Culture Shock-Eskimo Ice Cream (Bethel, Emmonak: house, rent, school)

[stiffnecked]

When I lived in Barrow it was made often but the older folks used something different, not Crisco, but I can't remember what it was. Almost always I saw it made with blueberries.

[Woof]

Lots of bakeries use crisco and sugar beaten together for a cheap cake icing .... I could see how even fish might taste good with cake icing if you add some berries .... I'll bet it's better without the fish though, just with berries ..... several kinds of berries.

[Blueberry]

I prefer it without the fish. However, the article in the OP said to mix equal parts of Crisco and sugar. I don't think I've ever tasted fish akutaq made with that much sugar. Also, once it gets warm and separates, it doesn't look too appealing.

The article also left out a key ingredient and the proper way to mix it. I can't share the secret, though, because as a gasak/Caucasian I'm not supposed to know how to make akutaq.

Another radical concept us gasaks do is freeze akutaq just like you would ice cream. One time, I offered the neighborhood kids some akutaq and they looked at me cross-eyed when they found out it was frozen. The boy who lived across the street confirmed that frozen akutaq is really good (his gusak dad is the one who started freezing it and told me to try it), so they all decided to give it a try. They decided I knew how to make really good akutaq! (Shhh, don't tell the Eskimos! )

I've never seen akutaq sold in restaurants.

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Hey, Warptman, should we tell them about mouse nest akutaq?

[Arcticthaw]

Blueberry should write a book on life in Bush Alaska. What life is really like and the cultural subtlties. Or somehting like that.

[warptman]

I never did care about "mouse food" akutaq. After all, its been in a rodent's mouth. That is kinda mean going out on the field and taking a winter's supply of food from one animal. I heard it tastes good, but not for me. I love the fish akutaq and my brother inlaw makes a killer salmon berry only akutaq with minimal crisco. Plain blueberry akutaq is great, too. For fun, I like giving nephews/nieces cranberry akutaq to them, the looks on their faces is priceless!

[Xa'at]

Okay, I've never had akutaq, but now reading this I really want to try it.
Can you guys describe the flavor to me? Does it taste anything like gusaq Ice Cream?
I wonder if anywhere in Juneau sells it?

[warptman]

It is hard to explain the flavor and it doesn't taste like gussak ice cream. You really don't taste crisco because of the berries, don't really taste the fish if you have that type. You can goto this site, it has a great explanation to what is involved.

Akutaq – Eskimo Ice Cream

It is an acquired taste. Most people think of it as gross because how it is made, but this stuff is very good. I think I'm going to call my mom in the morning and have her make a batch and I think we have whitefish in the freezer. If you do make it with whitefish, make sure you go thru the meat of the fish to make sure that there is no bones inside the meat when you whip it into the akutaq.

[warptman]

Heres another site that was made by a student upriver...

Akutaq

[warptman]

And how to pronounce some of the Yupik words. I'm 3/4 Yupik and 1/4 Russian from my Dad's side of the family.

Lesson One words

[Xa'at]

Bummer, I can't listen to the pronunciations, they're not compatible with my os.

So, warpt, how much (if any) Yup'ik do you speak? Did I tell you that my minor is in Tlingit language? I don't know a lot so far, but hoping that will improve over time. I've always been fascinated by native languages because they are so fundamentally different than English. It pains me to see how we are allowing these beautiful languages to die out...