Rations

[Silas]

Re: Hardtack

The farther you get from civilization and regular food sources, the better hardtack tastes. That can be said for many things in my haversack which I wouldn't eat at home, but am thankful to have when campaigning.

[Silas]

Re: Hardtack

Under the topic entitled, "Good Hardtack Recipe," I found this gem which contains a reply from Kevin himself who included his recipe :

This has been posted before, but for any who haven't seen it:


HARDTACK


Ingredients:
• 4 cups of flour in a large bowl*
• Optional: 2 tablespoons of cream of tartar. (This adds some “air” to the finished crackers and makes them a bit “less dense”. It does not create big air pockets and the crackers will still turn out quite hard. This ingredient can be omitted.)** Mix with the flour in the bowl.
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda**
• 1½ teaspoons of salt
• 1 cup of water

Dissolve the salt and soda (if used) in the cup of water.

Mix all ingredients well. Roll out dough ½-inch to 3/8-inch thick with a rolling pin. Because original, issued hardtack was uniform, by far the best results are obtained with a hardtack cutter. If a hardtack cutter is unavailable, cut the dough into squares approximately 3 inches by 3 inches. Use a 1/8-inch diameter dowel to create sixteen holes in each cracker in a 4 by 4 pattern. A hardtack cutter is optimal.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 450 degrees. When done, let air-dry for minimum of twenty-four hours, preferably more, before the crackers are placed into a bag or sealed container. Yield: 9 to 11 crackers.

* Period hardtack contractors used a flour known as “cracker flour”, which can be simulated by mixing one part pastry flour with three parts ordinary, unbleached flour.

** This ingredient is a popular “reenactor addition” to the recipe that was not present in Civil War hardtack. This ingredient will help make your crackers slightly more palatable but, for increased authenticity, omit this ingredient.
__________________
Regards,

Kevin O'Beirne
kobeirne@roadrunner.com

I located this thread by looking at the similar threads box found at the bottom of the present discussion. It's surprising how often a link appears in the similar threads box which answers the question posted in a new thread.

[Hank Trent]

Re: Hardtack

It's not a matter of the recipe being bad. They're all pretty much the same. You know the old saying, "it's not what you put in the pot, but how you stir it that counts." It applies to hardtack too. Personally, I've found that blasting powder makes hardtack a little easier to eat.:teeth_smi

Seriously, I think it's worth considering whether the problem is with the hardtack or the "making edible" side of the equation. Almost any hardtack can be made edible with some combination of soaking, heating and pounding, not necessarily in that order.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[BrianHicks]

Re: Hardtack

I located this thread by looking at the similar threads box found at the bottom of the present discussion. It's surprising how often a link appears in the similar threads box which answers the question posted in a new thread.

similar threads box?!?!?!

I have to admit... until just a moment ago, I had never realized that such an item existed at the very, very bottom of these discussion pages. I'd always looked down to the bottom post, and seen the Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: box, and never scrolled any lower.

Wow... learn something new on these forums every day! :D

[Mcguire]

Re: Hardtack

Best hardtack I've ever sampled was at BGR. My info was that Cody Mobley supplied the aforementioned crackers. Perhaps Mr. Mobley could supply the recipe that he used. I for one would appreciate it as I would like to make some without having to try different recipes until I found one that was edible.
As mentioned in another post a search yields quite a bit of info on this topic, to include a recipe submitted by Mr. O'Bierne (I hope this spelling is correct) tro name but a few.

[mrgrzeskowiak]

Re: Hardtack

I did not realize that at the bottom of the page, there were similar threads.. I never scrolled down that far.. Thanks to everyone!

[nick19thind]

Re: Hardtack

Here's my recipe for edible hardtack.
Grind your cracker to powder with your bayonet while boiling water in your mucket or modified tin can. Add the ground up hardtack and stir it about.
I must warn you it's risky to eat hardtack dry. I did once and it took out one of my fillings.

[IowaYank]

Re: Hardtack

While I know Bents still uses the same mold as it did during the war, I still have one major problem with them. In my opinion they have had to have changed the recipe since the war. I believe Bents hardtack is too edible. What I mean is how many times have you put Bents in your haversack and had it just crumble to pieces?? Why would you hear soldiers calling it toothdullers and other such names if it was the same consistancy as Bents??? To me hardtack should be simply that, hard.

[WestTN_reb]

Re: Hardtack

While I know Bents still uses the same mold as it did during the war, I still have one major problem with them. In my opinion they have had to have changed the recipe since the war. I believe Bents hardtack is too edible. What I mean is how many times have you put Bents in your haversack and had it just crumble to pieces?? Why would you hear soldiers calling it toothdullers and other such names if it was the same consistancy as Bents??? To me hardtack should be simply that, hard.

Maybe Bents just simply had the best darn hardtack available then. That might explain why they're still in business today.;)

[Becky Morgan]

Re: Hardtack

Also bear in mind modern health department shipping and handling requirements. If you set your crate of fresh Bent's out on a railroad station platform in the summer heat for a few days, or in a hot warehouse in dry weather, it might take on that period texture of floor tile.

The idea was to produce a nutritious form of bread that could survive such handling and arrive in the hands of the soldier nontoxic, wihout a whole lot of regard for palatability. By those standards, hardtack is a success.

[stx]

Re: Hardtack

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

[Charles Heath]

Re: Hardtack

Tim, if you are only going to make four pieces of hardtack at a time, is there much of a point in warming up the kitchen with the oven? Set up and crank out a few hundred pieces, and make an evening of it. Best when done with a pizza oven. Yes, that is a hint.

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Hardtack

I believe Bents hardtack is too edible. What I mean is how many times have you put Bents in your haversack and had it just crumble to pieces?? Why would you hear soldiers calling it toothdullers and other such names if it was the same consistancy as Bents??? To me hardtack should be simply that, hard.

So, you doubt the first-person accounts of soldiers who wrote that their crackers busted up in THEIR haversacks? Whab about the copious first-person accounts of soldiers eating "sandwiches" of hardtack with salt pork in between? (surely those weren't eaten with "tooth duller" variety).

Not all crackers of the day were akin to sheet-iron.

Finally, soldiers liked to bitch and complain, like all soldiers and--frankly put--reenactors, not to mention humans in general. They complained about rock-hard crackers and immortalized it. That does not, however, mean that all crackers were the type that Si Klegg drempt about using to line his vest before a battle.

[roundshot]

Re: Hardtack

In support of what Kevin has stated, check out this pile of busted up hardtack (likely from a rifled haversack) next to the dead of some of Starke's Louisianians at Antietam. From the famous Hagerstown Pike series in the LOC collection.

[IowaYank]

Re: Hardtack

Kevin and Bob, points well taken. Bob, that is some great detail in the image that I have never seen before. Nice!!