John White watercolor of an Algonquin man and woman eating a meal, titled, “Man and Woman Eating.”

While samp is another name for hominy, it also denotes a regional take on the dish. If hominy is associated with the South, then samp is associated with New England. Surprisingly enough, both names originate from the Algonquin language. Just how “nixtamalization” is a Spanish interpretation of a Nahuatl word, “samp” and “hominy” are English interpretations of Algonquin words.

This recipe comes from Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey, originally published in the New York Times.

Ingredients:

John White watercolor of a pot of hominy cooking over an open fire.

• 1 lb dried samp, about 2 1/2 c.
• Water
• 1 lb. Polish sausage, kielbasa
• 2 long, mildly hot red or yellow peppers, about 1/4 lb, optional
• 1 onion, about 1/4 lb, peeled
• Salt to taste
• 1 sweet red pepper, about 6 ounces, cored, seeded, and deveined
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 c. finely chopped parsley

Preparation:

Put the samp in a mixing bowl and add cold water to cover to a depth of about one inch above the top of the samp. Let stand overnight.

Drain the samp. Pull off and discard any yellow “kernels” that may remain in each grain. Put the cleaned samp in a kettle and add 10 cups of cold water.

Trim off and discard the ends of each sausage. Cut the sausage crosswise into four pieces of equal length. Add these to the kettle. Add the peppers, onion, and salt and bring to a boil. Cook 50 minutes to one hour or until the samp is tender. Remove from the heat and drain the mixture well.

Remove and reserve the sausage, mildly hot peppers, and onion. Finley chop the onion. Core, seed, and devein the cooked peppers and chop them. Cut the sausage into quarter-inch cubes. Set aside.

Cut the uncooked sweet red pepper into fine dice. There should be about 2/3 c.

Heat the butter in a large, heavy skillet and add the diced sweet red pepper, onion, mildly hot peppers and cubed sausage. Cook, stirring, about one minute or until the samp is thoroughly hot. Stir in the parsley.