Civil War Cooking recipes

[Robbie021006]

I am looking for authentic recipes that the Civil War soldier would use during the war. or recipes that reenactors use day to day.

[Marc29thGA]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

William C Davis's "Cullinary History of the Blue and the Gray" has some recipes in the back and not too bad of a read.

Of course, don't forget "Hardtack and Coffee."

Go to the Stonewall Brigade website and look for the aticle titled "Cooking on Campaign"

http://www.stonewallbrigade.com/articles_cooking.html

That'll get you started. There are more books and resources out there too.

[Suppelsa]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

Lord Billings may be able to assist.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

You'll find a wealth of receipts in Viele, Kautz, and an often overlooked source in the form of H.L. Scott's Military Dictionary:

Soyer is well loved here, too.

[Abrams]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

Here is a non-valid civil war recipe, but I'll wager it was made as the ingredients are simple, and they had them. Any verification of its existance would be interesting.

Civil War Almost Cobbler
1-Can of peaches
1/2 can of Condensed milk
3-Hardtack crackers
1-small handful of walnut pieces

In the morning or early afternoon:
Crush up the hardtack into nickle and dime sized pieces into a small cooking pot. Cover with the can of sliced peaches including the juice. Let sit for about 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally, and let the hardtack suck up the juice.

When ready to cook dinner:
Add the half can of condensed milk and the walnuts before cooking, and stir well. Simmer on the fire until heated through. Set aside until after you eat your dinner. Spoon out the "almost cobbler" and enjoy it warm. It ain't grandma's cobbler by any means, but it sure ain't bad either.

Anyone ever hear about anyone making this, or similar back then?

[Charles Heath]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

Civil War Almost Cobbler

1-Can of peaches
1/2 can of Condensed milk
3-Hardtack crackers
1-small handful of walnut pieces

Anyone ever hear about anyone making this, or similar back then?

Ron,

Keep reading and you'll find references to reconstituted dried fruit, crushed hardtack, canned milk, and sometimes canned fruit concoctions. The addition walnut pieces are a little different from what I normally see, but a soldier is going to work with what he has on hand...steal what ain't nailed down, trade for what he doesn't have, and wish for the rest.

One of these days, we'll get around to filling haversacks with ice cream, too. Yep, it really happened. :wink_smil

[bazoo]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

Hello
There was vetables too
But There's a problem , it's to know what kind of végétable you can find in the 1860's ?
What was the sweet potatoes color?
White, green or orange?
The maiz flour was yellow or white?

You have to choose the season too. Today we find cherries un winter, not during the CW

You 've to make becarefull with the impression .
Gumbo is very accurate in La, less at Gettysburg.

In northern army there was dried végétable.

You can find receipt like "sloosh" for the hardtack

For the canned food it was expensive so I'm not sure there was a lot for the private exepted issues ones (extract of coffee, milk, may be peaches)
Regards

Luc geraudie

About food in the northern army you have that http://rusala.club.fr/pages%20des%20...nourriture.htm but it's in french ay be with a translator

[9thKyCoC]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

Here's an 1863 Confederate "receipt" book that I found online...

Confederate Receipt Book

How about one on period camp cooking?

Period Camp Cooking

Hope that helps!

Pvt. Kirk

[Charles Heath]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

Bill O'Dea will be happy to see one of his favorite hints for the feet in the midst of that info.

[Silas]

Uncushy times call for coosh

You can find receipt like "sloosh" for the hardtack.

Here's a revealing recollection from a soldier in the ANV about coosh :

The meat is too little to cook alone, and the flour will scarcely make six biscuits. The result is that "slosh" or "coosh" must do. So the bacon is fried out till the pan is half full of boiling grease. The flour is mixed with water until it flows like milk, poured into the grease and rapidly stirred till the whole is a dirty brown mixture. It is now ready to be served.

This is from DETAILED MINUTIAE OF SOLDIER LIFE IN THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, 1861 – 1865 by Carlton McCarthy (1882). The book is a great read with much useful information about the common soldier and his common life.

Before I had seen this account, I had made this coosh and used it as a dull, brown gravy that I poured over rice. It was filling, but nothing about which to write home. At that time, I didn't know that what I perceived as merely a gravy was actually a meal of last resort.

[Northern Reb]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

Here's a nice recipes that is easy and tastes good. When done, put some Apple Butter or Pumpkin butter on top.

Old Fashioned Spoon Bread
3/4 cup cornmeal, stone or water ground, if possible
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
3 tablespoons melted butter
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder



Combine cornmeal and salt in a mixing bowl. Stirring constantly, gradually add boiling water, keeping smooth; stir in the melted butter. In a separate bowl, beat eggs until thicken and pale in color. Add milk and beat to combine. Add milk and egg mixture to the cornmeal mixture with baking powder. Beat with an electric hand-held mixer or whisk to blend. Turn into a generously greased 8-inch square glass baking dish. Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes, until firm. Serve with plenty of butter.

Northern Reb

[Nick Sparks]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

that was very informative espessialy the cobbler recipe

[Silas]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

That is such a nonperiod method of cooking that it doesn't deserve mention on this forum. If it was about making spoonbread in the field, I'd be interested.

Nice lack of a signature, too.

[PogueMahone]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

Silas, it was a 2008 post.

[Silas]

Re: Civil War Cooking recipes

Noticed. That's why I didn't perform the the standard finger wag within the post about the lack of a signature and send the usual, cranky, moderator PM which accompanies signature violations.

I only noticed this thread because there was mention of cobbler. I've made one of those using a pair of canteen halves.