Rations

[MuddyWaterMess]

Re: Hardtack

Neat pic i really like it, i agree with Dan with the issue of detail in that picture thanks

BEN

[AZReenactor]

Re: Hardtack

Now to take this thread down another route, Id like to pose the question "who makes the best hardtack cutter?" This is a modern tool used to make an authentic item and can't rightly be compared to an original so it seems fitting to ask for opinions here.

Some of the one's I've found online are
Alex Johnson's hardtack cutter kit
Village Tinsmith
Richmonville Tinworks

No doubt there are others out there as well and some of you have probably made your own. Any reviews on the quality and usefulness of the hardtack cutters out there. If you made your own what was the design and how well does it work?

I find myself needing to make a bit more hardtack than a pizza cutter, framing square, and ruler are useful for.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Hardtack

Troy, considering we may need 4,192 somewhat intact hardcrackers for a certain event next year, would you mind purchasing all three, and picking up a commercial pizza oven on the way out to my place? I'll get Harry Canoli to wire up the underground garage, and we can bake 100 crackers at a time for a side by side comparison.

To add a fourth cutter to the mix, I believe Landrum-of-temperature-extremes fame used a custom made cutter based on some CS hardtack measurements. Perhaps he will chime in.

I do know the VT cutter's flimsy metal handle tends to cave in with repeated use in stiff dough.

[AZReenactor]

Re: Hardtack

LOL! Sure why not. Only about 4,200 you say. are you sure that is an adequate amount to make a good comparison? Just 8 or so crates seems hardly significant. What is that just 3 days rations for a mere 140 men? ;-)

[Charles Heath]

Re: Hardtack

Troy,

Scant rations puts the number within the range of possibilities, as the by the book estimate of 5,240 crackers is just way too scary. Sparky is going to cry when he finds out how many boxes we need, and it appears Doug's hickory sapling woodlot may get a visit or two. Who else has Tremont on speed dial?

Every wonder about the scientific connection between lined boxes and mold? Unlined boxes just don't seem to produce moldy crackers as fast as lining the hardcracker boxes with paper.

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Hardtack

Unlined boxes just don't seem to produce moldy crackers as fast as lining the hardcracker boxes with paper.

Ummmmmm...do you WANT them moldy by way of authenticity? Has anyone documented the relative moldiness of hardtack at that battle? If only part of the rations were known to be in disgusting condition, will that part be distributed at random, or will fate cards determine who gets extra protein and a penicillin boost?:D

(removing tongue from cheek)
In all seriousness, mass baking isn't as hard as it might sound and you don't need to buy a pizza oven. If you explain yourself to the right pizzeria owner, you can probably use the oven during an off hour or two. Most shops have to warm up the oven before they actually start baking pizza. If you rent a half-hour or so, you could do very well.

As for a mass cutter, it should be not only possible but relatively easy to build such a thing. Once upon a time before child-rearing, I used to make mass quantities of cookies for several charities (routinely about 3600 at Christmastime.) I found a 24-cookie cutter at a yard sale. It didn't work well, mostly because cookie dough is softer even when refrigerated than any authentic hardtack recipe has been for me. What did work about it was the even thickness of the dough, the convenience of one roll-out producing two dozen cookies (which stretched out of shape and often stuck, for the above reason) and the ease of handling. A good tinsmith surely should be able to make a grid of 3x3 squares in half-inch thickness so that you would only need to get the thickness relatively close, slap down the cutter and roll it with a heavy pin. The holes should be easier to punch and could easily be stamped separately if need be.

Another thing you might want to consider for mass baking: a marble slab is far easier to use than a lot of waxed paper. Keep it cold and floured, and the job will go smoothly even if you use a single cutter. Once again, if you do rent a pizza place in the pre-lunch hours, the commercial kitchen would offer more floor space, easier cleanup and possibly a good price break on supplies. Some areas have started to erect commercial kitchens for rent to local organizations to can apple butter, make large cookie runs, etc. It's worth looking into.

[Spinster]

Re: Hardtack

Question. When you put the water w/ salt and soda onto the flour w/ tartar is it supposed to fizz up?

Yes. Both the creme of tartar (period preferred) and the soda serve to add air to make the crackers rise a bit--and thus make them a bit less like ceramic tile.

Also I was only able to get 4 1/2 pieces of 1/2 inch thick squares of 3 by 3. What did I do wrong?

Measure twice, cut once applies to both woodworking and cooking.:D From your results, its likely you lost count around cup # 2 of flour, or like me, can no longer see the markings on the side of the measureing device.

Could be though that you just didn't roll the material out enough to actually make 9 to 11 crackers. Realize that you are rolling a bit thinner than your finished product--these will rise a bit.

[Bob 125th NYSVI]

Re: Hardtack

Well I just use staright flour and water for mine but you didn't rool out the dough thin enough.

I usually get 18 crackers (with some dough left over) out of 6 cups of flour.

Try rolling it down to somewhere around 1/4 inch (pre-baked).

[BigRonFH]

Re: Hardtack

Though this isn't exactly on the subject, I don't know where else to post it. I'm looking for a decent recipe for dessicated potatoes. Anybody have any ideas?

Ron Hopkins
Co. D, 13th US Inf

[James Brenner]

Re: Hardtack

Coincidentally, I came across this description of making hard tack in, J.J. Scroggs' Diary and Letters, 1852-1865. Larry Leigh, compiler. (privately published, Thomaston, GA: 1995). Scroggs served with Company C, 104th OVI and while convalescing in Cincinnati wrote this account on April 22, 1863. "How few there are of Uncle Sam's boys who ever think or imagine while masticating "hard tack" what an amount of machinery is brought into requisition before the flour is manufactured into crackers. Curiosity led me to visit a factory. The flour is emptied into a huge tray, capable of holding five barrels full. The mixer throws in a quantity of water, properly salted, at one end, then going into it up to the elbows, he works it until he has it ready for the first machine, which is a spiral concern revolving horizontally at the end of the tray, which kneads the dough in the same manner a mortar machine in a brickyard does its work. The dough dropping from this machine in large rolls, resembling an animal performance on a large scale, very little akin to bread mking, falls into an inclined trough, and slides down into the basement. Here are three machines of different capacity, though constructed on the same principle, which rolls the dough into webs. Machine No. 1 brings it to a thickness of about two inches, No. 2 to one inch and a half, No. 3 to an inch. Now the webs go to a finishing machine, which reduces it to the proper thickness, one half inch, cuts it into squares of exactly the same size, punches twenty-four holes in each square, with complete regularity, and then shoves them out on a moving canvas belt, from whence they are taken and placed into ovens. There are six ovens, which bake a thousand crackers each at a time, keeping two men busily employed, putting in and taking out. When the crackers are baked, they are thrown into a box from which they are carried by elevators up to the same floor on which operations commenced. Here women and girls pack them in boxes, the boxes are nailed up, and piled on the sidewalk for the army."

[hoppes9]

Re: Hardtack

Kneading dough is an art form all of its own - Jacques Pepin spends entire chapters on it in some of his books. What you are trying to do here is to create lots and lots of layers. This way the gluten doesn't form an amorphous mass with a brick like texture. Instead, think Croissant - only without the requisite stick of butter. What you do is to squash the dough from the middle outwards with the heel of your clean (!!) palm - until it is about 1 - 2 inches thick, then turn it one quarter of a turn, fold in half and repeat. If the dough is sticky, you added too much water - so sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of flour at a time to get it to quit gluing itself to the counter.

Do that a total of 8 times, creating 256 layers (it's binary math, 2 raised to the 8th equals 256) - let the dough rest for 5 minutes half way through - the going gets tougher as the gluten forms. Don't be gentle with it otherwise - it's a bit of a workout.

The last time, roll the dough out until it's just about 1/4" thick. I know most recipes say 1/2", but 1/4" dries better in the oven.

Cut the dough using a cutter you can make yourself, and bake for 30 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit. When the baking is done, turn off the oven and leave the crackers in there overnight - it dries them out very nicely.

If you want something a bit more toothsome, then leave the hardtack out on the counter for a week. The flour will absorb some of the ambient humidity and the gluten chains will reform. Toasting tough hardtack disrupts the bonds in the gluten and it won't be so tough.

Finally - I made the cutter from a scrap piece of 1" pine, a bit of aluminum flashing, 16 drywall screws and a staple gun.

Cut a 3" square piece of wood (or 2-7/8" by 3-1/8"), drill 16 holes that are just smaller than the drywall screws in a 4 X 4 arrangement. Drive the screws all the way through. Cut the flashing so that it wraps around the block of wood, and so that it is as wide as the screws are long. Staple the flashing to the wood. This should take no more than 1/2 hour - scrounge time included.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Hardtack

Though this isn't exactly on the subject, I don't know where else to post it. I'm looking for a decent recipe for dessicated potatoes.

Pick up a copy of CWH, Volume 3, Issue 1.

You can make your own desiccated potatoes on a home food dehydrator. Just cube into 1/4 pieces (an old Ronco Veg-A-Matic is perfect for this, but a kitchen knife works well), and dry. The low cost of purchasing commercially available dried potatoes is worth avoiding a day in the kitchen making virtually the same product. Abby's Best, Harmony House, and other food service suppliers are good sources. Harmony House gets my nod for best price, service, and product. Neither of these are approved vendors, but I suspect one of our more enterprising small item vendors will one day repackage these products and sell them to reenactors. Here is the link for Harmony House's dried 'taters:

http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/dicedpotato.html

If you can boil water, then you can use desiccated potatoes. They are lightweight, take up little precious cargo volume, and are tasty. I find them to be most useful in Sunday morning hash, but are good for stews, and anything else where finely cubed potatoes would work well. The desiccated potatoes appear to be rather popular with the intended recipients, as demonstrated most recently at the McDowell 2005 battle reenactment, the 2nd Bull Run NPS LH 2006, the Shiloh NPS LH 2007, and the Vicksburg NPS LH 2007.

[roundshot]

Re: Hardtack

That's a good site, Charles. Thanks for sharing.

[BigRonFH]

Re: Hardtack

Pick up a copy of CWH, Volume 3, Issue 1.

You can make your own desiccated potatoes on a home food dehydrator. Just cube into 1/4 pieces (an old Ronco Veg-A-Matic is perfect for this, but a kitchen knife works well), and dry. The low cost of purchasing commercially available dried potatoes is worth avoiding a day in the kitchen making virtually the same product. Abby's Best, Harmony House, and other food service suppliers are good sources. Harmony House gets my nod for best price, service, and product. Neither of these are approved vendors, but I suspect one of our more enterprising small item vendors will one day repackage these products and sell them to reenactors. Here is the link for Harmony House's dried 'taters:

http://www.harmonyhousefoods.com/dicedpotato.html

If you can boil water, then you can use desiccated potatoes. They are lightweight, take up little precious cargo volume, and are tasty. I find them to be most useful in Sunday morning hash, but are good for stews, and anything else where finely cubed potatoes would work well. The desiccated potatoes appear to be rather popular with the intended recipients, as demonstrated most recently at the McDowell 2005 battle reenactment, the 2nd Bull Run NPS LH 2006, the Shiloh NPS LH 2007, and the Vicksburg NPS LH 2007.

Thank you Charles. I'll give it a try. Now, maybe a stupid question but I'll ask anyway since I'm new. What's the best (meaning most authentic) way of packaging them? In a tin? I don't want my taters being labeled farby.


< - - - full name goes here. It's best to set up an auto-signature. Hey, are you any relation to Erasmus Hopkins? - Charles Heath, one of those pesky mods.

[Charles Heath]

Re: Hardtack

What's the best (meaning most authentic) way of packaging them? In a tin?

Ron,

I don't have the least bit of a clue.

The short answer for an individual ration is a poke bag or scrap of cloth, and by the time rations are broken down to the company level, expect to see food in all manner of bags, wooden boxes, and scrap tins. Think of those stray containers back then as being the proverbial utilitarian "banana box" for grocers today.

I have seen references to desiccated potatoes and desiccated vegetables packaged in tins, but the simple answer is I don't know precisely how desiccated potatoes were packaged and labeled. I would love to find an intact container in a public or private collection, and that goes for the desiccated veggies, too. For the potatoes to make the journey from Paris to New York required a sealed container of a sturdy nature and then the transportation from the agent in NYC to the armies in the field required another arduous trip.

From period descriptions, we know at least two types of desiccated potatoes existed during 1861-1865, and the best description of the container that I have seen is "a tin." That doesn't help us much. We do know Chollet's packaged their desiccated veggies in tins, and a pair of those were included in a wooden box. The dimensions are known for two versions of desiccated veggies, a portion of a tin and a label still exists We could assume a similar packaging arrangement for the potatoes, but we know what happens when we assume. By the way, Jeff Henion covers some of this in his article in the CRRC2.

What does this mean for us? The good news is we normally don't need food in lots of 1,000 rations. In fact, we rarely need more than 200 daily rations per side for our so-called "HO Scale" Fri-Sun events, but let's look at what the army did back then. From the US Army rations table published in Kautz for transportation purposes, we know for 1000 rations:

Desiccated Potatoes:

Net wt. 93.75 lbs. (1500 ounces or 1.5 oz. per man) Matches table on page 162.

Gross wt. 116.75 lbs.

Packaging 23 lbs.

Approx. 4 lbs. of product for every 1 pound of packaging, so this is more packaging than the veggies.

Volume approx. 4.8 cu. ft. which is a little over 3/4 of a barrel.

Desiccated Veggies:

Net wt. 62.5 lbs. (1000 oz. or 1 oz. per man) Matches table on page 162.

Gross wt. 75.5 lbs.

Packaging 13 lbs.

Approx. 5 lbs. of product for every 1 pound of packaging, so this is less packaging than the potatoes.

Volume approx 2.71 cu. ft. which is less than half of a barrel.

What the heck is a "barrel?" To get even more confusing, for purposes of comparison, the army stated 6.25 cu. ft. is a barrel. A barrel really doesn't work well for us moderns, but that's the standard unit of measurement they used for volume.

Dry measure = 40.16 gallons (rounded)

Wet measure = 46.75 gallons (rounded)

As a size comparison, the typical used white oak whiskey barrel used at a heck of a lot of events for watering purposes is 53 gallons.

For 3 ounces of desiccated potatoes, a poke bag is just fine. Most of the time I have issued them pre-cooked in the form of hot rations, and rations carry well in the stomach. Sorry I couldn't be of more help, but one of these days I'll find both desiccated veggie and potato containers in some collection, and I suspect a sample of both vittles is out there somewhere waiting to have an image struck for posterity.

Speaking of fun things for feeding the army, the other day I ran across an 1860 reference to 17,000 pounds of powdered milk, and an 1863 reference to 25,000 cabbage plants, and 25,000 tomato plants....