Rations

[markj]

Re: Cook and cook ware photos?

Sean, here is another from the LOC, though it's pedigree is suspect.

LOC Title; Gettyburg? call #LC-B811- 4021

Two possibilities:

1. It's a modern repro image that got slipped in somehow

OR

2. It may be one of a series of at least three "staged" images taken early in the war. Indeed, the man wearing the overcoat on the extreme right appears to be posing as "dead" in an image traditionally captioned "Confederate Dead at Matthew's Hill." William Frassanito discusses these images in, as I recall, his book on Antietam photography originally published in the mid-1970's.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[ephraim_zook]

Re: Cook and cook ware photos?

Gents,

In reply to two posts above:

To John Sarver's question about coats -- it looks like at least 3 guys are wearing VRC coats -- light with dark piping.

To Patrick Cunningham -- the cookbook you are referring to is probably CAMP FIRES AND CAMP COOKING: OR CULINARY HINTS FOR THE SOLDIER, etc, by Captain James M Sanderson, Commissary of Subsistance of Volunteers, "Published for Distribution to the Troops", Government Printing Office, 1862. This is a small book of about 12 or 14 pages, and includes several illustrations of how to build heat-directing fire pits.

I scanned an original of this booklet and have it in pdf format; shoot me an e-mail if you'd like a copy.

Ron Myzie

[Agate]

Re: Cook and cook ware photos?

Ron,

I should have kept this about cook ware, thanks for replying, and my apologies to those on the thread, I didn't follow the link. Will look forward to Ryan's conclusions concerning these.


John

John Sarver

[1stMaine]

Re: Cook and cook ware photos?

Comrades,

The stove referred to in an earlier post is, I believe, the "Hope's Patent" camp stove. These were produced during the war in vast numbers and were very useful. They resemble a casemated ironclad with a single stack, and to tell true, when the smake comes up the stack, she does have that look of being under way:) It was basically a sheet metal rectangle with sloping sides, and a round metal chimney on the top at one end. There was a round removeable plate on the other end at the top, for feeding the fire when needed. The stove was used by digging a firepit and then placing the stove over the top. I found it best to dig a slanting trench down to the fire pit on one end, so as to provide a better draft. There was sufficient surface area for three or more of the sheet metal nesting pots that the army issued out (called camp kettles in the vernacular).
The only difficult thing about the stove was removing it from the firepit and allowing time for it to cool before taking off the chimney and packing it away. The repro we purchased came with a stencileld canvas bag for storage. I cannot attest to whether the originals came this way, but it certainly kept the parts together and kept the inherent soot off of anything nearby.
Many of these stoves were snapped up by the railroads after the war and used in the workman's camps and shantiy towns. They were strong, lightweight, and easy to use.
Anyway, Jim Richmond, of Richmoncville tinworks used to reproduce them. The ones he made were very true to the original, and rather light and easily transportable in a wagon, along with the camp pots, etc. And that brings us to WHERE a cook's impression is appropriate. Certainly, there would be very few times on campaign where it could be properly set up and working. Mostly it would have been in a camp/garrison situation, where the troops were going to be in one place for several days, and the wagons could get the stuff up to where they were.

Respects,

[hardtack1864]

Re: Cook and cook ware photos?

Thank you for all the info again, of course big pots and pans would not have been used on campaign, MAYBE it could have been used by the drivers of wagon and soldiers guarding it while the wagons were following the main coloums.

[markj]

Re: Cook and cook ware photos?

I have appended another very nice image from the LoC collection. This shows the cookhouse of the "Soldier's Rest." Here's the actual caption:

[Alexandria, Va. Cooks in the kitchen of Soldiers' Rest].

While the image was taken "in the rear," it is remarkable for its clarity and display of 1860's tin- and copperware. Definitely downoad the hi-res version of this image--you'll have a lot of fun zooming in on various sections. What I found particularly interesting were the wet sink, with water taps, shown on the far right as well as the gas lighting fixtures.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[easttnfed]

Re: Cook and cook ware photos?

About the question where to find cast iron pots of the size shown in one of the images; I have visited various antique shops/malls/houses/barns in my local area (East Tennessee/Smoky Mountains) and have found several good sized cast iron pots that were taken out of barns and old cabins that are now lost forever due to them being torn down. You can find good pots at these places if you know what your looking for or at. The people are willing to give good deals for them also just to get rid of them. I have an old wooden banned wood wash bucket sitting in my living room that a family member of my dad, who has a bunch of antiques and who did not know what he had, just gave to me. It dates back to the early 1800's and is clearly all hand made. It was made by my ancestor that fought in the 8th Tennessee Cav. U.S before the war and is now in respective hands. This and other good finds are out there IF you know how to look for them. Good luck in finding them.

[echamp6165]

Authentic Salt Pork

I've been hearing that store brand salt pork is unauthentic to the civil war period. But I'm not sure that slab bacon is any better because slab bacon is smoked, and civil war salt pork wasnt. What's the best thing to buy in this case. How different was salt pork then than it is now?

[Vuhginyuh]

Re: Authentic Salt Pork

If this is a real question here is a real answer.

Slab bacon and salt pork are two different things. Smoked meats and salted meats are different too.

Modern commercially cured ''salt pork'' has more nitrates. That’s all. But that is no reason not to use it. Unless you going to smoke or cure your own meat, don't worry about. You cannot judge authenticity based on an invisible ingredient.

Cosmetically, and I hate using that term to describe food, one thing that you can do is to open the meat, rub it lightly with oil, and give it a heavy dry coating of course black pepper. Use a pepper grinder if you can and not the canned stuff. (Course pepper can be found at the grocery.) Do not brush or shake it off. Wrap it tightly and store it until you need it. You do not need to remove the pepper coating when frying the meat.

The salt pork that is put up around home by hand is always coated with pepper after it is removed from the brine. This could be regional. Some folks here on the forom may say not to do coat it in pepper and use it the way it is. In eastern NC and VA it is still a common practice.

Any number of spices can be used when smoking or curing meats and chances are the spices are identical to those used hundreds if not thousands of years ago.

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: Authentic Salt Pork

I've been hearing that store brand salt pork is unauthentic to the civil war period. But I'm not sure that slab bacon is any better because slab bacon is smoked, and civil war salt pork wasnt. What's the best thing to buy in this case. How different was salt pork then than it is now?

I've been researching period salt pork vs modern salt pork and below is just a little of the research.

There were various grades of commercial salt pork and the earliest definition I could find was in 1886 but the method for processing was the same as in the CW period.

“Mess Pork shall be packed from sides of well-fatted hogs, cut in strips not exceeding six and one half inches wide and flanked according to diagram as nearly as possible, and not back-stripped, 196 pounds of green [not cured] meat, numbering not over sixteen pieces, including only the regular portion of flank and shoulder cuts; four layers to be packed in each barrel, with not less than forty pounds of Turk’s Island, St. Utes, or Trepanné, or 45 pounds of other good qualities of foreign or domestic coarse salt, and clear brine as strong as the salt will make it.”
(Grocer’s Handbook, 1886)

“Clear Pork shall be packed from sides of extra heavy, well-fatted hogs, cut, selected and packed in the same manner as Mess Pork, the backbone and half the rib next to it be taken out.” (Grocer’s Handbook, 1886)

“Extra Clear Pork. Same as clear, except that all the ribs and backbone shall be taken out. (Grocer’s Handbook, 1886)

“Mess Ordinary, or Thin Mess. Of hogs reasonably well-fatted to light for Mess Pork, cut, selected, and packed in the same manner as Mess, no restrictions whatever as to the number of pieces to the barrel.” (Grocer’s Handbook, 1886)

“Extra Prime Pork shall be made from heavy, untrimmed shoulders, cut into three pieces, according to the diagram, the leg to be cut close to the breast; to be packed 200 pounds of green meat in each barrel, with the same quantity and quality of salt as Mess Pork.” (Grocer’s Handbook,1886)

“Prime Mess Pork shall be made of shoulders and sides of nice, smooth and fat hogs, weighing 120 to 170 pounds each net, regularly cut into square pieces, as near 4 pounds each as possible, the shank to be cut off close to the breast; each barrel to contain 200 pounds of green meat, the proportion of 20 pieces of shoulder and 30 pieces of side cuts, and to be packed with the same quality and quantity of salt as Mess Pork. The prime pieces shall be cut free of blade bone. The shoulder pieces are not to exceed 90 pounds in each barrel. When re-salted, the brine shall be drawn off and new brine added.” (Grocer’s Handbook, 1886)

The following is a typical recipe, from a home cookery book, for salting pork. “Directions for Salting Down Pork. Cover the bottom of the barrel with salt an inch deep. Put down one layer of Pork, and cover that with salt, half an inch thick. Continue thus till the barrel is full. Then pour in as much strong pickle as the barrel will receive. Also see that the Pork does not rise above the brine. When a white scum, or bloody-looking material rises on top, scald the brine and add more salt.
Leave out the bloody and lean pieces for sausages.
Pack as tightly as possible, the rind next to the barrel; and let it be always kept under the brine. Some use a stone for this purpose. In salting down a new supply, take the old brine, boil it down and remove all the scum, and then use it to pour over the Pork.” (Miss Beecher’s Receipt
Book, 1858)

From my understanding of the period reference, since salt pork was brined it would have been pale in color and somewhat floppy rather than salted firm modern version of salt pork. I'm not sure that there is a adequate modern substitute.

According to 19th century refereces and modern food dictionaries, fat back would not be a substitute for salt pork. In the Food Companion, fat back is defined as “Often confused with salt pork (which comes from the sides and belly of a pig) fat back is the fresh layer(not salted or smoked) of fat
that runs along the animal’s back. It is used to make lard and cracklings and used for cooking.”
In the same book, salt pork is defined as, “So named because it is salt-cured, this is a layer of fat (usually with some streaks of lean) that is cut from the pig’s belly and sides. Salt pork is often confused with fat back, which is unsalted.... It’s [salt pork] similar to bacon but much fatter and unsmoked.” While researching a number of primary references there was no mention of fat back prior to 1911.

“Short Fat Backs, should be made from the sides of heavy, well-fatted hogs, from which the bellies [bacon] have been cut and the backbone and ribs taken out and all the lean taken off, trimmed smoothly and properly squared on all edges.” (Grocer’s Encyclopedia, 1911) Notice that salt or curing was not mentioned.

As fat back was defined, there was no mention of brine being used in the process. According to some secondary sources, occasionally fat back may have been dry salted to preserve it longer but since it was usually rendered to make lard and crackling and used as seasoning in cooking, it would not make sense to dry-salt fat back. The process used to dry-salt fat back consisted of the fat was cut and salt carefully rubbed on all the surfaces and then it would then be placed in a container or hung up to dry. Salt aided the drying process and the meat absorbed the salt which inhibited bacterial growth. Before cooking it had to be soaked and then cooked, usually by
boiling. This was the easiest type of preservation but the fat back was only good for a short period of time and would quickly turn rancid.

If anyone else has additional information, I would appreciate knowing more about salt pork.

[markj]

Re: Authentic Salt Pork

Hi,

With the above mind, here are enlarged extracts of an image showing a supply depot. The words "PRIME MESS PORK" are visibly stenciled to the top of the hogsheads depicted in the photo. Ah yes, salt pork, slowly stewing and "mellowing" in barrels at the height of a Virginia summer: "Delish!"

Using "Zoom" within your Word "View" function will undoubtedly bring out further details.

Regards,

Mark Jaeger

[hardtack1864]

Re: Authentic Salt Pork

Well, heres another question, the salt pork sold at stores that are seperated in about 1/4-1/2 pound plastic packages "I think thats what we are talking about" and if you freeze it and only take it out of the package when you get to the event and try to keep it cool "remember I'm not talking about putting anything on it like pepper" will it last about 2-3 full days without getting sick even when the meat has been cooked?

[echamp6165]

Re: Authentic Salt Pork

So as I understand it, salt pork of the day could include other cuts of meat, like shoulder, not just pork bellies of modern salt pork? There must have been a high percentage of pork bellies though, hence the term "Sow Belly" used so often at the time.Sir, In your first 2 postings on this forum you have not signed your name. When you registered for this forum you stated that you had read all the rules that we use to govern it. The first rule is to sign you name to all posts. Failure to do so in the future will result in a suspension of your account. Justin Runyon, AC Moderator

[HOG.EYE.MAN]

Re: Authentic Salt Pork

Well, heres another question, the salt pork sold at stores that are seperated in about 1/4-1/2 pound plastic packages "I think thats what we are talking about" and if you freeze it and only take it out of the package when you get to the event and try to keep it cool "remember I'm not talking about putting anything on it like pepper" will it last about 2-3 full days without getting sick even when the meat has been cooked?

For the past 2 years grocery stores, and other smaller chain produce markets now only carry pre-sliced salt pork (sliced like bacon) here in Cincinnati. I'm sure most of you guys seen this stuff at your stores too right?

If I go to a living history where I need to bring my own food, I always shop at a meat market.

[1stMaine]

Re: Authentic Salt Pork

Well, heres another question, the salt pork sold at stores that are seperated in about 1/4-1/2 pound plastic packages "I think thats what we are talking about" and if you freeze it and only take it out of the package when you get to the event and try to keep it cool "remember I'm not talking about putting anything on it like pepper" will it last about 2-3 full days without getting sick even when the meat has been cooked?

Comrade Sean,

I make it a practice to cook my rations, where possible, prior to the event. In account after account, you read the phrase, "issue and cook three day's rations" Wherever possible, it seems that the men were wont to cook their pork as soon as issued. It certainly would have traveled better, and made for a faster meal from the haversack, what with coffee needing time to boil, etc, it was just so much easier to have pork and crakers rerady to eat. That's not to say it was always done that way, for certainly there were times when there WAS no time for cooking. From my own readings, though, the latter seems to be more the exception than the rule.
Myself, I have had cooked salt pork last for a weekend with no personal biologicaly negative effects. That, of course, could simply be my own experience, and certainly other's may have not fared as well.
I have also had fried chicken show excellent signs of preservation in a haversack....at least that which wasn't consumed right away:)

Respects,