Elk Bullet Soup

Bullet soup reminds me of my childhood when my parents were still together and the life we lived along the Rocky Mountain range in Alberta. There is nothing gourmet about Bullet soup its simplistic Cree comfort food. There are many different versions of bullet soup among Cree tribes but the bullet soup my grandmother made consisted of ground wild meat such as deer or moose seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked with onions and potatoes. It was a family tradition of ours that we cooked and ate Bullet soup New Year's Day. 

Although bullet soup is a simplistic dish with only three main ingredients, plus a little flour, and some salt and pepper, it was not easy recreating the dish. I asked my mother to help me cook the first batch of bullet soup, she was eager to help and wanted to cook it on New Years Day. We used ground hamburger and too much water. The soup tasted of disappointment and left us feeling empty. We never finished the soup instead we threw it out. So much for recreating a family tradition that was long ago forgotten. 

Recreating bullet soup that my grandmother use to make meant digging up memories of another time and another life before my parents moved us away from the Rockies into a bigger town and eventually they divorced. I was my mother's daughter, not his, so when she left so did I. I had to remember that I called my step-father's parents my grandparents. So I began to remember my grandmother's kitchen. My grandparents were the last of their generation to use a wooden stove. I could see my grandmother standing over the wood burning stove, her hands covered with flour as she drops the seasoned meatballs made of deer or moose into a large stock pot, with steam swirling about her arm. My grandfather, my dad and uncle are sitting at the table waiting and watching while my mother and my aunt assist my grandmother. Everyone is talking, smoking and laughing. 

With those memories at hand I gave it another try and this time I thought of my grandmother and focused on her flour covered hands and decided to use less water, I also decided to embellish the recipe by adding carrots and celery and using the bone marrow butter that I made to season the soup. With some prayers and some patience the bullet soup was a hit with my mother and I. It gave us the comfort we were seeking and as we ate the soup it brought back the memories we tried to forget of a life lived long ago with my step-father and his family.  Some memories in spite of the pain are really worth remembering. 

Elk Bullet Soup 

I used 3 lbs of ground elk meat 

4-5 cups of water or vegetable stock

1/2 cup of seasoned flour 

salt & pepper

1 whole onion

1 carrot

1 stalk of celery

2-3 potatoes

bone marrow butter/or marrow bones

1. Bring 4-5 cups of water to a boil in a soup pot. 
2. Chop the onion, carrots and celery (small sized pieces)
3. Season the ground elk meat with salt and pepper. Take a handful of the chopped onion about 1/4 cup and add to the ground meat mix together and shape into small meatballs and roll in seasoned flour, do not knock off the flour before you place in the pot. The flour thickens the soup. 
4. Once the water is at a boil, turn the heat down, water should be simmering as you carefully place meatballs into the water with the vegetables (marrow bones if adding) and let simmer for an hour. You can add diced potatoes into the soup and cook until potatoes are done. 

You will notice that water/vegetable stock will reduce and thicken as the soup is cooking and some of the meatballs may come apart that's supposed to happen. If the soup is too thick add more vegetable stock. Season soup with bone marrow butter just before serving, if you used marrow bones you can skip using the marrow butter, depends on your tastes. 

Adjustments:

You can season the soup as you like, I have only embellished the family recipe by adding bone marrow, carrots and celery. You can also use regular lean ground meat although, grass fed beef would be better. 

Edited

Since posting this recipe I have learned that Plains Cree were not the only ones to cook this soup. Ojibwa tribes also cook this dish. The word bullet is a phonetic pronunciation of the French word boulette meaning "meatball" and was a cooked and eaten New Year's Day amoung many Ojibwa tribes such as the people of Turtle Mountain in North Dakota.