Rations

[Foggy Bottom Jim]

Re: Bacon and Sausage

I have had good luck finding twice smoked slab bacon at International or German delicattesens in my area. They come in reasonable sizes for a few pards and you don't have to buy a whole slab. It's initially wrapped in plastic but I just stick it in the fridge til it's time to go and then remove the plastic and wrap it in brown paper. It doesn't make as much fat as salt port to fry up some skilleygally but the meat tasts better IMHO. The deli is also a good place to get dried German sausage like Landjaeger which is a dried sausage that will keep through an event and doesn't need cooking. This would be a foraged item of course in an area where there were well...Germans. It could perhaps be a sutler purchased as well. On an event where we have humped a long way I have taken a few each of Landjaegers, dried apples, hardtack and essence of coffee. This leaves room in my haversack for event issued rations. If issued rations are short, I can live on the above plus my modular food storage system (beer gut).
Jim Reynolds

[Silas]

Sausage or sausages?

I second the opinion about cooking rations before you go to the event. Makes your job simplier in the long run as you eat when you're hungry, not when you have the time to stoke a fire.

If there's a ration issue at an event, cook it all immediately upon receipt or upon sitting at the first fire you see. This isn't so much for sanitary reasons as for ease of handling. I love the stains in my haversack, but don't care for the mixing of the juice with other things found therein.

On a side note, it seems the discussion has obliqued from your question about sausage to answers about sausages. By "sausage", it seems you mean a pork product like Jimmy Dean, for example. It's not impossible for a soldier to have obtained sausage - likely foraged - but I have not seen the term, sausage, used on requisitions. I haven't looked hard for it either.

I do recall a thread a couple years ago in this forum which was entitled, "Is that a sausage in your pocket ..." I believe Paul Calloway initially posted it. Basically, the thread included some period accounts, an advertisement, and/or a requisition for sausages. The idea being that sausages cost less to ship and provided more usable product, pound for pound, than beef cattle. Based upon that thread, I've purchased sausages instead of a pork product for events if I didn't have time to cook meat before I left. Much easier to cook a few sausages in the dark for a day's ration than several slices of thick sliced bacon. (It's hard to find good salt pork in cosmopolitan Seattle although the stuff sold in Chinatown is pretty tempting.)

I've never favored fry pans due to size. I've used a canteen half for many years, but just switched to a copper plate over the winter.

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Bacon and Sausage

Don't forget the ham! This is the salty ''country'' variety.

These cured slices (Wayco Old Southern Hams) will keep a few days un-refridgerated if kept dry.

http://waycohams.com

Can I use a slice as my Avatar?

[flattop32355]

Re: Bacon and Sausage

[B]Don't forget the ham! This is the salty ''country'' variety. These cured slices (Wayco Old Southern Hams) will keep a few days un-refridgerated if kept dry.

Now, here we go with the "authenticity" debate again! It's my understanding that soldiers' rations weren't all that tasty, and anyone who ever was blessed with a bite of country ham knows that that is just another name for Nectar of the Gods. :D

[Clark Badgett]

Re: Bacon and Sausage

Woohoo, next time I do Perryville. I'm gonna stuff my haversack with sausages. Since the federal troops mostly came from Louisville, and this town is still full of folks of German decent ;)

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Bacon and Sausage

An abstract stating the cost of goods for contract listed; bacon, fresh pork, salt pork and lard, all fat and good, from $3.25 lb for the fresh meat to $5.00 lb for cured meats and lard.
Richmond Va July 13, 1864

O.R. Series I-Volume XL-Part III pps 766, 767

[adam_oswalt]

period meat packing?

I was talking at work today about period meat packing and was trying to make comparisons to the modern day method, when I realized that I can stand to learn a little more about the subject. I've read bits and peices, but I can't fill in the details.

I doubt the method has changed a whole lot in 100+ years except for the inspection process, so my question is really more about the technology. In a regular butcher shop, how was beef killed? Was it knocked in the head as it is today? I've seen pictures of the hammers in the 18th century and the guy in the "yankee laundress" picture looks like he's holding a similar object.

The next question I have is whether or not the whole beef was split once it was gutted and skinned. That's how it's done now, but I can't imagine doing it by hand.

Thanks for any information that's posted. I'm sorry it got a little gross there, but it's not exactly a pleasant subject.

Adam Oswalt

[markj]

Re: period meat packing?

Hi Adam,

When it came to butchering in camp one of the very first orders issued by none other than August Willich himself, upon assuming command of his brigade in August 1862, was that all animals were to "be killed with the knife." That means slitting their throats.

Willich issued this order because his troops had a nasty habit of shooting hogs and cattle while in camp. Very convenient...but it played hell with the pickets: There was only one thing more terrifying than receiving fire from your front; that was the sound of firing coming from your REAR.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[Alamo Guard]

Re: Bacon and Sausage

Speaking of sausages, I remember somewhere of the Texas Brigade buying sausages from a local vendor. The men were digusted to find a tooth and claw from a cat in the sausages.
We have a large german and polish community here in south Texas. Dry sausage is everywhere. It will last for months if stored properly. As far as fresh sausage due to its fat content I would never even consider taking some out for a weekend due to its quick shelf life and bacteria.
Most of the dry sausages were made in natural casings consequently they would be smaller than the cold cuts we see today.
Too bad the wonderful discussion on period bologna was deleted. There was a trove of useful information.

[va-yank]

Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

In one of the other threads about bacon/sausage the topic of correct period skillets came up. Someone said the Skillet Licker is a good source. I have not been able to locate a skillet among Joe Hoffman's wares, nor do I think he has had them on his site in the past. I could be wrong.

Please feel free to post sources for closely matching or period correct skillets small enough for a soldier to hump in this thread. I had once bought a modern stamped steel item and long ago discarded it, never to be replaced.

Also: On some forum, maybe this one, there was a thread some time ago about "spiders", the cooking variety. I don't know if we ever reached consensus on one soldierly item that was the canonical spider or not. But this might be a good place to revisit that if anyone is so inclined.

[dusty27]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

Fred,

As I said in the bacon thread, Mr. Ellis's pans are very accurate and his "personal" size, smallest, will fit easily in your haversack for a VERY reasonable price.

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

Fred,
I have spider (trivet) with a strong NCT provenance. Forged, with fixed legs but still very portable.

A canteen half, small to medium skillet or boiler fit easily upon it.

Ill take a shot and send it to you if you would like one. If you have any luck posting images and want to share it, feel free to do so.

[DougCooper]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

Frank Ellis
3031 Possum Trot Rd
Greenbrier, TN 37073-5741

gotta love that address...

7", 9" and 11" inch ultra correct skillets. I have the 11" cause my pards are cheap (don't have one) and throw their food into mine as well. Seriously, the 11" fits easily under your knapsacks straps or tied to the blanket roll...and weighs not a whit. The most you will spend is about $28 total - a great deal.

[va-yank]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

"I have spider (trivet) with a strong NCT provenance. Forged, with fixed legs but still very portable.
Ill take a shot and send it to you. If you have any luck posting images and want to share it, feel free to do so."

Garrison, So your spider is a trivet... Yes, please post any pics, info.

IN the earlier discussion we got sidelined re the definition of a spider. My experience as a camper, years ago, was that a spider was more of a trivet to allow one to cook in the coals. Others insist that a spider is a legged skillet, stewpot or cauldron. I am sure we are all right.

Anyone have references to spiders/frypans/trivets in original source material? This subject was mined previously too.

Rice Bull in his memoir Soldiering mentions the division of labor among messmates, or comrades in arms. One carrying a hatchet, one a spider and one a skillet. This image of spider his description conjured for me was of a folding trivet. But I could be way off.

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Proper soldiers skillet "spider" etc.

Fred,

I agree with your conclusion about the spider being an iron trivet to raise a cooking vessel above the coals.

We called a cooking trivet or grate a spider in Scouts. I too know folks who stand behind it being a pan with legs. The results are the same. The trivet is just more versitile.(A legged cooking pot is often called a ''grape")

I think it is a non-objective question that relies on time and place for usage.