This is probably the best known of the items
made with flour during the Civil War. The following recipe was given to me by
Possum Pat Patterson of the 14th Tennessee.
It works better than any other hardtack recipe I have tried.
flour
- 3 cups of flour
baking
powder - 1-1/2 tsp.
oil
- 1 tbl. spn.
To make
it, mix all the ingredients together. Add enough water to make a stiff dough.
Roll the dough out to 3/8 of an inch and cut it into 3 in. squares. Poke holes
in the squares. Some people use 16
holes by poking four rows of four, others 18 holes in a 4-3-4-3-4 pattern. Bake
it at 350 degrees for 45 min. to an hour. This will make about 10 crackers, or
enough for a weekend. Many people make hardtack simply by mixing flour and
water together, but examinations of records indicate that self rising four was
used most of the time.
This is a
recipe made in the field using hardtack. Soak a few pieces of hardtack in water
until it is soft. While it is soaking, cook up a mess of bacon or saltpork in a
pan and save the grease. After removing the bacon or saltpork, fry the
hardtack in the grease. It will cook fast, about 30 seconds each side, and it
will splatter a lot! While the second side is cooking, sprinkle a little brown
sugar on each piece. It will melt over the cracker in a sort of a glaze. When
it's done, let it cool for a minute or two, put a piece of your bacon or
saltpork on top and eat it. This is actually one of the better tasting field
recipes.
This is another way of preparing hardtack. Crumble up some hardtack and fry it in bacon grease. You're done. Historical note: Cush was a common name during the war for dressing, what we would call stuffing. At that time, there was a distinction between the two. Stuffing was what was cooked inside the bird, dressing or cush was cooked around the bird.
You just can't keep a good name down. You probably
can't keep this recipe down either. Add enough water to some flour so that the
mixture looks like milk. Dump it in some hot grease and stir it continuously until it cooks firm. This recipe is
strongly recommended for the strong of stomach and weak of mind. Some members
of the 14th Tennessee have made cush
this way with cornmeal and report it to be fairly good.
It was common during the war for Confederates to be issued just flour. It was up to the soldiers to figure @out what to do with- it. Here is one way to prepare it in the field. Mix enough water and flour to make a dough. Pat it into little cakes and fry them in grease. Experience has taught the 14th that thin ones taste better than thick ones, and they cook better if you cook them slowly. For your reading pleasure, I'm including a quote by a Confederate soldier describing the joys of slapjacks. "The first slap-jack given me for dinner was a cake of flour, partially fried in a pan of fat bacon. I nibbled about the brown edges and threw it, unbaked, against a barn door, where it stuck for days." James Smith, Rockbridge Artillery.
Take an
ear of corn and either soak it in water or pour water into tne shucks. Set it
near some coals, but not right on them. Turn it every couple of minutes. It
will take about 10 minutes to cook.
Take a
tart apple and bake it over the fire on your ramrod. It will cook faster if
you cut the out first. While it is baking, boil about a pint of water (half of
a large tin cup) When the apple is soft, mash it up and dump it into the
boiling water. Mix it up as fast as possible
and let it cool. If you have a little sugar, mix it in the liquid while it is
still hot. When it is cool, you have a nice refreshing drink.
If you
cook any type of dried beans (black beans, black eyed peas, dried peas, etc.)
soak them a l-o-o-o-n-n-n-g-g-g time before boiling them. They'll cook much
faster and cut down on the farts; something the 14th
Tennessee could really use!
| Field Rations Introduction |
| Observations on Preparing Rations |
| Camp Cooking |
| Cornmeal Recipes |