Recipe: "Three Sisters Succotash"
Sep. 18th, 2025 11:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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creative_cooksI made this tonight. It's a summer favorite, so I wanted to write up our version.
"Three Sisters Succotash"
Ingredients:
2 ears of corn, kernels cut off (about 2 cups)
1 summer squash, diced (about 2 cups)
1/2 sweet onion, diced (about 3/4 cups)
9 slices of thick-cut bacon, diced
1 cup water (or corncob broth)
1 can lima beans
pinch of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon sweet marjoram
1/4 teaspoon sweet basil
Directions:
Shuck 2 ears of corn. Stand them on end in a large bowl and cut the kernels off the cobs. Set aside the corn kernels.
Rinse the summer squash. Trim off both ends. Dice it. Set aside the diced squash.
Dice half a sweet onion. Set it aside.
Dice 9 slices of thick-cut bacon. This is easy to do with kitchen scissors. Put the bacon bits into a large pot or electric skillet. Cook until they release their grease.
Add the diced onion to the pot. Stir and cook until the bits just start to turn translucent.
Add the corn kernels and diced squash. Stir to combine. Keep stirring and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Pour in 1 cup water (or corncob broth) and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover the pot. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so. The vegetables should all be tender.
Open and drain the can of lima beans. Rinse and drain the lima beans again. Add them to the pot and stir. They don't need to cook, just warm up.
Season the succotash. Add a pinch of sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage, 1/4 teaspoon sweet marjoram, and 1/4 teaspoon sweet basil. Stir, wait a few minutes, then taste. Adjust seasonings as needed.
This makes about 4 servings as a main dish or 8 as a side dish.
Variations:
To make this vegetarian / vegan: Use 1/8 cup sunflower oil to sauté the onion and keep the rest of the vegetables from sticking. If you want the smoky flavor, use a pinch of smoked salt or a few drops of liquid smoke. You might add a bit of dried dulse aka "sea bacon."
To make this pescatarian: Use 1/8 cup sunflower oil to sauté the onion and keep the rest of the vegetables from sticking. Add about a tablespoon of dried crayfish, crushed.
To make this traditional: Use tribal heirloom cultivars of the Three Sisters if you can get them. Use wild onions, wild chives, ramps, or other wild alliums instead of a root onion. Use fatty parts of wild boar, buffalo, duck, goose, or other game instead of bacon; or omit the meat altogether and use 1/8 cup of sunflower oil to sauté the alliums. Stick with traditional seasonings such as sea salt, wild sage, or juniper berries.
Notes:
The Three Sisters are Corn, Squash, and Beans. They appear together through most Eastern Woodlands tribal cultures. Together they contain many nutrients and form a complete protein. All three can be dried for winter storage and they formed the staple food for many of the tribes. The inspiration for this recipe came from Iroquois tradition.
You can use various kinds of sweet corn for this recipe, but traditional sweet corn works better than the modern extra-sweet varieties. It's also possible to use hominy in many Three Sisters recipes.
Also, you can make corncob broth with the leftover corncobs. If you already have corncob broth, you can use that instead of plain water for this recipe.
Most types of summer squash will work here. I like yellow squash, of which straightneck is easier to cut than crookneck. Pattypan should work great too. If you use zucchini, it'll look a lot more green, unless you peel it but then you loose a lot of nutrients. A "gray" or light green zucchini should work, though.
Sweet onions are less hot than regular onions. Vidalia and Walla Walla are a couple of good types. Get something that won't overwhelm the delicate flavors of the corn and squash.
Plain bacon is better than fancy flavors for this recipe, and thick-cut will hold up better than thin-cut when diced. Choose bacon with plenty of fat and a little meat because you need the grease to cook in. You could also use ham skin, fatback, or other fatty meat. Adjust the amount if necessary; when making this as a side dish, you may want a bit less.
Lima beans work great in this recipe and are a classic in succotash. You could also use green beans or fresh shelly beans. Canned beans should be added at the end of cooking. Frozen, thawed ones usually need somewhat longer to soften. Dried beans would need to be precooked, unless you also used dried corn and dried squash, but that's really a different recipe and one for winter rather than summer.
Sea salt has more minerals than table salt, and was a historic trade item available throughout most of Turtle Island.
You can use whatever seasonings you like with these main ingredients. Bear in mind that mild ones will probably work better than strong ones. I used sage because it's traditional plus sweet marjoram and sweet basil because those complement delicate flavors.
"Three Sisters Succotash"
Ingredients:
2 ears of corn, kernels cut off (about 2 cups)
1 summer squash, diced (about 2 cups)
1/2 sweet onion, diced (about 3/4 cups)
9 slices of thick-cut bacon, diced
1 cup water (or corncob broth)
1 can lima beans
pinch of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon sweet marjoram
1/4 teaspoon sweet basil
Directions:
Shuck 2 ears of corn. Stand them on end in a large bowl and cut the kernels off the cobs. Set aside the corn kernels.
Rinse the summer squash. Trim off both ends. Dice it. Set aside the diced squash.
Dice half a sweet onion. Set it aside.
Dice 9 slices of thick-cut bacon. This is easy to do with kitchen scissors. Put the bacon bits into a large pot or electric skillet. Cook until they release their grease.
Add the diced onion to the pot. Stir and cook until the bits just start to turn translucent.
Add the corn kernels and diced squash. Stir to combine. Keep stirring and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Pour in 1 cup water (or corncob broth) and stir. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cover the pot. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so. The vegetables should all be tender.
Open and drain the can of lima beans. Rinse and drain the lima beans again. Add them to the pot and stir. They don't need to cook, just warm up.
Season the succotash. Add a pinch of sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage, 1/4 teaspoon sweet marjoram, and 1/4 teaspoon sweet basil. Stir, wait a few minutes, then taste. Adjust seasonings as needed.
This makes about 4 servings as a main dish or 8 as a side dish.
Variations:
To make this vegetarian / vegan: Use 1/8 cup sunflower oil to sauté the onion and keep the rest of the vegetables from sticking. If you want the smoky flavor, use a pinch of smoked salt or a few drops of liquid smoke. You might add a bit of dried dulse aka "sea bacon."
To make this pescatarian: Use 1/8 cup sunflower oil to sauté the onion and keep the rest of the vegetables from sticking. Add about a tablespoon of dried crayfish, crushed.
To make this traditional: Use tribal heirloom cultivars of the Three Sisters if you can get them. Use wild onions, wild chives, ramps, or other wild alliums instead of a root onion. Use fatty parts of wild boar, buffalo, duck, goose, or other game instead of bacon; or omit the meat altogether and use 1/8 cup of sunflower oil to sauté the alliums. Stick with traditional seasonings such as sea salt, wild sage, or juniper berries.
Notes:
The Three Sisters are Corn, Squash, and Beans. They appear together through most Eastern Woodlands tribal cultures. Together they contain many nutrients and form a complete protein. All three can be dried for winter storage and they formed the staple food for many of the tribes. The inspiration for this recipe came from Iroquois tradition.
You can use various kinds of sweet corn for this recipe, but traditional sweet corn works better than the modern extra-sweet varieties. It's also possible to use hominy in many Three Sisters recipes.
Also, you can make corncob broth with the leftover corncobs. If you already have corncob broth, you can use that instead of plain water for this recipe.
Most types of summer squash will work here. I like yellow squash, of which straightneck is easier to cut than crookneck. Pattypan should work great too. If you use zucchini, it'll look a lot more green, unless you peel it but then you loose a lot of nutrients. A "gray" or light green zucchini should work, though.
Sweet onions are less hot than regular onions. Vidalia and Walla Walla are a couple of good types. Get something that won't overwhelm the delicate flavors of the corn and squash.
Plain bacon is better than fancy flavors for this recipe, and thick-cut will hold up better than thin-cut when diced. Choose bacon with plenty of fat and a little meat because you need the grease to cook in. You could also use ham skin, fatback, or other fatty meat. Adjust the amount if necessary; when making this as a side dish, you may want a bit less.
Lima beans work great in this recipe and are a classic in succotash. You could also use green beans or fresh shelly beans. Canned beans should be added at the end of cooking. Frozen, thawed ones usually need somewhat longer to soften. Dried beans would need to be precooked, unless you also used dried corn and dried squash, but that's really a different recipe and one for winter rather than summer.
Sea salt has more minerals than table salt, and was a historic trade item available throughout most of Turtle Island.
You can use whatever seasonings you like with these main ingredients. Bear in mind that mild ones will probably work better than strong ones. I used sage because it's traditional plus sweet marjoram and sweet basil because those complement delicate flavors.
