Subject: Sea biscuits

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1993 11:44:18 GMT

I'm trying to research sea biscuit (hardtack), especially in the 18th
century, but so far I have found onnces to it in my
sources. Can anyone direct me to an author and/or text to help with
such matters as ingredients, methods of manufacture, size and weight,
national and regional differences, if any. I would also like to know
if it is being made commercially, and if so, where.
Thanks
Gar Fizzard

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From: [email-masked] (Thomas Apple)
Date: 26 Aug 93 11:49:55 GMT

Hard Tack/Sea Biscuit:

per cup of flour, use one teaspoon of salt and one tea spoon of sugar,

mix with water, just enough to make a stiff dough, and do one of
the following:

1) roll out on to greased cookie pan, cut dough with knife to form
squares or rectangles approx. 2.5 - 3 inches long and/or wide.
and 1/2 in. thick, poke holes with toothpick like a cracker.

2) roll out to about 1/2 in. thick use round cookie cutter
approx 2.5 - 3 in. diameter, and place on greased cookie sheet.
poke holes w/toothpick

3) By hand form, into rectangular biscuits, approx. 2.5 X 3.5
place on greased cookie sheet, poke holes.

then cook at 350 deg. F for approx one hour or until lightly browned.

configs 1 and 2 are more like commercial or contract hard tack and
config 3 is like homemade.

For 18th century style use whole wheat flour or whole wheat/bleached
flour mix. for 19th century use bleached flour for commercial type.

When you take it out of the oven it may still be soft, but when it cools
its hard as a rock.  Watch you teeth when eating it. I would break it
up first into smaller pieces to save an dental bills. Store in an airtight
dry container and it will last for years.

Enjoy,
Tom Apple

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From: [email-masked] ()
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1993 12:41:20 GMT

Thomas Apple ([email-masked]) wrote:
|Hard Tack/Sea Biscuit:
|When you take it out of the oven it may still be soft, but when it cools
|its hard as a rock.  Watch you teeth when eating it. I would break it
|up first into smaller pieces to save an dental bills. Store in an airtight
|dry container and it will last for years.

Something similar was issued to the troops in WW1. My wife has one that was 
sent to one of her relatives by another relative at the front line. 

That's sent as in sent through the post. Without an envelope: the address 
is written directly on the biscuit and the stamp is stuck on the biscuit.

Those things are _hard_.

--
===============================================================================
  Tom Gardner                 Hewlett Packard Laboratories, Filton Rd, 
  [email-masked]	      Stoke Gifford, Bristol, Avon, BS12 6QZ, ENGLAND.
  Fax: +44 272 228920         Tel: +44 272 799910 ext. 28192

  "Some would sooner die than think. In fact, they often do." -- B. Russell

  "When you've spent half your political life dealing with humdrum issues like 
   the environment ... it's exciting to have a real crisis on your hands"
   -- Margaret Hilda Thatcher, on the Falklands Conflict.
===============================================================================

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From: [email-masked] (John Wexler)
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 1993 13:53:25 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Thomas Apple) writes:
|> Hard Tack/Sea Biscuit:
|> 
|> per cup of flour, use one teaspoon of salt and one tea spoon of sugar,
|> 
|> mix with water, just enough to make a stiff dough

Any salt or sugar (or indeed fat, in recipes which call for it) will
probably shorten the life of the bisuit, by (a) absorbing moisture from
the atmosphere, (b) feeding moulds and bacteria, or (c) attracting
insects, rodents, etc.  The bisuits would also cost more.  Some recipes
DO include them, and they do occur in related foods and survivals like
army biscuits and Orkney biscuits.  Still, if you want to recapture the
authentic experience, try plain flour and water, which would have been
the common mixture for biscuits.

    John Wexler

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From: [email-masked] (Thomas Apple)
Date: 26 Aug 93 17:17:18 GMT

Reply-To: [email-masked] (Thomas Apple)
Followup-To: 
Organization: Carderock Division, NSWC, Bethesda, MD

In rec.food.historic, [email-masked] (John Wexler) writes:
>insects, rodents, etc.

As did the originals!

Tom A.

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From: [email-masked] (Hiroki Morizono)
Date: Wed, 1 Sep 1993 10:53:58 GMT

Thomas Apple ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Reply-To: [email-masked] (Thomas Apple)
: Followup-To: 
: Organization: Carderock Division, NSWC, Bethesda, MD
: 
: In rec.food.historic, [email-masked] (John Wexler) writes:
: >
: >Any salt or sugar (or indeed fat, in recipes which call for it) will
: >probably shorten the life of the bisuit, by (a) absorbing moisture from
: >the atmosphere, (b) feeding moulds and bacteria, or (c) attracting
: >insects, rodents, etc.
: 
: As did the originals!
Right,
remember to tap your hardtack first to scare out the weevils...
Hiroki