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| Posted: Fri Oct 13th, 2006 08:56 pm |
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1st Post |
Marie
Member
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One of the students at our local high school has been assigned the project of preparing a "typical Civil War camp meal" for the rest of the class and has turned to me for help
Any suggestions?
Regards,
Jana,
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| Posted: Sun Oct 15th, 2006 04:07 pm |
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2nd Post |
Sarah Elizabeth
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I am a teacher and have had to prepare many meals for large groups. It's best to prepare something to "feed the masses"...which is authentic to the Civil War. I would recommend a beef soup or stew, cornbread or "corncake", and the easiest period beverage, I think, is lemonade. A good dessert might be apple pie or baked apples.
There are several good Civil War cookbooks available. I have a few with detailed recipes. I hope you find this to be helpful!
Sarah
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| Posted: Sun Oct 15th, 2006 11:57 pm |
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3rd Post |
Xan
Administrator
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Heya Jana!
Camp cooking is both harder and easier to advise about than "regular" middle class home cooking of the period. For the latter you have recipes, for field cooking you do not. You have (highly theoretical) lists of rations which were supposed to be handed out, but details on what was done with them is lacking. You find descriptions occasionally in soldiers' memoirs; I think "Co. Aytch" has a few mentions to which you might direct your student. Consultation of reenactor boards might turn up greater expertise in the matter.
Your basic items though are bread, either hardtack or "fresh" (meaning something like a whole loaf of French, Italian, Cuban, etc., style. Pre-sliced bread was not invented until the turn of the 20th century. And Wonder Bread is right out.) and fried bacon. And also coffee, ideally dispensed in the form of green (unroasted) beans which the student must then roast, over an open fire, and grind, and then brew. This should be massively entertaining, particularly if he uses the most often cited grinding device, the butt of a rifle musket.
Of course this will require acquisition of (1) aforementioned raw coffee beans, available at gourmet and health food stores sometimes (2) slab bacon (unsliced and skin still attached--good luck finding an independent butcher who handles pork. The gourmet food shop where you got the coffee beans might be able to advise you); and (3) either homemade bread or hardtack.
Hardtack was not made in camp but in factories. The Bent Cookie Company (http://www.bentscookiefactory.com/hardtack.htm) sells this just as they did during the Civil War but that might be considered cheating. It can be made at home from flour, water, a very little bit of salt. It will of course taste like baked library paste, but we are in pursuit of authenticity here. Army of the Potomac commanders were particularly diligent in setting up bakeries to produce fresh bread every time an army settled down in an area for long enough for equipment to be brought in.
That's pretty much it. Meat came packed in salt or salt water in barrels for preservation. After awhile they figured out it was easier in some ways to keep the meat on the hoof and slaughter as needed, but that is perhaps beyond the practicalities of a classroom environment. Vegetables were catch as catch can depending on the season of the year. Fruit likewise, although vast quantities of both, in home-canned form, were sent by mothers and other relatives to soldiers in the field. Onions were particularly treasured, both for flavoring somewhat lacking in 19th century foods and perhaps unconciously craved for the vitamin C they carried. likewise self-preserved if they could be kept from freezing.
I am not sure from your question whether the student is supposed to actually produce enough food for a class to eat or simply give a presentation on the subject, with samples. If a home-economics room is not available (what am I saying--do those even still exist? I am old....) the matter of cooking is going to be a challenge. Best plan might be to make up the bread, bacon etc. at home, bring it to class, give demonstration (cheap tin pans from a junk store would be ideal, and period-correct--cast iron was way to heavy to carry on march!) and hand out samples, perhaps a hunk of bread and slice of bacon. Apologize as necessary to vegetarians in the class.
Hope this has been of some help... 
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| Posted: Mon Oct 16th, 2006 03:56 am |
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4th Post |
Sarah Elizabeth
Member
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Xan,
Your reply is great! I plan to refer to it the next time my class works on a living history cooking project. A few years ago we made hardtack. It was interesting. However, I think it was not an "authentic" taste experience because it tasted pretty good-- not so hard and no worms!
I understand that some canned food was available to the Civil War soldier. Do you happen to know if there were any brands which would be familiar to us today?
Sarah
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| Posted: Mon Oct 16th, 2006 02:36 pm |
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5th Post |
Marie
Member
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Xan & Sarah Elizabeth,
Thanks for your suggestions. The child did not show up at the appointed time to discuss her project. If and when I hear from her I will share your thoughts
As for the exact nature of the project, whether the idea is to actually feed the whole class or not, any details I don't have a clue.
Regards,
Jana
Last edited on Mon Oct 16th, 2006 02:39 pm by Marie
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| Posted: Mon Oct 16th, 2006 10:22 pm |
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6th Post |
Xan
Administrator
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Food Question Definitively Answered! With Hard Evidence! Very, Very Hard....
From today's Hampton Roads VA Virginian-Pilot, which begins:
What may very well be, at 104 years, the world's oldest ham has once again outlasted the elements. "It survived," said Melissa Wirtz, the historic ham's custodian. "That's a plus at this point."
P.D. Gwaltney Jr., the marketing genius who in the age before home refrigerators made Smithfield synonymous with salt-cured pork, called the ham his pet.
He carried it around the country as proof that his products would last indefinitely without cooling.
The ham was first cured in 1902.
Okay, admittedly this is not a "Civil War" ham. It could be, confound it, but it is not. But! Read on, to the very end of the story....
Gwaltney's pet may be the museum's first ham, but it's not the first historic foodstuff there, according to Justin Lyons, the museum's spokesman.
"We actually have a piece of hardtack from the Civil War in our collection," he said. It isn't from the Monitor, but, he added, "we do have some relish from the Monitor. It's still in a bottle."
Not such an appetizing meal, but perhaps the savory ingredients of an exhibit.
So we have our testimony from the day: Civil War food consisted of smoke-cured ham, hardtack (already covered above) and relish. Anybody who argues the point may be sent to the Isle of Wight VA History Museum (for the ham) or the Mariner's Museum in Newport News (the other stuff, and also the Monitor pieces) to see for themselves.
 Some days my job is easier than others.
Last edited on Mon Oct 16th, 2006 11:36 pm by Xan
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| Posted: Mon Oct 16th, 2006 11:55 pm |
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7th Post |
Xan
Administrator
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SarahE, re: canned goods and brand names....
Canning of course has two meanings, you can "can" things in glass Mason or Ball type jars which were indeed on the market in CW times, or in tin. That too was around, in fact there was a time when they sold empty tin cans just like the glass stuff. Mrs. E. F. Haskell was a big fan; her 1861 "Housekeeper's Encyclopedia" is loaded with recipes like "Preserved Peaches in Cans, Hermetically Sealed No. 4":
Peaches can be preserved in cans just as well as bottles, but is more trouble to persons generally, as they must either send the cans to the tinner, or he must come to the house, to solder on the caps.Many of the self-sealing cans are used now, but are quite expensive, and no tin is certain more than a year. Those with lead caps are very dangerous to use; as the lead and acid often forms acetate, or sugar of lead, a deadly poison. No one can be certain in earthen [jars or pots] that the fruit is free from air, and if not, it certainly will ferment, unless very rich and thoroughly impregnated with sugar."
(One wonders if Mrs. Haskell had been hitting either the sugar of lead or the fermented peaches, as she seems to have completely forgotten to include a recipe in this recipe. Oh well. Proof anyway that they were around, and a good indication of why they never caught on. )
As to brands, ones I can think of off the top of my head include Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce (started circa 1845 in England, very popular in US too), Borden's canned milk (one of the first products to be canned in metal). Outside of cans there is Baker's Chocolate, conveniently enough for the purposes of baking and by a guy named Baker no less. Tabasco sauce just barely misses the cut, alas; the McIlheney family had been bottling on a small scale but didn't go big time until after the war.
Your best bets are going to be sauces and condiments. Wouldn't surprise me if there isn't a mustard maker still around who got started before/during the CW but can't think of any at the moment.
Liquor is another possibility but I would have to (hic!) do some serious investimagating before offffering teshtimoonie orn thish shubjectttttt....(burp).
Last edited on Mon Oct 16th, 2006 11:58 pm by Xan
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| Posted: Tue Oct 17th, 2006 09:45 pm |
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8th Post |
Sarah Elizabeth
Member
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Xan,
You've really done some research! I spent some time trying to find out more about name brands. Not much information as far as which companies were providing products to soldiers. I thought this was interesting...Before the Civil War, canned goods were available and the annual output was 5 million cans. Just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, a technical advance was made by canners allowing for a faster production.
Calcium chloride (a salt) was added to the water in which the cans were cooked. This raised the temperature of the water, increased production time and turned canning into a much more lucrative business. Post-war canning numbers increased dramatically, to 30 million annually. It seems as though the soldiers returned home following the war and spread the word about the convenience of canned goods. It must have been quite a leap for the 19th century housewife.
You have me curious about Civil War liquor brands now. I suppose I'll be forced to peruse the aisles of the Wine and Spirit Shop in town and check out labels for their "established" dates. To accurately research this subject, I believe I'll have to do some taste testing! I'll let you know the results of that when I can once again see only ONE of each character on my keyboard!!
Sarah
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| Posted: Tue Nov 7th, 2006 06:10 am |
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9th Post |
Steven Cone
Member
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Wonderfull little thred here..
Something I have a intrest in as I work in the food "Cracker Barrel" and am a CW reenactor as well.
Where is the best place to find orginials or replicas .plates and glass ware, period glass bottles, tins, food crates and labels for them all,
Would love to put on a 1860 dinner in the future.
Regards,
Steven
Last edited on Tue Nov 7th, 2006 06:11 am by Steven Cone
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Sarah Elizabeth
Member
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Steven,
If you're looking for good quality glassware and other tableware, check out the Dog River Glassworks website at http://www.dogriverglassworks.com. They offer some wonderful reproductions of bottles, crystal, tableware and other period items.
Another site I enjoy very much is Deborah Peterson's Pantry at:
http://www.deborahspantry.com
This site is full of all sorts of food items. The catalog states the items are primarily 18th century. However, a lot of the supplies can be used quite nicely in 19th century settings. I love just browsing the site to see how foodstuffs were used. Deborah's catalog is available to purchase as a research book, too.
It would be fascinating to host a Civil War era dinner! If you do, post the details and let everybody know how it went! Besides the Civil War, I've always had an interest in the Titanic. I hosted a "Last Dinner on the Titanic" a few years ago. Using a book of the same name, I served a meal that included a few things from each of the "class" dining rooms. Interestingly enough, the most popular picks were from the "Steerage" class! I also used reprints of actual stationery, place setting cards and even boarding passes. You could add details like that for a Civil War meal, I'm sure!
Anyway, I wish you luck in finding the right supplies. I hope you find the sites to be helpful!
Regards,
Sarah
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Widow
Member
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Xan, your reply mentioned the commercial brand names of canned and bottled products of that era.
On the History Channel's "Modern Marvels" series, there was a program called Civil War Tech. One of the technical advances was the REDUCED cooking time by adding calcium chloride, developed in Baltimore by a shellfish canner.
Van Camp's Pork and Beans have survived since then too. Still my favorite.
When I read about the goodies found by Confederate raiders in the Union supply bases, such as canned oysters and champagne, I am just as amazed as they were.
Also the mass production of fresh bread. I read somewhere that the ovens at City Point produced thousands of loaves a day, delivered promptly by rail to the Union troops spread out along the Petersburg siege lines. Sometimes the bread was still warm. That's quite a logistical accomplishment.
Me, I go for Wonder Bread and peanut butter. I ain't pertickler.
Patty
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Sarah Elizabeth
Member
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Steven,
You won't want to miss this website:
http://www.sullivanpress.com
I discovered it today while doing some research online. It's amazing! Click on "Civil War Items" and scroll to the bottom of the page to find many label reprints. They guarantee that every item listed has been researched and authenticated.
There are all sorts of labels for canned goods, bottles, medicines and so many other things to use for a Civil War era impression. You can purchase labels which have been printed or you can purchase a CD including all the labels.
In my opinion, their prices are reasonable. They also offer reprints of numerous military items. It's a great site and I'm glad I found it...I plan to order quite a few things myself. I'm sure you'll find it to be of great interest!
Regards,
Sarah
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