National Resource Center for Alaska Native Elders
Alaska Traditional Kitchen Recipes
Quick Links: Bison Sausage Stuffed Sweet Potato | Black Currant Sorbet | Dairy-limited Bison Stroganoff | Fish Ice Cream | Greek-Style Moose Meatballs | Honey Sage Venison Sausage | Honey Broiled Salmon | Pickled Fireweed | Salmon Cakes | Teryaki Grilled Salmon | Teryaki Moose Roast | White Fish Stew
A comprehensive list of the recipes and instructional videos for traditional foods prepared by The Alaska Traditional Kitchen.
Bison Sausage Stuffed Sweet Potato
In this episode, Indigenous Chef Flora Deacon works with a traditional food near and dear to her heart, bison. This traditional food is a significant source of protein and is low in fat and sodium.
Black Currant Sorbet
In this episode, Indigenous Chef Flora Deacon uses black currants to create a refreshing, tasty treat (see recipe below). Black currants are native to Alaska and are a good source of vitamin C, fiber, and antioxidants.
Dairy-limited Bison Stroganoff
Historically, wood bison roamed the Innoko River area, but they disappeared by 1900, possibly from overhunting during Alaska's gold rush or from other factors that are not known. Raymond Dutchman, a 95-year-old Athabascan elder from Shageluk, does not remember ever seeing bison in the Innoko. As a rule, indigenous people, like Mr. Dutchman, used practices that maintained food sources and safeguarded their sustainability.
Fish Ice Cream
In this episode, Indigenous Chef Flora Deacon and her sister, Janet, prepare Vanhgiq (roughly pronounced vun-khik or vuhng-ik). Vanhgiq is the Deg'itan Athabascan term for fish ice cream. It may also be recognized as Akutaq (Yup'ik), Akutuq (I帽upiaq), or Agutuk. This dish is a traditional food shared among Athabascan, Yup'ik, and I帽upiaq cultures. Traditionally, Vanhgiq is made with whipped fat/blubber or tallow from wild game (such as moose or caribou) or marine mammals (such as walrus, seal, or seal oil). With the introduction of commodity foods, shortening became a popular fat substitute; however, it is not nutrient dense like traditional fats. For this recipe, the Kitchen was unable to source traditional fats, so locally sourced beef fat was used instead. Janet and Flora rendered the beef fat to make tallow, which proved to be an excellent substitute.
Greek-Style Moose Meatballs
This recipe combines a traditional Alaskan ingredient with a traditional Greek-style preparation, as well as ingredients. These meatballs are great served solely with the sauce or in a bowl with veggies and rice.
Honey Sage Venison Sausage
At around 100 pounds, blacktail deer is one of Alaska鈥檚 smallest food animal prized in Southeast communities and Kodiak Island. Its meat is very mild tasting. I have a Tlingit friend in Juneau who regularly posts pictures of her deer stew. I asked her what traditional venison dishes her family has always prepared. She says they鈥檝e always had: Deer stew, deer chop suey, deer meat, potatoes and gravy, deer sweet & sour, deer roast, fried deer steak. Her family used their traditional food, venison in more contemporary dishes.
Honey Broiled Salmon
In this episode, Indigenous Chef Flora Deacon creates a mouth watering honey soy salmon dish. Salmon is one of the most widely used traditional foods in Alaska and is a significant source of protein and omega-3 fatty acids. It means so much to so many people throughout Alaska. It is a vital resource and contributes to the well-being of people across our communities. Salmon is a symbol of food security and food sovereignty.
Pickled Fireweed
This recipe is made using the first shoots of fireweed in late spring or early summer. The size of each shoot should be about 2 to 4 inches in height and you should collect enough to fill two wide mouth pint jars. Remember to harvest from more than one area at a time and leave plants so they will continue to grow.
Salmon Cakes
"I grew up along the Innoko river so I remember my parents, every summer we ate fish every day and they would smoke and dry fish every day. So, salmon was really central to our diet and it pretty much stayed that way. Even today if I went home, somebody would always bring us salmon and my mom would also remember to send my sister and I jarred salmon whenever she went home. Or if we went home to visit, we would always leave with a case of salmon. It鈥檚 so central to the way we look at food. It鈥檚 really kind of at the core of where we come from.
-Chef Flora Deacon
Teryaki Grilled Salmon
Fresh salmon was fundamental to my family鈥檚 diet, mainly during the summers. We would have salmon every day. This recipe is break from the plain saut茅ed salmon that we, as kids, got so tired of. This is a quick way to prepare a nice dinner. 鈥淭eriyaki鈥� basically means to brush glaze onto the salmon filets gradually while grilling over medium heat.
Teryaki Moose Roast
This recipe is adapted from Kyle Aguiar鈥檚 Teriyaki Caribou in Instant Pot recipe in the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium鈥檚 (ANTHC) Alaska Native Diabetes Program Foods We Alaskans Enjoy (2nd ed.). Moose and caribou are excellent sources of protein and iron, and they are heart-healthy choices that are naturally low in fat, saturated fat, and sodium. For this recipe, we used a donated moose roast and paired it with locally grown carrots and Magic Molly potatoes, highlighting the value of incorporating traditional and local foods into everyday meals.
White Fish Stew
Indigenous Chef Flora Deacon prepares a hearty whitefish stew. According to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G), "Whitefish are the most abundant group of fish north of the Alaska Range, inhabiting almost every type of river and freshwater habitat in this section of Alaska. Chef Flora states this dish is fairly simple, reflecting the kinds of foods she grew up with. One key difference in this recipe, however, is the addition of tomato sauce. Traditionally, tomatoes weren鈥檛 included in soups鈥攂ut in this version, it adds a new depth of flavor that complements the dish nicely.
