Subject: Civil War recipes?

From: [email-masked] (Michael Crichton Fan)
Date: 15 Sep 94 15:41:46 -0600

Hey--
	During the summer, I am a living history Park Ranger.  Most of what we
do is portray the common Civil War soldier's camp life.  We cook and eat at
the campsite every day.  As you can imagine, our recipes get rather redundant. 
The soldiers we represent ate very well for the time, so we are allowed to use
chicken, beef, pork, various regional vegetables, etc.  I was hoping some of
you have interesting ideas as to the use of these items.  Bear in mind, we
represent the early 1860's.  Of course, we cook over an open fire so
remember that small limitation. :)  Ah, yes, more items include rice, potatoes,
beans of all sorts, corn, cornmeal, tomatoes, okra, onions, peppers.  Basically
what I'm looking for is authentic, relatively simple, tasty (please?!),
southern dishes.  Fire away.  Oh, if this subject has been drilled into the
ground already, just tell me so.  Indeed, I have not read the FAQ (if such an
animal exists), so I am unaware of any taboos.
						Many thanks,  Chip
						  [email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Jane Beckman)
Date: 16 Sep 94 18:45:10 GMT

>do is portray the common Civil War soldier's camp life.  
>chicken, beef, pork, various regional vegetables, etc.  

You might want to consider something as simple as roasted
chicken or duck (either spit or in a dutch oven), as this was
a well-documented "forage" item. ;-)

Summer (on the march/temporary camp) or Winter quarters?  Your
equipment and choices will vary, depending on what you are
allowed.  

And don't forget the awful fried pies that were purchased from
the sutlers who followed the camps!  Heavens, there is a lot
of documentation on those!  

If I know what you're working with, I can offer more tips.

Jane Beckman aka "Sargent James," Norfolk Light Artillery,
CSA, NCWA  [[email-masked]]

--
  Jilara   [[email-masked]]
That's how freedom will end: not with a bang, but with a rustle of file
folders.  If you love any of your rights, defend all of them!
-Joe Chew, on the net

---

From: [email-masked] ()
Date: 25 Sep 1994 14:08:17 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
John E. Taylor III <[email-masked]> wrote:

>> I can attest, to my  own chagrin, just how awful, fried pies are.
>> My mother-in -law, who lives on a tobacco farm in extreme south-central VA
>> still makes what are called "half-moon pies".  They are made with dried apples,
>> rehydrated, wrapped in biscuit dough and fried in lard.  No wonder southern men
>> drink so much!
>
>You mean you Yankees don't _like_ fried pies?!  ;-)  One thing sure, if you
>ate one of them while on the march, you wouldn't be hungry for the rest of
>the day.  That may have been why Gen. Jackson was able to cover such
>remarkable distances with his troops.

And 'sloosh'.  In case anyone didn't hear Shelby Foote's explaination; fry 
bacon in a pan and crumble, cook cornmeal in the grease, roll the resulting 
sludge into a 'snake' with your fingers, wind around a large stick & bake over 
the campfire.  Yup 'the rebs drink worse whiskey and more of it'.

---

From: [email-masked] (Beverly S. Shank)
Date: Wed, 28 Sep 1994 18:10:31 GMT

[email-masked] writes:  > In article
<[email-masked]>, > John E. Taylor
III <[email-masked]> wrote:  > > >> I can attest,
to my own chagrin, just how awful, fried pies are.  > >> My
mother-in -law, who lives on a tobacco farm in extreme
south-central VA > >> still makes what are called "half-moon
pies".  They are made with dried apples, > >> rehydrated,
wrapped in biscuit dough and fried in lard.  No wonder southern
men > >> drink so much!  
For years now, since reading of "fried
dried apple pies" in Alfred Crabb's books, where the pies are
such a hit that Gen. Forrest nicknames the character "Fried
Pie", I've looked forward to eating them someday.  Even got a
package of snitz (dried apples) from Penn. Dutch country but
have yet to convert it to fried pie filling - as if I knew how
:-).  So I procrastinate, trusting to find a true fried pie by
a true southern cook. But now I'm unsettled. As regards my
pleasant expectations, any chance (please, yes) that the
awfulness is limited to your specific circumstances?  I
recollect a friend brought a regular apple pie to a luncheon
and e'gad! everything about it was awful.  I sure felt sorry
for her husband and two boys.
				Beverly
--
		[email-masked]

(Standard Disclaimer - 			"Mood?  What has *mood* to do with
My opinions, not the employer's)	it?...Mood's a thing for cattle or

---

From: [email-masked] (John E. Taylor III)
Date: Wed, 5 Oct 1994 12:23:07 -0400

In article <[email-masked]>,
[email-masked] (Beverly S. Shank) wrote:

> awfulness is limited to your specific circumstances?

Like any pastry, the results do definitely depend upon the skill of the
cook.  Probably the biggest problem with a fried pie is simply that it is
_fried_, and a lot of people consider that, prima facie, bad.  But those
same people probably would eat a doughnut.  :-)

I don't have a recipe for the pastry here at work, but any filling would be
appropriate; soak your "schnitts" overnight in water, then treat them much
as regular apples for an apple pie, but cook the filling in a saucepan,
rather than depending on the cooking time in the oil.  Add the filling to
the pastry, fold it over and _seal well_, and fry in oil that is the right
temperature for french fries or doughnuts--that's really important, because
oil that's too cool ruins more fried foods than any other single problem.
They will be golden in color, and more than likely rise to the surface of
the oil, when they are done.

As I indicated earlier, maybe it's a southern thing, and Yankees wouldn't
understand. ;-)

--
John Taylor    (W3ZID)     |  "The opinions expressed are those of the
[email-masked] |   writer and not of Rohm and Haas Company."

---

From: [email-masked] (Karoline Wallace)
Date: 10 Oct 1994 21:03:20 GMT

> As I indicated earlier, maybe it's a southern thing, and Yankees wouldn't

It may be a southern thing now, but this was a common dessert on the
Oregon-California Trail in the 1830-1850's.  Everyone had dried apples in
their covered-wagon pantries, and frying pies was done daily.  They were
often fried in lard, and eventually when that ran out, they were fried in
tallow.  Doungh (made with whatever was left) was flattened, dtuffed,
folded in half and fried in a spider frying pan directly on the fire.  For
more info see Jacqueling (?) Williams "Wagon-Wheels" (or something like
that, sorry for the lack of detail here).

*******************************************************
Karoline Wallace
Computing & Information Systems
College of General Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Tel: (215) 898-5522   Email: [email-masked]
*******************************************************