Norwich bulletin., 1916-11-04
NORWICH pUDDNcs NEW LONDON DuMpLNcs

which can be properly made in a sncy, requires a different grain from maize. The minute pudding, so- called, made of rye or buckwheat, is of this kind, justsfying it's name by the haste with which it can be pre- pared.
 Another dish which the Moheean
 Indians taught the English emigrants to make was succotash, a mixture of tender Indian corn and new beans forming a delicious compound. still a fayorite all over New England The newcomers also learned of the natives to bake corn-cakes on the hot hearth, under the ashes. form ing sweet and wholesome bannock; and to pound their parched corn and eat it with milk or molasses This was called in their language, yoke az" and is still prepared by the mem bers of the tribe at Mohegan for their antumnal wigwams at the Mohegan church. Some other tribes used to call this pounded parched corn "nolxehiek,',4 and ;he English sometimes called it s.no- cake Roger Williams, of the Rhode aSland. pianeatlons, refers to it as
 'Nokehick. parched meal, which is a readie, wholesome food."
 the hrst planters were also famous ] for baked beans, and boiled Indian puddings. dishes that have been per- | petuated by their descendants with considerable spirit and -pertinacity, although they have ceased to be pe- culiarly characteristic of the place Miss Caulkins says: 'It has been | claimed that baked beans is not an old English dish; yet from it's preva- | fence in Norwich and some other | places, so soon after the settlement, we. should naturally infer that the em1grants brought with them their They certainly did not find it among the Indians" The beans were put into the oven
 early in the morning, crowned with a | choice portion from the pork barrel.
 and having been kept all day seeth-
 ing and browning, appeared upon the | supper table, hot and juicy, and with ! their respectable accompaniment, the | slashed and crispy pork, gave dignity
 to the best table. This was the uni | Versal Saturday night treat; so that wits would say the inhabita nts knew I when Sunday was coming only by the l previous dish of baked beans; and | that if the usual baking should be at | any time omitted, the ovens would fall in.
 There can be no doubt, the histor-
 ian says, that the name of Bean Hill
 was bestowed on a part of the Town Plot from the prevalence of this Sat
 urday night treat.
 Alas! In those days there was nc
 European War to cause the humble bean of Norwich consumption to be- come an article of luxury, SD that be- cause American beans must help to ward feeding the armies in the field | a quart of beans costs twenty-fi cents.
 l Bean porridge was also in those ] carly days common breakfast dish
 In other places, peas were more
 generally cultivated than beans. In g l list of the principal productions o1
 the Colony, made in 1880, peas are
 mentioned, but not beans. Possibly the inhabitants of Norwich were par tlculaTly prominent in bringing the l latter into common use, and hence them.
 The beans and buildings of Nor
 wlch, were however, only a popular way of representing tables generously
 supplied with substantial food.
 With respect to the puddinas, it i. 1 reported that they were frequent, made of such size and soIidity as tt carry ruin in their path, if the pyra.
 mid chanced to fall.
 History tells that a Sportive Story was current, that on a certain festive occasion cGnical pudding was SC
 in the centre of the table. in monu mental dignity. But, losing it's bal
 ance at the first insertion of tn
 carving knife, it toppled and fell
 knocking down three men. Where upon, the townsmen made a regula tion that hereafter no pudding sIlouk
 consist of more than twenty coomb
 of corn, that IS, about four bushels
 some pudding, even with this re
 striction
 The Norwich puddinas were pIaye.
 by the hun1orists against the Nev
 London dumPlings. The latter, it wa.
 said, were often so large and har,
 that it was necessary to chip then
 up with a pfck-axe. The remains O } a great dinner being one time throw
 into the river near the town, the Isl ]. Of Rocks, a noted fishing ledge in tn
 harbor was formed, and is still Cl Miss Cau1kins' time) called by thei
 neighbors, The New London Dump lins.
 ) Probably this legend refers to tn I site of the lighthouse off the Fisher
 Island shore, and may be new t l many in this city, as we'll as in Ney ! London.
 , THE DICTAGRAPH.