Is Recession Preparing a New Breed of Survivalist? [Survival Today

Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases along to the consumer. A recent stroll through the camping section of Wal-Mart did give me pause - what kinds of things are prudent to have on hand in the event of a worldwide shortage of food and/or fuel? Survivalist in Training

I’ve been interested in survival stories since I was a kid, which is funny considering I grew up in a city. Maybe that’s why the idea of living off the land appealed to me. My grandfather and I frequently took camping trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and around the Smoky Mountains. Looking back, some of the best times we had were when we stayed at campgrounds without electricity hookups, because it forced us to use what we had to get by. My grandfather was well-prepared with a camp stove and lanterns (which ran off propane), and when the sun went to bed we usually did along with it. We played cards for entertainment, and in the absence of televisions, games, etc. we shared many great conversations. Survivalist in the Neighborhood

http://www.angelfire.com/me/civilian/recipes.html

Recipes of the Civil War Era

This was sent to me from The Civil War Reenactor’s list:

“My grandmother - born in 1880 - handed down the following “old” sugar cooky recipe, which we all find delightful. Please note that we have usually used twice the amount of flour called for - I don’t know if that has to do with modern differences in milling flour or my capabilities.

As to the size and shape of the cookies: a docent at a local historical society showed me replica cooky stamps some six by four inches. She told me the originals were used at least in the later Victorian era, but I have no idea about the ‘60s.

Grandma Walther’s Old Sugar Cooky Recipe

(no oven temperature given - we set ours at 350 degrees)

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter (or margarine)

3 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon baking soda (in sour cream)

About 4 cups flour (more if needed to roll)

Good for animal cookies.

Handle as little as possible.

Happy to share this bit of my heritage!

Warm regards,

SAUSAGE AND APPLES

This old Virginia dish is easy and delicious. Start with about a pound of sausage meat. You can obtain the real stuff at most butchers but I suppose Jimmy Dean will do in a pinch. Form into patties and fry lightly in a pan until just browned. Remove the sausage, pour our the fat (not in the fire) and melt some butter in the pan, enough to barely cover the bottom. Core and slice three apples to a thickness of about 1/4 inch and place in pan setting it over a low heat. When apples have softened slightly add a half cup of brown sugar and a tablespoon of cinnamon. As soon as the sugar has mixed with the butter and formed a thick syrup add back the sausage and cook for another ten minutes or so. That’s it.

SUMMER PICKLES

To Prepare Summer Pickles- Pick very small cucumbers, pour over them weak hot brine, let them cool, and pour over them Hot vinager and spices to the taste, they will be fit to use in twenty-four hours; but will not keep long.

Hardtack:
5 cups unbleached, all purpose flour 1 tablespoon salt 1 to 1 2/4 cups water

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Combine ingredients. Add water until you can form a firm ball. If the dough gets sticky, add more flour. If it gets too dry, add more water. Roll out on a well-floured surface, using liberal amounts of flour to keep dough from sticking to roller. Roll to approx. 1/2” thickness. Cut dough into 3” x 3” squares and poke with holes. Place on cookie tin and put into preheated oven. Bake for 20 minutes (until lightly browned). Cool and enjoy.

Note: You can bake at a lower temperature, it just takes longer. Remember, your object is to dry up the water you used to from the dough.

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6 parts flour
one part water
pinch of baking soda
pinch of salt.
Add water to smooth out dough
bake in low oven approx 2 hours and let air dry two days.
Ce la !! Hardtack a la 1862.

________________________________________________________________

Five cups stoneground whole-wheat flour
One cup water Knead in bowl.
Keep sprinkling in flour until it’s soooo dry that it won’t stick to your hands (or anything else).
Preheat oven and cookie sheets to 400F. Cut to 3X3” size.
Punch holes in with a nail.. I’ve been coding my batches with the hole numbers.
Bake 15 minutes.
Turn over and make sure holes go through, entirely.
(I think these let the stream out & keep ‘em from rising.
Bake 30-35 more minutes at 400F. They come at, seemingly, rock hard.
Let them cool on the sheets overnight.
Put them in a glass jar, but open to the air.
You can say that you’re “pre-staleing” them;
I admit that I’m hoping to grow some of those weevils we were talking about!

Experiment: I put two in the hands (in a zip lock bag) of a sixth grade class. Both came back broken. They’re hard outside, but, somewhat, soft in the absolute center. The kids gnarffed up the bits and pieces that I was able to break the ‘tack’ into. (The originals must have been allowed to dry out in the air, or, the oven temp was 450+F). If you’re a hardcore, pal... let’s dine together.

__________________________________________________________________

We have a bang up recipe for Hardtack on our Regimental web site from the 1st Tennessee.
HARDTACK
3 Cups of Milk
6 Teaspoons of Brown Sugar
8 Cups of General Purpose Flour, non-rising type
3 Teaspoons of Salt
8 Teaspoons of Shorting

Mix it all together, it makes a very stiff dough. You need to mix it all up well. Then roll it out on a well floured surface. You want to roll it about 1/2” thick, don’t roll it any thinner.. Then cut it up into 3” X 3” squares. Then take a toothpick and put about a dozen holes in each cracker. Put these into a oven that has been preheated to 400 Degrees and bake for about 20—25 minutes or until they are just beginning to brown. Do not let them cook too long. After they cool you may store them in a plastic bag but only for a few days as they will mold if kept there too long. I have found out that it is best to bag them for two days and then throw them in your haversack and your set.

http://members.aol.com/EDDSHARP/1Tennessee.html

The recipe is located on the Bulletin Board section of the page. It turns out rather well, and tasty, and presents itself well. Enjoy..

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Jerky:

The recipe that I use the most for jerky is 3:1 soy sauce to liquid smoke. Marinate your meat for about three days for optimum effect. Make sure that the meat is well-trimmed of fat, and slice at 1/4” AT THE MOST.

I use a dehydrator, but if you use a gas oven, make sure to put a drip pan at the bottom so that you don’t upset anyone! :-)

_______________________________________________________________

In my haste in posting the jerky recipe, I forgot something (shame on me!) :-)

The ingredients for the marinade should be as follows:

3 parts soy sauce

1 part liquid smoke

1 part brown sugar

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Add meat, sliced to NO MORE than 1/4”. Allow to marinate for three days.

Dehydrator

Place in a dehydrator and run until the meat take a leathery, but moist consistency.

Gas Range

If you have a gas range, skewer the meat with toothpicks, allowing the meat to hang from the racks. PLACE A PAN UNDERNEATH TO CATCH DRIPPINGS!!!!! Let the piot light do the work for you. This takes a while, but remove when the meat takes a leathery, but moist consistency.

Electric Range

Repeat as the method for a gas range, but set the electric oven on its LOWEST setting, placing a drip pan underneath.

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Ginger Cakes:

Ginger cakes (All sorts of ginger cakes or breads were popular. Some were soft and others were hard or crisp. Some recipes could be rolled out and cut into shapes and hung on the tree. These are crisp, sugar coated cookies and are delicious.)

3/4 cups shortening

1 cup sugar

1 beaten egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 tsp. soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

2 cups flour

Cream shortening and sugar. Add the egg and molasses and mix well. Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the shortening mixture. Mix until combined. Roll into walnut sized balls and roll in sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 - 10 minutes.

“To Make Chocolate”

To each square of chocolate cake allow three jills [two jills=1/2 pint] or a chocolate cupe and a half of boiling water.
Scrape down the chocolate with a knife, and mix it first to a paste with a small quantity of the hot water; just enought to melt it in.
Then put it inot a block tin pot with the remainder of the water; set it on hot coals; cover it, and let it boil (stirrint it twice) till the liquid is one third reduced.
Supply that third with cream or rich milk; stir it again, and take it off the fire.
Serve it up as hot as possible, with dry toast, or dry rusk.
It chills immediately. If you wish it frothed, pour it into the cup, and twirl in it the little wooden insturment called a chocolate mill [like the Mexican “molinillo”], till you have covered to top with foam.
Other chocolate recipes from the same source, but found in the “sick cookery” section.

“Cocoa”

Put into a large sauce-pan two ounces of good cocoa (the chocolate nut before it is ground) and one quart of water. Cover it, and as soon as it has come to a boil, set it on coals by the side of the fire, to simmer for an hour or more. Take it hot with dry toast.

“Cocoa Shells”

These can be procured by the principal grocers and confectioners, or at a chocolate manufactory. They are the thin shells that envelope the chocolate kernel, and are sold at a low price; a pound contains a very large quantity.
Soak them in water for five or six hours or more, (it will be better to soak them all night,) and then boil them in the same water.
They should boil for two hours.
Strain the liquid when done, and let it be taken warm.

For those of you who are chocoholics there are two books that deal exclusively with chocolate: “The True History of Chocolate” by Sophie and Michael Coe, Thames and Hudson, New York, 1996 and “Chocolate Fads, Folklore & Fantasies: 1,000+ Chunks of Chocolate Information” by Linda Fuller, Haworth Press, NY, 1994.

If anyone is interested in a reproduction of the Aztec chocolate mentioned earlier it is as follows: (Taken from “The Frugal Gourmet Cooks American” by Jeff Smith, William Morrow & Co., NY, 1987. The original recipes were in “The True History of Chocolate.”)
“Chocolate Drink”

2 cups chicken broth, 1/2 tsp. plain cocoa powder, Tabasco to taste, 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Combine the ingredients and heat.

And Now For Some Teas
Blackberry Tea

Pick the blackberry leaves and dry them.
When you want to make tea, just crumble a couple of teaspoons of leaves
to one cup of boiling water.
Steep for five to ten minutes, and you have blackberry tea.

Relaxing Tea Blend

This combination of herbs helps you relax after a stressful day.
1/4 C. dried spearmint
1 C. dried lemon balm
1/4 C. dried lemon grass
1/2 C. dried catnip
3/4 C. dried chamomile flowers
2 Tbs. Dried lavender flowers
Combine the herbs and store in an air tight container in a dark cool location.
Make tea using 2 teaspoons of herb blend for each cup.
Turn on some relaxing music and write in your journal.

“Blackberry Cordial”

Mash and strain the blackberries; put the juice on to boil in a brass or bell-metal kettle [you can use a glass or enameled pot]; skim it well, and to each gallon of juice put three pounds of sugar and a quart of spirits [brandy works well]; bruise some cloves [I also add a cinnamon stick] and put in. This is valuable as a medicine for children in summer.

This is only one recipe that I have found, but the others are similar. I have made it, and in small doses it is very good and warming in cold weather. Beware that you don’t drink too much since it was used for its binding qualities.

Cabbage Stew - Older than dirt..

Adapts very nicely to camp fire cooking
Submitted by Widow Barfield

One head green cabbage
Salt Pork
Onions
Stewed Tomatos
salt, garlic salt, pepper, cajun seasoning or ground red pepper
cut the salt pork into small cubes
slice the cabbage and onions (approximately 1/2 & 1/2)
If you use canned tomatos, open the can. If not, cook them well ahead of time.

Fry the salt pork in a large,hot, cast iron pot until well browned. (Do NOT drain)
Turn the heat down. (move to a cooler fire area)
Add cabbage and cook until wilted
Add onions and cook until wilted
Let cook approximately 1 hour (low fire)
Add tomatos to more than cover. (that’s why we use a LARGE pot)
Let cook ..... and cook..... and cook..... Simmer is a good word.....
You can’t really overcook this dish. The flavors will blend nicely the longer it cooks.

Add garlic salt (small amount) Add salt and pepper to taste....
Add a very small amount of cajun seasoning or ground red pepper. Be sure to taste after adding each time. It takes the seasoning a few minutes to make themselves known.. Better to add too little than too much. People can add more at the table if they wish.

Stir occasionally......

After approximately 2-3 hours, start tasting....It’s the cook’s sworn duty to taste test!! If you feel really brave, offer a spoonful to someone else..
Remember, it’s not what they say, It’s their REACTION to a small taste.. Watch the eyes. However, under no circumstances, let them have more. Pronounce it “not quite ready”. This gives them time to tell others about how good it is... Thereby guaranteeing you will have nothing left when you are finished serving...

Onions and Apples,
Submitted by A Vermonter

Good for a weak bowel, or disposition,

1qt of water
1/2 Pound of Salt Pork
4 Apples( use the tart green ones)
2 Large onions
Cook diced salt pork in a heavy iron skillet until crisp, and set aside the salt pork, core the apples and slice into thin rings, slice onions into thin rings also, fry in salt pork fat until brown, add 1qt of water and cook until apples and onions are tender (about five mins.) and add water as needed, when tender add in the salt pork, and season to taste. This a easy dish to prepare in the field.

If you have any recipes you want to add please mail them to go here to join our new forum—Civilian Civil War Reenactng.

Or, if you haven’t registered for My Deja News, go here

Below is Civilian Contacts By State ! !

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On Bread; Commentary and Treatises from Period Books , part 3

Hale, Sarah Josepha Buell. The Good Housekeeper: Or, The Way To Live Well And To Be Well While We Live: Containing Directions For Choosing And Preparing Food, In Regard To Health, Economy And Taste. Boston: Weeks, Jordan, 1839. pp. 19-23.

YEAST.
It is impossible to have good light bread, unless you have lively sweet yeast. When common family beer is well brewed and kept in a clean cask, the settlings are the best of yeast. If you do not keep beer, then make common yeast by the following method.

Take two quarts of water, one handful of hops, two of wheat bran; boil these together twenty minutes; strain off the water, and while it is boiling hot stir in either wheat or rye flour, till it becomes a thick batter; let it stand till it is about blood warm; then add a half pint of good smart yeast and a large spoonful of molasses, if you have it, and stir the whole well. Set it in a cool place in summer and a warm one in winter. When it becomes perfectly light, it is fit for use. If not needed immediately, it should, when it becomes cold, be put in a clean jug or bottle; do not fill the vessel and the cork must be left loose till the next morning, when the yeast will have done working. Then cork it tightly, and set in a cool place in the cellar. It will keep ten or twelve days.

MILK YEAST.
One pint of new milk; one tea-spoonful of fine salt, and a large spoon of flour—stir these well together; set the mixture by the fire, and keep it just lukewarm; it will be fit for use in an hour. Twice the quantity of common yeast is necessary; it will not keep long. Bread made of this yeast dries very soon; but in the summer it is sometimes convenient to make this kind when yeast is needed suddenly.

Never keep yeast in a tin vessel.—If you find the old yeast sour, and have not time to prepare new, put in salæratus, a tea-spoonful to a pint of yeast, when ready to use it. If it foams up lively, it will raise the bread, if it does not, never use it.

HARD YEAST.
Boil three ounces of hops in six quarts of water, till only two quarts remain. Strain it, and stir in while it is boiling hot, wheat or rye meal till it is thick as

batter. When it is about milk warm add half a pint of good yeast, and let it stand till it is very light, which will probably be about three hours. Then work in sifted indian meal till it is stiff dough. Roll out on a board; cut it in oblong cakes abo

ut three inches by two. They should be about half an inch thick. Lay these cakes on a smooth board, over which a little flour has been dusted; prick them with a fork, and set the board in a dry clean chamber or store-room, where the sun and air may be freely admitted. Turn them every day. They will dry in a fortnight unless the weather is damp. When the cakes are fully dry, put them into a coarse cotton bag; hang it up in a c

ool dry place. If rightly prepared these cakes will keep a year, and save the trouble of making new yeast every week.

Two cakes will make yeast sufficient for a peck of flour. Break them into a pint of lukewarm water and stir in a large spoonful of flour, the evening before you bake. Set the mixture where it can be kept moderately warm. In the morning it will be fit for use.

ADVANTAGES OF BREAD MAKING.

If you wish to economize in family expenses, bake your own bread. If this is good, it will be better as well as healthier than baker’s bread. If you use a stove, you can bake during the winter with very little expense of fuel; and the flour to make bread for a family will cost about one third less than the bread. I knew a family of six persons, who saved fifty dollars by baking their bread during about eight months in the year. When flour is cheapest, the saving is greatest.

The rich will find several advantages in having a portion, at least, of their bread baked at home, even though the saving of money should not be an object. They can be certain that their bread is made of good flour. This is not always sure when eating baker’s bread. Much damaged flour, sour, musty, or grown,* is often used by the public bakers, particularly in scarce or bad seasons. The skill of the baker and the use of certain ingredients—(alum, ammonia, sulphate of zinc, and even sulphate of copper, it is said, has been used!)—will make this flour into light, white bread. But it is nearly tasteless, and cannot be as healthy or nutritious as bread made from the flour of good, sound wheat, baked at home, without any mixture of drugs and correctives. Even the best of baker’s bread is comparatively tasteless, and must be eaten when new to be relished. But good home-baked bread will keep a week, and is better on that account for the health.

Those who live in the country, bake their own bread, of course; and there every lady, old and young, must be, more or less, familiar with the process. But in our cities, ladies marry and commence housekeeping, without knowing anything of bread making. Yet there is not one individual, not even the wealthiest, but is liable to be placed in circumstances where the comfort and health of her husband and children may depend in a great measure, on her own knowledge of this important culinary art.

She may be settled where it is impossible to obtain help, or such as understand their duties; her skill and judgment, if not her hands, must supply the deficiency. If she cannot do this, she will, if she be a sensible and conscientious woman, feel, with Miss Sedgwick’s heroine, in “Means and Ends,” that Italian and music are worthless accomplishments compared with the knowledge of bread-making.

Indeed, this knowledge ought to be considered an accomplishment; and, like cake-making, the province of the mistress of the house and her daughters. Then the hard, heavy, sour, crude stuff, now often found under the name of “family bread,” would not be tolerated. Ladies would be as particular in this respect as in the quality of their cakes.

[Editorial note: the Following Footnote Originally appeared at the End of Page 21 in the Book.]

*When the harvest season is very wet, and the wheat cannot be gathered and dried when it is ripe, it often swells in the ear; and this is called grown grain. It is very difficult to make light bread from the flour of such grain.

Is it not a thousand times more important that the bread, necessary to the health and comfort of those we love, and which is required at every meal, should be made in the best manner (remember it is a saving of expense to make bread well) than that the cake, made for “the dear five hundred friends,” who attend a fashionable party for their own amusement, sometimes found in ridiculing the hostess, should be “superb?”

It would not require a very great sacrifice of time to attend, once each week, to this department of “household good.” If the sponge be set at seven or half past, in the morning, and every thing well managed, the bread will be ready to be drawn from the oven by twelve. Four or five hours of attention, then, is required; but three fourths of this time might be employed in needlework, or other pursuits. Only half or three quarters of an hour, devoted to kneading the bread, is wanted in active exertion; and this would be one of the most beneficial exercises our young ladies could practise.

The exercise of the hands and arms, in such a way as to strengthen all the muscles of the body, is very seldom practised by ladies; and hence much of the debility and languor they undergo. Many kinds of household labour are unpleasant, because they soil the clothes, or render the hands dark, rough and hard. But bread-making (not the heating and cleaning of the oven,) is as neat as cake-making; and kneading the dough will make the fairest hand fairer and softer, the exercise giving that healthy pink glow to the palm and nails which is so beautiful.

I have dwelt at length on this subject, because I consider it as important as did “Uncle John,” that “Girls should learn to make bread—the staff of life”—and that to do this well is an accomplishment which the lovely and talented should consider indispensable, one of the “must haves” of female education.

There are three things which must be exactly right, in order to have good bread—the quality of the yeast; the lightness or fermentation of the dough; and the heat of the oven. No precise rules can be given to ascertain these points. It requires observation, reflection, and a quick, nice judgement to decide when all are right. Thus, you see, that bread-making is not a mere mechanical treadmill operation, like many household concerns; but a work of mind; the woman who always has good home-baked bread on the table shows herself to have good sense and good management.
Posted by The Ebon Swan

[posted backwards, matches my monday]

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On Bread; Commentary and Treatises from Period Books , part 2

A large family will, probably, use a bushel of flour weekly; but we will take the proper quantity for a family of four or five persons.

Take twentyone quarts of flour, put it into a kneading trough or earthen pan which is well glazed, and large enough to hold double the quantity of flour. Make a deep, round hole in the centre of the flour, and pour into it half a pint of brewer’s yeast, or the thick sediment from home-brewed beer—the last if good, is to be preferred. In either case the yeast must be mixed with a pint of milk-warm water, and well stirred before it is poured in. Then with a spoon stir into this liquid, gradually, so much of the surrounding flour as will make it like thin batter; sprinkle this over with dry flour, till it is covered entirely. Then cover the trough or pan with a warm cloth, and set it by the fire in winter, and where the sun is shining in summer. This process is called “setting the sponge.” The object is to give strength and character to the ferment by communicating the quality of leaven to a small portion of the flour; which will then be easily extended to the whole. Setting sponge is a measure of wise precaution—for if the yeast does not rise and ferment in the middle of the flour it shows that the yeast is not good; the batter can then be removed, without wasting much of the flour, and another sponge set with better yeast.

Let the sponge stand till the batter has swelled and risen so as to form cracks in the covering of flour; then scatter over it two table spoonfuls of fine salt, and begin to form the mass into dough by pouring in, by degrees, as much warm water as is necessary to mix with the flour. Twenty-one quarts of flour will require about four quarts of water. It will be well to prepare rather more; soft water is much the best; it should in summer be warm as new milk; during winter, it ought to be somewhat warmer, as flour is a cold, heavy substance.

Add the water by degrees to the flour, mix them with your hand, till the whole mass is incorporated; it must then be worked most thoroughly, moulded over and over and kneaded with your clenched hands, till it becomes so perfectly smooth and light as well as stiff, that not a particle will adhere to your hands. Remember that you cannot have good bread, light and white, unless you give the dough a thorough kneading.—Then make the dough into a lump in the middle of the trough or pan, and dust it over with flour to prevent its adhering to the vessel. Cover it with a warm cloth, and in the winter the vessel should be placed near the fire. It now undergoes a further fermentation, which is shown by its swelling and rising; this, if the ferment was well formed, will be at its height in an hour—somewhat less in very warm weather. It ought to be taken at its height, before it begins to fall.

Divide the dough into seven equal portions; mould on your paste-board, and form them into loaves; put these on well floured tin or earthen plates, and place immediately in the oven.

The oven, if a good one and you have good dry wood, will heat sufficiently in an hour. It is best to kindle the fire in it with dry pine, hemlock furze or some quick burning material; then fill it up with faggots or hard wood split fine and dried, sufficient to heat it—let the wood burn down and stir the coals evenly over the bottom of the oven, let them lie till they are like embers; the bricks at the arch and sides will be clear from any color of smoke when the oven is sufficiently hot. Clean and sweep the oven,—throw in a little flour on the bottom,—if it burns black at once, do not put in the bread, but let it stand a few moments and cool.

It is a good rule to put the fire in the oven when the dough is made up—the batter will rise and the former heat in about the same time.

When the loaves are in the oven, it must be closed and kept tight, except you open it for a moment to see how the bread appears. If the oven is properly heated, loaves of the size named, will be done in an hour and a half or two hours. They will weigh four pounds per loaf, or about that—thus giving you twenty eight pounds of bread from twenty one quarts (or pounds) of flour. The weight gained is from the water.

It is the best economy to calculate (or ascertain by experiment) the number of loaves of a certain weight or size, necessary for a week’s consumption in your family, and bake accordingly. In the winter season bread may be kept good for a fortnight; still I think it the best rule to bake once every week. Bread should not be eaten at all till it has been baked, at least, one day. When the loaves are done, take them from the oven, and place them on a clean shelf, in a clean, cool pantry. If the crust happen to be scorched, or the bread is too much baked, the loaves, when they are taken out of the oven, may be wrapped in a clean, coarse towel, which has been slightly damped. It is well to keep a light cloth thrown over all the loaves. When a loaf has been cut, it should be kept in a tight box from the air, if you wish to prevent its drying.

[Editorial note: The Following Footnote appears in the Original Text at the End of Page 16.]

*There are three processes in fermentation—the vinous, which makes the dough light and white—the acetous, which turns it sour and rather brown—and the putrefactive, which utterly spoils it.—The only good bread is made by baking the dough when the vinuous fermentation is exactly at its height. As soon as the acetous commences, the dough is injured. It it may be in a measure restored by mixing diluted pearlash or salæratus, and working it thoroughly with every portion of the dough—then baking it quickly.

Posted by The Ebon Swan

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On Bread; Commentary and Treatises from Period Books

Well, you had to see this coming. In the course of my own research I figured that I would share some of my findings with you. This source is from around 1839, which is when the summer kitchen was initially built at West Overton. It is known that at this time there was no flour mill on site; however that would change later on. In the meantime their grain for their distilling works and presumably for their household use as well were processed several miles away and transported by ox-cart.

After you get past the commentary concerning the author’s opinions on variety of diet (which devolves into something very much like sermonizing), she goes on to give some excellent information and advice.

FLOUR.

The first requisite for good bread is that the flour or meal be good. Wheat is always better for being washed; if it be at all injured by smut, it is not fit for food unless it be thoroughly washed. In the country this is easily done.

Put the grain in a clean tub, a bushel at a time; fill the tub with water, and stir the whole up from the bottom, briskly, with your hand, or a stick. Pour off the water and fill it with clean till the water ceases to be colored or dirty. Two or three waters usually are sufficient. Finish the washing quickly as possible, so as not to soak the grain; then spread it thinly on a large, strong sheet, (it is best to keep a coarse unbleached sheet solely for this purpose, if you wash your grain,) laid on clean boards in the sun, or where the sun and air can be freely admitted. Stir the grain with your hand every two or three hours,—it will dry in a day, if the weather be fair.

Fresh ground flour makes the best and sweetest bread. If you live in the vicinity of a mill, never have more than one or two bushels ground into flour at a time.

A bushel of good, clear wheat will make fifty-six pounds of flour, besides the bran and middlings.

If you purchase flour by the barrel or sack, be careful to ascertain that it is good and pure. In Europe flour is often adulterated, that is, mixed with other substances, to swell its bulk and weight. Whiting, ground stones and bones, and plaster of Paris, are the ingredients chiefly used. To be sure, none of these things are absolutely poisonous, but they are injurious, and no one wants them in bread. In our country we think such deceptions are seldom attempted, still it may be well to know how to detect the least bad matter in flour.
To discover whiting, dip the ends of the fore-finger and thumb into sweet oil, and take up a small quantity of flour between them. If it be pure, you may freely rub the fingers together for any length of time, it will not become sticky, and the substance will turn nearly black; if whiting be mixed with the flour, a few times rubbing turns it into putty, but its color is very little changed.

To detect stone-dust or plaster of Paris; drop the juce of lemon or a little sharp vinegar on a small quantity of flour; if adulterated, an immediate commotion or effervescence takes place; if pure, it will remain at rest. Another quick, easy and pretty sure method of trial is to take a handful of flour and squeeze it very tightly for a minute—if it be good and pure, when you open your hand, the flour will remain in a lump, in the form you have given it, even the grains and wrinkles of the skin of the hand will be visible—you may place it on the table without breaking—but if it contains foreign substances, it will not adhere thus, but crumble and fall almost immediately.

Sour or musty flour may be easily known by the smell. Such damaged stuff can never make good, healthy bread, though public bakers, it is said, often prefer to use it, because it is cheapest, and they know methods of preparation by which they can produce light and white bread from this damaged flour. The bread is, to be sure, nearly tasteless, and it cannot be equally nourishing as good flour would make; but if it looks well, it will sell. Those who bake their own bread have the opportunity of knowing that it is made of good ingredients; and if they make it after the following recipe, they may be sure of good bread.
Posted by The Ebon Swan

http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/barracks/1369/recipes.html

Welcome to Mason-Dixon Line’s
Civil War Recipes
My personal recommendations for reenactors, clarifications and adjustments for the 20th century cook are noted in bold italics or [brackets]. Please note that during the 1800’s, Americans were still using The Queen’s English, so for the sake of authenticity, though in many instances awkward to today’s reader, I have left some spelling and punctuation unchanged.
What Is Hardtack?
Hardtack is a cracker-like biscuit made of flour, salt and water and was one of the most typical rations issued to soldiers by the U. S. government because it was fairly nutritious and unlikely to spoil. This hard bread was made in government bakeries located in cities and shipped in barrels to the troops. Hardtack had to be tough to withstand the trip. Many Civil War soldiers complained about this ration noting the extreme hardness of the biscuits (sometimes called “teeth-dullers”), which at times had to be broken with a rifle “butt” or a “blow of the fist” to prepare for eating. Soldiers sometimes softened the pieces by soaking them in coffee, frying them in bacon grease, or crumbling them in soup.

Hardtack could become infested with insects in the government storehouses or during the soldier’s travels. One disappointed soldier claimed that “All the fresh meat we had came in the hard bread!”

Courtesy of the Office of Historic Alexandria.

With the exception of the Union Army, it would be unlikely for everyone in the United States to adhere to only one method of preparation, so I included several versions, including one specifically for the South.

The basic ingredients are: flour, salt and water (although quantity differs). General directions are also similar: Disolve salt in water and work into flour with your hands. Dough should be firm and pliable, but not sticky or too dry. Flatten onto a cookie sheet to about 1/4 inch thick, and cut into squares 3 inches by 3 inches. Pierce each square with 16 holes about ½ inch apart. Bake in oven until edges are brown or dough is hard.

* Preheat oven to 400° F
* For each cup of flour add 1 tsp. of salt
* Mix salt and flour with just enough water to bind.
* Bake 20-25 minutes.
* The longer you bake the hardtack, the more authentic it will appear.

* 2 cups of flour
* 1 cup water
* 1 tbl spoon of Crisco or vegetable fat (lard)
* 6 pinches of salt
* Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.
* Remove from oven, cut dough into 3-inch squares, and punch four rows of holes into the dough.
* Turn dough over, return to the oven and bake another 30 minutes.

A Sailor’s Diet!

Hardtack was cooked on shore and loaded on board by the barrel. This was the basic food of the sailor.

* 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned or quick oats.
* 3 cups unbleached flour.
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.
* 1 teaspoon baking soda.
* In a separate container, mix:
* 1 1/2 cups buttermilk.
* 3 tablespoons honey.
* 1/2 cup melted bacon drippings or shortening.
* Combine the two sets of ingredients.
* When the dough is thoroughly mixed, roll it out on a floured board to a thickness of about a quarter inch.
* Cut out circles of dough with a large drinking glass dipped in flour and put them on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
* Bake for about 5 1/2 minutes at 450 degrees.
* Let the hardtack cool on a wire rack before serving with jam or jelly.

Courtesy of the Texas Historical Commission
Or try a Southern johnnie cake...

* 2 cups of cornmeal
* 2/3 cup of milk
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (lard)
* 2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon of salt
* Mix ingredients into a stiff batter and form eight biscuit-sized “dodgers”.
* Bake on a lightly greased sheet at 350 degrees for twenty to twenty five minutes or until brown.
* Or spoon the batter into hot cooking oil in a frying pan over a low flame.
* Optional: spread with a little butter or molasses, and you have a real southern treat!

Additional items that Union soldiers received were salt pork, fresh or salted beef, coffee, sugar, salt, vinegar, dried fruit and dried vegetables. If the meat was poorly preserved, the soldiers would refer to it as “salt horse”. Sometimes they would receive fresh vegetables such as carrots and potatoes.

Confederate soldiers were not as fortunate. Their rations consisted of bacon and corn meal, tea, sugar or molasses, and fresh vegetables when they were available.

Courtesy of the National Park Service
This photograph is the link to the 19th Century Recipe page, which is packed with culinary delights, many suitable for Living History events. New recipes are frequently added to this page. [James River, Va. Sailors on deck of U.S.S. Monitor; (cookstove at left) taken July 9, 1862.]
Photograph from the LCCW collection
Memoirs of Archibald Atkinson Jr.

Read the detailed excerpts from the memoirs of Archibald Atkinson, Jr, who served as a doctor in the Confederate Army. His interpretation of the war from a surgeon’s point of view lends insight to rations that were available to both Northern and Southern troops.

Includes more home remedies and 19th century medicine and health practices!
Home Remedies

Soup for an Invalid

Cut in small pieces one pound of beef or mutton or part of both, boil it gently in two quarts of water; take off the scum and when reduced to a pint, strain it. Season with a little salt and take a teacupful at a time.

[The simplicity of this recipe makes it a nice addition to the Living History campsite.]

Godey’s-March,1861
Drinks for the Sick

From The Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846

Apple Tea:
Roast sour apples and pour boiling water upon them. Drink it when cold.

A Very Refreshing Draught in a Fever:
Put a few sprigs of sage, balm and sorrel into a jug, having first washed and dried them. Take off the yellow part of the rind of a small lemon; remove the white, slice the lemon and put it into the jug with part of the peel; pour in three pints of boiling water, sweeten it and stop it close.

[Balm has long been cultivated in gardens. The stems and leaves, formerly used in medicine as a gentle stimulant and tonic, are still occasionally used as such. Sorrel is a perennial herb with erect stems about 12 in high with arrow-shaped leaves, which are cultivated for use as a salad green and as a potherb.]

Another Drink [untitled]:
Boil an ounce and a half of tamarinds, three ounces of currants, and two of stoned raisins, in three pints of water until near one third is wasted; then strain it.

Another Drink [also untitled]:
Put a teacup of cranberries in a cup of water, and mash them. In the mean time, boil two quarts of water with one large spoonful of Indian or oatmeal, and a piece of lemon peel; add the cranberries and some loaf sugar, but take care to leave a strong flavor of the fruit. Put in a gill of sherry wine, or less if required, and boil it half an hour more. Then strain it. [I think the addition of wine is the key to this drink’s success.]

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Barracks/1369/more_recipes.html

Mason-Dixon Line’s Civil War Recipes
For Any Occasion

My personal recommendations for reenactors, clarifications and adjustments for the 20th century cook are noted in bold italics or [brackets].

Observations on Soups

When you make any kind of soup, particularly portable, vermicelli or brown gravy soup or any other that has herbs or roots in it, always observe to lay the meat in the bottom of your pan with a good lump of butter. Cut the herbs and roots into small pieces and lay them over the meat; cover it close and set it over a very slow fire: it will draw all the virtue out of the roots and herbs, turn it to a good gravy and give the soup a very different flavor than if you first put it in water. When your gravy is almost dried up, fill the pan with water; when it begins to boil, take off the fat and follow the directions of your recipe for whatever sort of soup you are making.

Peterson’s - January, 1859

General Directions Respecting Fish Can be found at the Bottom of This Page

Soup’s On!

Stock

The basis of all well-made soups is composed of what English cooks call “stock” or broth made from all sorts of meat, bones and the remains of poultry or game; all of which may be put together and stewed down in the “stock-pot,” the contents of which are by the French termed Consommé. Then add a tablespoonful and a half of curry powder, and mix it up well. Now cut up the beef into pieces about an inch square; pour in from a quarter to a third of a pint of milk, and let it simmer for thirty minutes; then take it off and pace it in a dish with a little lemon-juice. While cooking, stir it constantly to prevent burning. Send it to the table with a wall of mashed potatoes or rice around it.

[There are several varieties of stock, such as “brown,” “gravy” and “ white”. If you would like additional information about how to prepare the various types of stock, please let me know.]
[ Godey’s - February, 1861]

Gumbo Soup

Cut up a chicken or any fowl as if to fry and break the bones; lay it in a pot with just enough butter to brown it a little; when browned, pour as much water to it as will make soup for four or five persons; add a thin slice of lean bacon, an onion cut fine and some parsley. Stew it gently five or six hours; about twenty minutes before it is to be served, make a thickening by mixing a heaping tablespoonful of sassfra leaves, pounded fine, in some of the soup and adding it to the rest of the soup; a little rice is an improvement. If the fowl is small, two will be required, but one large pullet [a hen of the domestic chicken less than a year old] is sufficient.
[This is a great recipe for Living History events.]
[ Godey’s - April, 1861]

Curry Soup
Season two quarts of strong veal broth with two onions, a bunch of parsley, salt and pepper; strain it and have ready a chicken (or game bird) cut in joints and skinned; put it in the broth with a tablespoonful of curry powder; boil the chicken(s) till quite tender. A little before serving, add the juice of a lemon and a teacupful of boiling cream. Serve boiled rice to eat with this soup. Always boil cream before putting it in soup or gravy.

[Godey’s - March, 1861]

Venison Soup

Take four pounds of freshly-killed venison, cut off from the bones, and one pound of ham in small slices. Add an onion, minched, and black pepper to your taste. Put only as much water as will cover it and stew it gently for an hour, keeping the pot closely covered. Skim it well and pour in a quart of boiling water. Add a head of celery cut small (can substitute with celery seed) and three blades of mace [an East Indian spice: an aromatic spice consisting of the dried external fibrous covering of a nutmeg]. Boil it gently two hours and a half; then put in a quarter of a pound of butter, cut small and rolled in flour, and half a pint of port or Madeira. Let it boil a quarter of an hour longer and send it to the table with the meat in it.
[This recipe also works well with a beef substitute.]
[Godey’s - March, 1861]

Rabbit Soup

Begin this soup six hours before dinner. Cut up three large, but young and tender rabbits, or four small ones (scoring the backs), and dredge them with flour. Slice six mild onions and season them with half a grated nutmeg, or more, if you like it. Put some fresh butter into a hot frying pan you may substitute for the butter some cold roast veal gravy that has been carefully cleared from the fat, place it over the fire, and when it boils, put in the rabbits and onions and fry them of a light brown. Then transfer the whole to a soup pot; season it with a very small teaspoonful of sweet marjoram leaves stripped from the stalks, and four or five blades of mace, adding three large carrots in slices. Pour on, slowly, four quarts of hot water from a kettle already boiling hard. Cover the soup pot, and let it simmer slowly, skimming it well, till the meat of the rabbits is reduced to shreds and drops from the bones, which will not be in less than five hours, if boiled as gently as it ought. When quite done, strain the soup into a tureen. Have ready the grated yolks of six hard boiled eggs, and stir them into the soup immediately after it is strained, and while it is very hot. Add, also, some bread cut into dice or small squares, and fried brown in fresh butter. Or substitute for the fried bread buttered toast, with all the crust removed, and cut into very small bits or mouthfuls.
[Godey’s - November, 1861]

Seafood Recipes for Your Campsite or Kitchen

Chowder

Fry three slices of salt pork, crisp, in a deep kettle; take them out and lay in slices of potatoes; flour and pepper them; then lay in slices of fish, which must also be floured and peppered. Put in alternate layers of potatoes and fish, with flour, salt and pepper, till it is all laid in. If you have a fresh lemon, slice it into the kettle. Pour over it boiling water enough almost to cover it. When it boils up, dredge in more flour. Dip a few crackers in cold water and lay over the top, and cover the kettle close. Boil it three quarters of an hour. Use ship bread [also called hardtack or ship biscuit], if it is preferred. Some people add a cup of milk just before it is served.

[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]

To Boil and Broil Halibut

If you wish to boil it, use a thick slice cut through the body, or the tail piece, which is considered the richest. Wrap it in a floured cloth and lay it in cold water with salt in it. A piece weighing six pounds, should be cooked half an hour after the water begins to boil. It is eaten with melted butter and parsley. If any of it is left, lay it in a deep dish and sprinkle on it a little salt, throw over it a dozen or two of cloves, pour in some vinegar, and add, if you have it, butternut vinegar. It will, when cold, have much the flavor of lobster.

The nape of the halibut is considered best to broil; but a slice through the body a little more than an inch thick, if sprinkled with salt an hour or two before being cooked, will broil without breaking and is excellent. When taken up, put on a little butter, pepper and salt.
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]

To Fry Oysters

Make a batter of two eggs, three gills of milk [4 gills = 1 pint], two spoonfuls of flour, and some fine bread crumbs. Beat it well. Dip each oyster into the batter, and fry in lard.
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]

Another Way to Fry Oysters

For a pint of oysters, beat three eggs, three spoonfuls of flour, and two small, pounded crackers; add a glass of wine, pepper and nutmeg. Dip one oyster at a time into the batter and fry them.
[If any brave soul tries this recipe, please let me know!]
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]

Scalloped Oysters

Butter a deep dish, and cover the bottom and sides with fine crumbs of bread. Put in half the oysters, with mace and pepper, and cover them with bread crumbs and small bits of butter; add the rest of the oysters with pepper and mace, and cover as before. Put in but little of the liquor, as oysters part with a good deal of moisture in cooking, and if the mixture is too wet, it is not as good. If they are very salt, put in water instead of the liquor. [I give this one five stars]
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]

To Fry Fish

After it has been cleansed, cut it into pieces of the proper size, and lay them in a cloth in order to dry them. Fry four or five slices of salt pork, or if you have not this, lard or nice beef drippings will do; but pork is preferable. When the slices are fried brown, take them out, dip the pieces of fish in a plate of fine Indian meal, and lay them into a spider [a cast-iron frying pan originally with short feet to stand among coals on the hearth]. Fry them brown. When the fish is done, lay it with the pork into a hot dish. Pour a little water into the spider, boil it up, dredge in browned flour, and pour the whole over the fish.
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]

To Bake A Stuffed Cod Or Black Fish

Chop fine a half a teacupful of fat ham; add a large spoonful of butter, some parsley, thyme, marjoram, a little salt, nutmeg and pepper. If you have oysters, add a dew. Beat two eggs and put all together with fine bread crumbs enough to compound them. With this, stuff the fish, which should be floured thick, and wind a string around it to keep it together, or else sew it up. Fasten the head and tail together with a skewer. Bake it in a stove an hour and a quarter. Baste it with butter.
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]

Boiled Cod

There should be a little salt rubbed down the bone, and over the thick part, even if it is to be eaten the same day. Wrap it in a cloth and put it over the fire in cold water; as putting it into hot water at first will cause the outside to break before the center is done. See that it is covered with water, and throw in a table spoonful of salt. Take off the froth carefully, and boil it half an hour. Fresh cod is eaten with oyster sauce and melted butter, or with the latter alone, with the addition of parsley and three or four eggs boiled very hard, cut up and put into it.

The head and shoulders of cod are so much thicker than the other part, that it is impossible to boil the fish whole and have all parts equally cooked. It is therefore a good way to divide it, boil the head and shoulders, and fry the other part, or sprinkle it with salt, and after a day or two, broil it.
[Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846]

General Directions Respecting Fish - From Young Housekeeper’s Friend, 1846

Fresh fish can be judged by their being hard under the pressure of the finger. Even if not injured, fish lose their best flavor soon, and a few hours make a wide difference in the taste of some sorts.

Most kinds of fish are best in cold weather. Mackerel are best in August, September and October. Halibut in May and June. Oysters are good from September to April; but are not very good or healthy from the first of May to the last of August [hence the advice still used today in Maryland - only eat oysters during the months that contain “R’s.”] Lobsters are best at the season when oysters are not good...

Epicures [one with sensitive and discriminating tastes especially in food] consider it important to boil salt water fish in sea water... Pond fish should be soaked in strong salt and water to take out the earthy taste. Fish may be kept good several days, if frozen...A boiled fish is done when the eyes turn white.

When you broil fish, rub the gridiron with lard or drippings, to prevent its sticking. Do not attempt to turn it like steaks, with a knife or fork, but lay an old dish upon it, and hold it on with one hand, while you turn over the gridiron with the other.

Fish that is to be fried, should be laid in a cloth for an hour, that the moisture may be absorbed. It should then be rolled in fine bread crumbs, or Indian meal. Fish that is apt to break in frying may be kept whole by being dipped in a beaten egg, before it is rolled in the bread crumbs. Oysters should be skimmed out of the liquor before being cooked, in order that it may be strained, as there are often bits of shell in it.

Soup Meat
To make the soup very good, the meat (of which there should be a large proportion, rather more than a pound to a quart of water) must remain in till it drops entirely from the bones and is boiled to rags. But none of these fragments and shreds should be found in the tureen when the soup is sent to table; they should all be kept at the bottom of the pot, pressing down the ladle hard upon them when you are dipping out the soup. If any are seen in the soup after it is taken up, let them be carefully removed with a spoon. To send the soup to table with bits of bone and shreds of meat in it is a slovenly, disgusting, and vulgar practice, and should be strictly forbidden, as some indifferent cooks will do so to save themselves the trouble of removing it. A mass of shreds left at the bottom of the tureen absorbs so much of the liquid as to diminish the quantity of the soup; and if eaten, is very unwholesome, all the nourishment being boiled out of it.
[Godey’s - November, 1861]

http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,civil_war_foods,FF.html

CIVIL WAR FRUIT CAKE

Boil for 5 minutes and then let cool: 3 c. raisins 2 c. granulated sugar 2 c. water 2 tbsp. butter or Crisco

Sift together and add to cooled mixture: 2 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. cinnamon 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. nutmeg 1 tsp. ground cloves

Mix and then add 1 cup chopped black walnuts. Bake in a well greased angel food or loaf pan for 1 hour at 300 degrees. This cake was developed during the Civil War when fancier fruits were rare.

CIVIL WAR IDIOT’S DELIGHT

1 c. brown sugar
1 c. raisins
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
4 c. water
7 tbsp. butter
1/2 c. white sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. milk
1 c. flour

Boil together the first 5 ingredients. Make a batter of the second 5 ingredients. Drop the batter in a greased pan by spoonfuls. Pour first mixture over it and bake in a moderate oven until golden brown.

This recipe was given to my mother many years ago by an old lady who said her family used it during the hard times after the Civil War. It was popular because it used only a few, inexpensive, easy to obtain ingredients and is fool-proof. Even an idiot can make it. My kind of cookin’.

CIVIL WAR APPLESAUCE COOKIES

2 1/4 c. sugar
1 1/3 c. shortening
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 c. applesauce
6 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt

Cream shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Add applesauce and mix well. Add sifted dry ingredients and blend well. Drop by heaping tablespoon on greased cookie sheets. Flatten and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. They Do Not Brown!

CIVIL WAR ORANGE CAKE (General
Ogelthorpe)

1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. soda
2 c. sifted flour
1 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. chopped raisins
2 orange peels, ground

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugar and eggs. Add buttermilk. Add dry ingredients. Save juice from 2 oranges. Spread mixture in 13 x 9 x 2 inch greased pan. Bake until golden and pulls away from edges. Mix equal parts of orange juice and sugar. Pour over hot cake. Is great served with wassail spiced tea.

MAW’S CIVIL WAR PIE

1 1/2 c. dried cooked peaches
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1 1/2 tbsp. flour
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 whole eggs
3/4 c. milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix fruit, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Put in unbaked 9 inch pie crust. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over the fruit. This makes a custard for the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

Over the 377 years that my ancestors have lived around this area (coming on the Ark and Dove founding St. Mary’s City & Maryland), and with the seafood that the Chesapeake Bay provides, there were certain bread specialties that went with it and have been passed down for many generations.

Probably the most notorious is the Maryland Beaten Biscuit. Perfect with crab or fish soup or chowder. Not only do they taste good, but they are good for the soul of the cook, allowing them to vent - as you can see in this recipe -
_ _ _ _

MARYLAND BEATEN BISCUITS

Recipe By : Chesapeake Bay Cooking with John Shields
Serving Size : 18 Preparation Time :
Categories : Breads Regional Cooking

Amount Measure Ingredient — Preparation Method
———— —————— ————————————————
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons lard — or vegetable
— shortening
1 3/4 cups water — up to 2

(The oldest and most famous biscuit recipe of the Chesapeake Bay region originated on the plantations of southern Maryland. The traditional preparation can be termed, at the very least, a culinary cardiovascular-aerobic exercise.

Its execution is best described by Joanne Pritchett, whose great-great grandmother was a cook on a St. Mary’s plantation: “Honey, every time I know I’m going to make these biscuits, I get myself good and mad. (Normally I think about my sister-in-law, Darlene, who ran off with my husband right after Granny Pritchett’s funeral. That was years ago, but it still galls me into making some of the tenderest biscuits around.”)

“It’s very simple. I just sift the flour and salt together in a bowl. Some people, nowadays, like to use Crisco or something like that. But I believe in lard. It gives it that certain taste.

”So then, I cut the lard into the flour with the tips of my fingers, working it real quick. During this step I make believe I’m putting out Darlene’s eyes.

“Then, little by little, I pour in the cold water, until I get a good stiff dough. Put it on a real solid table with flour. Now if your table is weak, honey, the legs’ll fall right off. I’ve seen it happen!

”Depending on my mood, I use an axe or a big old mallet. I make a ball out of the dough to look like Darlene’s head and, baby, I let her have it. Use the flat side of the axe or mallet, and beat the hell out of the dough till it blisters good. Takes about half an hour, but honey, it makes them tender as butter.

“Form the dough into balls, the size of little eggs, and flatten ‘em a bit on the board. Put a few pokes in the center with a fork, then bake in a hot 425øF oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot and put some liniment on your arm, or it’ll be acting up the next day.”

Makes about 3 dozen biscuits

_ _ _ _

As I think of what Zero is doing to our country, maybe I need to make some tonight!

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