaking of this mess, but when I was sufficiently convinced
of the truth of the above remark, I no longer made any scruple, but always
thought it exceedingly good.

The stomach of no other large animal beside the deer is eaten by any of the
Indians that border on Hudson's Bay.  In Winter, when the deer feed on fine
white moss, the contents of the stomach is so much esteemed by them, that I
have often seen them sit round a deer where it was killed, and eat it warm
out of the paunch.  In Summer the deer feed more coarsely, and therefore
this dish, if it deserve that appellation, is then not so much in favour.
The young calves, fawns, beaver, &c. taken out of the bellies of their
mothers are reckoned most delicate food; and I am not the only European who
heartily joins in pronouncing them the greatest dainties that can be eaten.
 Many gentlemen who have served with me at Churchill, as well as at York
Fort, and the inland settlement, will readily agree with me in asserting,
that no one who ever got the better of prejudice so far as to taste of
these young animals, but has immediately become excessively fond of them;
and the same may be said of young geese, ducks &c. in the shell.  In fact,
is almost become a proverb in the Northern settlements, that whosoever
wishes to know what is good, must live with the Indians.

The parts of generation belonging to any beast they kill, both male and
female, are always eaten by the men and boys; and though these parts,
particularly in the males, are generally very tough, they are not, on any
account, to be cut with an edge-tool, but torn to pieces with the teeth;
and when any part of them proves too tough to be masticated, it is thrown
into the fire and burnt.  For the Indians believe firmly, that if a dog
should eat any part of them, it would have the same effect on their success
in hunting, that a woman crossing their hunting track at an improper period
would have.  The same ill-success is supposed also to attend them if a
woman eat any of those parts.

They are also remarkably fond of the womb of the buffalo, elk, deer, &c.
which they eagerly devour without washing, or any other process but barely
stroking out the contents.  This, in some of the larger animals, and
especially when they are some time gone with young, needs no description to
make it sufficiently disgusting; and yet I have known some in the Company's
service remarkably fond of the dish, though I am not one of the number.
The womb of the beaver and deer is well enough, but that of the moose and
buffalo is very rank, and truly disgusting.*

* The Indian method of preparing this unaccountable dish is by throwing the
filthy bag across a pole directly over the fire, the smoke of which, they
say, much improves it, by taking off the original flavour; and when any of
it is to be cooked, a large flake, like as much tripe, is cut off and
boiled for a few minutes; but the many large nodes with which the inside of
the womb is studded, make it abominable.  Those nodes are as incapable of
being divested of moisture as the skin of a live eel; but when boiled, much
resemble, both in shape and colour, the yolk of an egg, and are so called
by the natives, and as eagerly devoured by them.

The tripe of the buffalo is exceedingly good, and the Indian method of
cooking it infinitely superior to that practised in Europe.  When
opportunity will permit, they wash it tolerably clean in cold water, strip
off all the honey-comb, and only boil it about half, or three-quarters of
an hour: in that time it is sufficiently done for eating; and though rather
tough than what is prepared in England, yet is exceedingly pleasant to the
taste, and must be much more nourishing that tripe that has been soked and
scrubbed in many hot waters, and then boiled for ten or twelve hours.
The lesser stomach, or, as some call it, the many-folds, either of buffalo,
moose, or deer, are usually eaten raw, and are very good; but that of the
moose, unless great care be taken in washing it, is rather bitter, owing to
the nature of their food.

The kidneys of both the moose and buffalo are usually eaten raw by the
Southern Indians; for no sooner is one of these beasts killed, than the
hunter rips up its belly, thrusts in his arm, snatches out the kidneys, and
eats them warm, before the animal is quite dead.  They also at times put
their mouths to the wound the ball has made, and suck the blood; which they
say quenches thirst, and is very nourishing.