Cook Impression

[Johnschut]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster. I've been using the search box and cant find much on cook impressions, when in garrison. I only can find several pictures of cooks, but I was wondering what gear would be needed. I realize that on campaign many of the men formed messes to cook rations and what not. I want to get the correct gear to do this when at living history events or garrison events. If any one has information and the location where I can find it to find out more about it. It will be greatly appreciated.

John Schut
10th TN, WI

[Coatsy]

Re: Cook Impression

John, great question, and this is an area that many reenactors overlook. My first suggestion to you is look through army manual regarding commissary. It may seem tedious, but you can glean some ideas from the regulations. Mark Tackett has a great website with manual links galore: http://www.zipcon.net/~silas/links.htm

Next, I would suggest looking through the Library of Congress' Civil War photo section for period photos of cooks and set ups. Another, and quicker method that I applied was to use a Google and Bing image search for Civil War cook. Many good images show up. Now, granted these are not really images from the active campaign, but using first hand accounts to supplement the image search is a great way to get started. Try to ask questions about the utensils, food prep, etc before shelling out funds for these items.

[Johnschut]

Re: Cook Impression

Herb,

Thanks, I've been browsing the images pulled up on google and bing, and a lot of the images that come up are similar. I also started browsing the LOC CW section, and a few come up. I read Kautz manual which has a section on commissary sergeant and the role he would play. Also further reading is that cooking was a duty assigned to privates for a 10 day period, is this something that you or anyone else has read? There are several photos that provide a good idea of what a company cook would of had but the one that sticks out the most to me is this one.

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/cwpb.02010/?co=cwp

It provides a good idea of the size cooking pots, from what I read of one first person account was that each company had one or two, and one smaller than the other so that they could be nested to save room.

I found this website that supposedly has civil war cooking utensils

http://www.independentmail.com/photos/2011/feb/10/82303/

In several of those pictures there are several fairly large boxes, its hard to tell if they are hardtack boxes or another kind. In Kautz it describes the size of a box that held 225 lbs of bacon the dimensions are: 20x20x28 outside dimensions. This would be a large box, but seems like a start for now

[fahtz]

Re: Cook Impression

Having done a few cook impressions in my day, the answer is both stock and frustrating. "It depends." Time, place, north, south, unit, etc. Hearth or fire cooking would not be a new thing, so the utensils of a home would be similar to that of a full time army cook. Not saying the pots and pans, but the forks, wooden spoons, graters, knives would be close to that at home. Nesting kettles can be had, but do take care to keep them in shape, once they start down the path of destruction they are hard to stop. Oils and sauces and spice research abound on this form and others. If you can find the work of the late Charles Heath, read every word several times. He portrayed the commissary unlike any other man I have ever seen and he had the research to back it all up. Start off SLOW, do not buy boxes and fill them to the brim, it is cheaper and more effective to start with a set of kettles, 2 wooden spoons and a large fry pan than to buy a trailer of stuff that you may eventually use.

[Johnschut]

Re: Cook Impression

Mitchell,

Thanks for the info on looking up on Charles Heath, I will continue to search for more information on the impression. I planned on starting small, with a few items to carry my gear in so I can double purpose the crate, and I welcome any information in regards to this topic. I have seen the bounty of recipes, sauces, and spice and oils here. I wanted to make sure I browsed the forum before posting.

Thanks again everyone.

[Silas]

Re: Cook Impression

Find the 100+ page thread about rations. Scan the pages for posts of immediate interest. Dive in. Then go back and take your time going through the page after page after page of threads about rations.

I have a love/hate relationship with the thread. There's great stuff there, and there was some attempt to organize concepts into themes, but it's not easy to navigate. It's like a crazy quilt encyclopedia of everything you'd ever want to know about rations. And then some.

[Coatsy]

Re: Cook Impression

Found the rations thread. http://www.authentic-campaigner.com/...t+pork+charles Enjoy the foodapolooza.

[Johnschut]

Re: Cook Impression

Everyone thanks for the info, I will scour the ration thread and look for recipes to try out at the next event, I'm stil going to try to find the authentic company cooking pots and misc. items. or see if otter tin or village tinsmith has something or if any one can recommend a company that makes fairly large cook pots please send it my way.

[Huck]

Re: Cook Impression

John

Reach out to me or Mark Susnis about this very subject.............