Oklahoma: Melting Pot of Immigrant Cuisines : Heritage: Sooner State cooking mirrors the diverse mix of peoples who settled here in the 1890s.

By the time Oklahoma became a state in 1907, the cooking of this expansive land was as colorful and complex as a crazy quilt. Its rich flavors reflected the many heritages of the people who settled here--the European immigrants who came to farm or to work the coal mines; the cowboys and ranchers who ventured in from other Southwestern states; the educated Yankees who came to teach, to bank or to practice law or medicine; the former slaves who came seeking an easier freedom, and the American Indians who had been here all along.

Everyone who came helped season the state’s cookery, which evolved into a curious combination of international and regional cuisines--Czechoslovakian, German, Spanish, French, Belgian, Irish, Greek, Mexican, Native American, Cajun, Creole and New England.

The food of Oklahoma has been a course of study for Linda Kennedy Rosser, an enthusiastic cook and writer. For more than a decade, Rosser has hunted for recipes and reminiscences of her state’s turn-of-the-century cooking. Her interest was piqued when she began writing a cookbook for the Oklahoma Science and Arts Museum. The book, “Pioneer Cookery Around Oklahoma,” combines recipes, family stories, historical anecdotes and warm memories of days gone by.

“I intended to find out what the pioneers ate,” Rosser says, “how they prepared their foods, how limited their supplies were and how many hardships they suffered.” She spent 18 months gathering such information from diaries, old newspapers and old cookbooks. It was the stories about the recipes that most interested Rosser and helped illuminate the activities of women and their families during the early days in her state.

Before the 19th Century, few Americans were aware of Oklahoma. But the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought the land under United States control and Oklahoma began to change forever.

Until then, Oklahoma was the domain of American Indians--the Osage, Kiowa, Comanche and Apache. Soon after the Louisiana Purchase, the federal government forced five more tribes from the eastern states--the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole--to settle there. This part of Oklahoma became known as the Indian Territory.

Throughout the 1800s, white settlers continued to press into American Indian land.

According to the Homestead Act, for $10, any man or woman could acquire 80 to 160 acres of land, provided he or she was a native-born or naturalized citizen (or intending to become naturalized) and promised to live on the land and cultivate it for five years.

“There are stories of people making the run in buggies and on bicycles,” Rosser says. It was men who most often made the run; they frequently came with few supplies. When wives, mothers, sisters and daughters joined them, they set up kitchens with their pots, pans and what limited staples they brought with them.

The nearly 70,000 square miles of Oklahoma Territory kept these homesteaders distanced from one another. In isolation, they put up tents or built cabins, soddies and, occasionally, grand frame houses. Beset by drought, wind, storms and plagues of insects, the pioneers battled alone to provide for their families. They hunted, fished and found wild greens, such as sheep sorrel and buffalo peas. They ate quail, prairie chicken, squirrel, rabbit and occasionally venison. They picked persimmon and pecans.

But the land was not always generous. Often, there was little fresh food besides root vegetables--potatoes, sweet potatoes and turnips. In times of drought, cows starved and the supply of milk dried up. Yet Oklahoma cooks worked even limited ingredients with ingenuity.

Like the settlers of the Eastern states, they learned to make myriad dishes from cornmeal, a few meat bones and salt pork. They scraped together meals from meager supplies, dining day after day on biscuits and bacon. They warmed themselves with thin soups richly flavored with the bones of what little game they could find.

Rosser’s research uncovered many a tale of hardship and hunger. She had expected that, she says; what was surprising was the way of life in early Oklahoma City. Life in this bustling community in the center of the state was quite civilized. Oklahoma City had been settled overnight in the 1889 land run; by the summer of that year, the city had a population of more than 5,000. By the turn of the century, it boasted hotels, restaurants, dance halls, bakeries, ice-cream parlors, confectioneries and theaters--all connected by a streetcar line.

City leaders established schools, churches, newspapers and libraries. They attended the theater, joined literary societies and founded charitable organizations. They had exuberant social calenders of balls and dinner parties, to which they wore the latest fashions. The well-to-do had cooks who passed their days preparing meats with rich gravies, breads and extravagant desserts.

“What makes Oklahoma such a fascinating study,” Rosser says, “is the combination of the rustic pioneers who lived in dugouts, the rural pioneers who came because they wanted farmland and the sophisticated pioneers who settled in the towns.”

Rosser’s book is a diverse collection of recipes she uncovered. All of the recipes and many of the anecdotes are printed just as Rosser found them, so that the words of the pioneers could tell their own story.

The recipes tell how to cook squirrel, prepare potted venison, broil quail and make sourdough. There are recipes for bean pie, beef stew, cornmeal cakes, sugar cookies and dainty pastries.

The stories Rosser found in diaries and heard from the pioneers’ grandchildren tell of the hardships the settlers faced and the pleasures they knew. The same stories reveal the joys that innovative cooks brought to their lives, even in the dreariest of times.

INDIAN JACK

1 cup chopped green peppers

1 cup chopped onions

2 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Pepper

1/2 cup vinegar

1/2 cup cold water

At least 3 hours before serving, combine green peppers, onions, tomatoes, sugar, salt, pepper to taste, vinegar and cold water in bowl. Cover and chill. With slotted spoon, spoon mixture over cooked vegetables such as fried okra or steamed green beans. Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

BUCKAROO BEANS

1 pound dried beans

8 1/2 cups water

1/2 pound salt pork or ham, diced

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 small green pepper, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

Salt

Rinse and drain beans. Combine with 6 cups water in large pan. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain beans. Rinse and drain again. Return to saucepan.

Add remaining 2 1/2 cups water. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until tender, adding more water if necessary. Brown salt pork in skillet and add to beans. Stir in tomatoes, onions, green pepper, garlic, brown sugar, chili powder, mustard and oregano. Season to taste with salt. Simmer, uncovered, 1 hour. Makes 12 servings.

CORNMEAL BISCUITS

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles, undrained

Stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cheese. Make well in center of mixture and set aside.

Stir together buttermilk and undrained chiles. Add buttermilk mixture all at once to cheese mixture. Stir just until moistened.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Quickly knead dough by gently folding and pressing dough 10 to 12 strokes or until nearly smooth. Pat dough to 1/2-inch thickness. Cut with floured 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter, dipping cutter into flour between cuts.

Place biscuits on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve hot with butter. Makes 10 to 12 servings.

SPICED MARBLE CAKE

1 cup butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Dash ground cloves

Dash ground mace

Beat together butter and sugar in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at time, beating well after each addition. Stir together flour and baking powder. Add flour mixture alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Spoon 1/3 batter into medium mixing bowl. Stir in cocoa powder, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves and mace.

Spoon 1/2 plain mixture into well-greased 10-inch tube pan. Spoon in chocolate mixture, then remaining plain mixture. Swirl gently with knife to marble batters. Bake at 350 degrees about 45 minutes or until tester inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Loosen sides of cake and remove from pan. Cool thoroughly on wire rack. Makes 16 servings.