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Camp Cooking

08 Wednesday Aug 2012

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Our first overnight, camping-in reenactment went fairly well. Why the artillerists had to bring a concertina to a gunfight, I’ll never know, but a 2:36 AM rendition of “Good Night Ladies” was truly unnecessary.

The most important thing I can emphasize about reenacting in high summer is to stay hydrated. We brought the big white water pitcher we used at the House Cleaning in April, sliced a lime into it, and filled it repeatedly at the town pump. The Young Mr doesn’t like lime in his water, so he filled the coffee pot for himself, but the rest of our Regiment and members of the 10th Mass helped themselves liberally. It was well worth bringing.

The meals we ate were simple: apples, bread, ham and cheese for breakfast and lunch (I forgot to bring the eggs…) and beef stew for dinner. The stew is the most interesting part of the business. Mr S bought the meat, and without even realizing it, he picked up the appropriate amount of rations. Men were supposed to be issued a pound of beef and a pound of flour or bread a day; women, half that, and children a quarter. The amount we packed was a pound and three quarters. Seemed like too much when I packed it into the cooler, but as it turned out, we ate it all.

Enhanced Ration Stew (feeds 3 to 4)

  • 1.75 pounds beef stew meat
  • 3 carrots, sliced
  • 1 very large onion, roughly chopped
  • 4-5 small, firm, potatoes, cubed
  • Half a small kettle of water
  • 2 packets or cubes of portable soup (beef boullion)

Note: start the fire and get it hot before you bring the meat out…

Cut the meat into smaller chunks, add to the kettle, and place over the fire. Brown the meat on all sides; note that this will take as long as it takes.

When the meat is browned, add the onions and cook until they start to get soft. Add the rest of the ingredients, stir, and cover.

Bring to a rolling boil for at least twenty minutes; stir occasionally. Be sure to add wood to the fire to keep it hot. I think we cooked our stew for about 2.5 hours, but it’s hard to say exactly, as we were not wearing timepieces. We started the fire after the battle, which would have been at about 3:30 or 4:00, and ate around 6:30.

I used my pocketknife to slice the vegetables first, and arranged them in our wooden bowls. Then I sliced the beef into smaller chunks, using a piece of firewood as a cutting surface—since it gets burned, you don’t have to wash anything but the knife in hot water. Thanks to the 40th Foot at the SOI for demonstrating that technique.

Tea Party Madness

05 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by in Food, History

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There they are, those lower sorts! We had tea, with delicious scones and excellent company in the form of booksellers from Brooklyn. We don’t get out to tea very often, and it was a pleasant introduction to more old-fashioned notions of parties.

This is a useful thing, because the known bonnet wearer must prepare cake and punch for an as-yet-unknown quantity of guests to include the Second Helping Regiment. Perhaps the historic recipes are not so far off in quantity after all..

The clip is from The Compleat Housewife: or, Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion. A similar recipe appears in The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Simple, by Hannah Glasse. You can find it on the Colonial Williamsburg website, along with a translation for the 21st century cook. I think I’ll try it, and I’ll have to start soon to get it right by the end of June.

Now for a punch recipe for an unknown quantity…

Pork Pies in Dighton

31 Thursday May 2012

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The weekend before Memorial Day, we spent two days in Dighton along the Segregansett River. It was a Continental Line event, and as such it was interesting to see that different organizations host reenactments with subtle differences.

The biggest difference for us was we got to day trip it from home since Dighton is so close, and that meant two different lunches. Day one, a variation on pasties. Day two, bread and cheese and fruit.

For the pasty variation, I cheated with store-brought crust. I figured the week my guy fell in a 12-foot-pit, I could cut a corner or two that did not involve safety, since I was getting home so much later.

Here’s how the filling worked, riffing on a Daily Mail recipe:

  • Some olive oil (a tablespoon, perhaps)
  • Half a medium sized onion, diced fine
  • A teaspoon of sage
  • Half to two-thirds of a pound of pork cutlet or boneless chop, whacked thin
  • One firm apple, sliced thin
  • One carrot, sliced thin, or a parsnip, or both, or neither
  • One medium potato, diced small
  • Tablespoon of flour
  • A tablespoon of lemon juice
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Small amount of water, as needed
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten

Heat the oil in a skillet; add the onion and sage, cook until soft.
Add the pork, cook until lightly browned.
Add potato, apple, and lemon juice; this is the time to add carrot/parsnip.
Sprinkle lighly with flour or cornstarch.
Cook until pork is browned and vegetables softening but not soft; add water as needed to create some juices.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

It is best to let the filling cool before spooning it onto the crust.

Cut the circles of crust into halves. Divide the filling into four equal parts, and distribute among the half-circles. Fold the crust over, pinch closed. Brush with beaten egg to glaze, cut small slits for steam holes. Bake at 350 degrees until filling bubbles and crust is brown, about 30 minutes, depending on oven.

Seasonal Eating

16 Wednesday May 2012

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When there is a weekend event, I have to start thinking on Wednesday about lunch on Saturday and Sunday. Sunday is the more troublesome day, because there won’t be much time on Saturday to prep for Sunday: the work has to be done now.

This is not so much fun when you’re still trying to work out lunches and dinners for the regular 21st century week.

One solution, based on suggestions made for Battle Road this year, is pasties. They’re delicious and easy to carry, keep well, and are very satisfying. They’re also a meal that can be made with seasonal ingredients, like those outlined  in The compleat housewife: or, Accomplished gentlewoman’s companion, Cookery, etc. by Eliza Smith, 1742.

She presents a Bill of Fare for May that includes:

Chicken pye and a grand sallad might work, if the pretense is that I’m visiting camp. The Battle Road pasty filling was made as follows:

  • Olive oil
  • 1 poached chicken breast, diced (a whole does well for 4 -6 people, half for 3 or fewer)
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 parsnip, scrubbed and sliced
  • 1 carrot, ditto
  • 1 small to medium red potato, cubed
  • 1 apple, cored and cubed
  • Small handful dried cranberries
  • Herbs de Provence, generously applied
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • A little water
  • A little milk (optional)

Poach the chicken breast the day before, when you are making the crust. I use Martha Stewart’s perfect pâte brisée, but a Joy of Cooking crust works just as well. I toss into the water a bay leaf, a celery stalk top, an old carrot, and slice an old onion—we usually have scraps about from previous meals—and boiling these vegetables with the chicken breast tends to make the meat taste better.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a little oil in a skillet and add the onions and the herbs.
When the onions are soft, add the carrot, parsnip and potato.When these are just beginning to soften, add the chicken and dried cranberries.  Add just a little water—you want the filling to be a little dry so it does not soak the crust—and the apple.
Taste for seasoning and adjust.
Stir and cook over medium heat until all ingredients are hot and the root vegetables only medium-soft. Remove from heat.

Divide the pastry crust into as many balls as you will make pasties; from a double-crust recipe, you can make at least 4 good-sized pasties.

Roll the dough into circles and add filling to one side (you’ll make a semi-circle heap of filling). Wet the edge of the circle with a brush, and fold over the crust, pressing edges together with a fork. Some people have the skill to make a twisted, decorative edge; I don’t. Brush the top of the pasty with water or milk for a brown crust. Poke several steam vents in the top with a fork, or slit with a knife.

Bake at 350 until the filling bubbles and the crust is browned, about 30 minutes. Let the pasties cool, wrap in paper and tie with string.

Making It

10 Thursday May 2012

Posted by in Food, Reenacting

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One of the most satisfying things about reenacting is that you get to make things. Not just can make things, but must.

Do you want a gown to wear to an event? Gotta make one.

Want the gown to fit properly? Better make stays.

Everyone in our Regiment makes things, and not just for reenacting: there’s a toy sculptor, a machinist, a gunsmith, a diorama and replica maker, a photographer among the ranks.

There are two things I most enjoy about reenacting: one is making the clothing. As a refugee from art school (I escaped with a Master’s degree and no teaching prospects), I need to make things. If I wasn’t sewing, I’d be painting, and Robert Gamblin paints and good quality canvas aren’t cheap.

The other thing I enjoy is cooking, and being able to cook for a crowd, with limitations. When I plan for a party or family celebration, anything goes. Thai, Indian, English, Swedish, anything. For reenacting, the food needs to be both period- and class- appropriate as well as seasonally appropriate. And sometimes the best results come from limiting yourself.

One of the favorite recipes I’ve made for the Second Helping Regiment is a Gingerbread Cake recorded by a local family in a 1928 family cookbook. The family has been in Rhode Island since 1637, and were ardent patriots in the American Revolution. I have no qualms about using their 1928 recipe, since that is only the year in which it was written down—we don’t know how long they’d been making this.

Ingredients

¼ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup boiling water
[last two ingredients: pour over butter and stir]
To the above mixture add ¾ cup molasses

Sift into the liquid mixture:
1 ½ cup flour
½ tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt

Drop in one unbeaten egg. Beat whole with eggbeater and bake in slow over for about half an hour.

I use an 8 x 11.5 x 2 inch glass pan and bake at 350 for a little more than 30 minutes; my oven is always a little slow, being a cheap landlord-installed electric affair.