FORT ABERCROMBIE, D. T.
Cooking
OVERVIEW
In the 1860s American West, the acquisition and cultivation of food was a necessity of life that was common to the settlers, soldiers and emigrants. The soldiers were more fortunate than the civilians because the army supplied their basic food (rations). The settlers and emigrants had to acquire their own food through cultivation, hunting, fishing, trading or by purchasing it.
The Subsistence Department of the Army was responsible for the acquisition, quality, and distribution of the rations and related ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, vinegar, molasses, etc.). At each post an officer was assigned as the Assistant Commissary of Subsistence and was responsible for maintaining a sufficient supply of rations for the garrison. The bulk of the rations and related ingredients were stored in the Post Commissary building and only the proper amounts were distributed (issued) to each company of soldiers.
A soldier's basic rations consisted of specified amounts of meat (pork or beef), bread, peas or beans, rice or hominy, and coffee. Related ingredients such as salt, sugar, vinegar, pepper and molasses were also issued as rations to assist with the preparation of the food and enhance the bland military diet.
During the 1860s, the United States Army did not have any permanent cooks or bakers. Cooking was considered to be a regular fatigue (work) detail which was performed by two enlisted soldiers from each company for two weeks. The biweekly rotation and individual experience of the cooks and bakers caused the quality of the food to vary, but as long as it was prepared according to the regulations the army considered the food to be edible. If a cook was satisfactory and desired to remain longer, arrangements were made to keep him on, and he was relieved of his other duties, sometimes for months. Although a cook received no extra pay, he had the privilege of selling soap-grease, if there was a market for it.
Bread and soup were the major items of the enlisted soldier's diet. The bread was baked in the Post Bake-House and was not issued until it had become stale. Stale bread was considered to be more nutritious and digestible than fresh bread. Regulations required that dried vegetables (peas, beans, etc.) had to be soaked in cold water before boiling and soup had to be boiled for at least five hours before it could be served. Meat was boiled, roasted or baked, but never fried because fried food was considered harmful. Regulations also specified that fresh meat was not to be cooked until it had time to bleed and cool.
One medical officer pointed out the difference between dried meat of the Indian or voyageur (jerky) and the dried meat of the soldier (salt meat) was chiefly that jerky merely lost the watery portions, while the salt meat contained "kreatine," which was soluble in brine but retained little nutrition in the contracted and solidified mass known as salt junk. The latter could be either beef or pork, but it was "employed as food upon much the same principle as that ascribed to alligators, who swallow stones to appease the cravings of an empty stomach."
The soldiers supplemented their monotonous rations with the meat of wild animals (deer, rabbit, squirrel, etc.), fish, and vegetables that were cultivated in the gardens at the fort. The following vegetables were raised at various military posts on the frontier from 1820 to 1880 and were probably raised in the gardens at Fort Abercrombie: potatoes, onions, beets, cabbage, radishes, turnips, lettuce, greens, mustard, squash, cucumbers, peas, green beans and corn.
The men were encouraged to grow gardens to supplement the army rations. Since a well-fed soldier usually was a contented soldier, attention was paid to the diet. At Fort Abercrombie, a post surgeon was able to report that the "post gardens being good, the fare is of course equal to every wish of the soldier." The army early had learned its lesson in regard to proper nutrition. Despite its claim that the "two great scourges of camp life, scurvy and diarrhea" resulted from a lack of skill in cooking rather than from the ration, over 150 men had died at Fort Atkinson, Nebraska, when they were forced to subsist a winter without vinegar or vegetables. Only the appearance of the wild onion in the spring saved the command. Wild onions, vinegar, and other fruits and vegetables contain vitamin C which prevents scurvy.
One of the main differences between the soldiers and civilians on the frontier is that the army provided the soldiers with their food while the civilians had to struggle to survive. Army food was often poorly cooked and monotonous, but it was consistently available. The soldiers did not have to depend on a successful hunt or crop for their food, but very often these were facts of life for the civilians. As a result of this, many of the civilians believed that the army provided the soldiers with too much and that they had an easy life.
TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT
The following are tools would be found in the mess hall or at a cooking station.
FIREPLACE
COOKING
UTENSILS
KETTLES AND PANS
Dishes and other items that are in the kitchen included tinware and redware-both pictured below. The redware is for display only.
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The descriptions of these tools came from the Open Hearth Cookbook by Suzanne Goldenson and Doris Simpson. Used by permission.
OPEN HEARTH COOKING
Open hearth cooking is the oldest way of cooking. Before cook stoves came into existence, fireplaces were commonly used. A cook knew how to prepare the fire for a day of planned cooking. The cook would rise early in order to start the fire for the day's cooking. The fire was also the last thing at night the cook tended to, banking it for the next morning's use.
The fire is something to be studied. If you do not understand how a fire operates, you will not be able to control it. Not just any wood would do. Hardwoods are the best. Ash, oak, hickory, hard maple, or dogwood are some hardwoods good to burn. " The two essential properties of the best cooking woods are that they generate an even, intense heat and that they produce a good supply of red hot coals as combustion proceeds." Hardwoods accomplish both properties. Blazing fires do look dramatic for display, but were used little for useful cooking.
Cooks used a controllable fire, which roasted and toasted foods. Boiling, simmering, and stewing foods were under a small flame. To utilize still further the fire's energy, its coals were raked up, placed on the lid, and then placed underneath the Dutch ovens to bake. On rainy days, when the wood supply got wet, it was brought into the house and stacked around the back and sides of the fireplace. The heat of the fire would dry the wood out. This technique of drying wet wood in a fireplace is seen in old photographs of the period. The area you were settled in had a great deal to do with what wood you had available.
Some area's had only soft wooded trees growing around them. Bents' Fort had a problem with obtaining the proper wood for cooking, because of the softwoods native to their surroundings. Without the hardwoods, coals were difficult to accumulate. Baking is only successful with the aid of coals.
Although early American cooks used long-handled pots and utensils, being burned and even burning one's house down were frequent misfortunes, especially during this period of rudely constructed chimneys.
The floor near the cooking hearth was swept constantly, and the hearth itself scrubbed often to keep it free from grease. Dripping pans were used when roasting or boiling to prevent the grease from dripping directly on the hearth.
Scalding was a common accident when people used lugpoles. Lugpoles were sturdy, very green, saplings that rested on the projecting inner ledges of the fireplace throat six or seven feet above the hearth. If this big pole were not replaced frequently, it would burn through, causing damage to those around the hearth.
Lugpoles were replaced by cranes. The crane is a large iron bracket hinged to the fireplace jamb. From "S" hooks and trammels placed on it, the cook suspended her cooking pots over the fire. The cranes' hinges allowed her to swing the pots on and off the fire safely. Many implements were used by the cook. Each one performed a useful task. Different types of tools used to care for the fire were; shovels, pokers, tongs, and bellows. Without these implements, one would not have been able to cook. Tending to the fire was important because without doing so, one would not be able to have available the right amount of coals for baking or enough flames for boiling.
Other versatile cooking implements are: peels, posnets, spiders, bird ovens, coffee roasters, tilting teakettles, ember tongs, salamanders, tin kitchens, Dutch ovens, clock jacks, griddles, waffle irons, and kettles of all sizes. Not all kitchens were supplied so lavishly.
The general arrangements were sparse. This did not hinder the cook's basic cooking techniques. One could turn out the prepared dishes with a surprisingly high degree of accuracy, and with remarkably tasty results. That was because of the cook's resourcefulness. Pots, which were designed for a particular cooking technique, were used in a variety of other ways as well. An average cook had a skillet or frying pan and would own a griddle, which was useful for baking biscuits, muffins, small cakes, pancakes, and sautéing. For pots that did not have fat on them, a trivet was required for supporting it. Spoons for stirring, forks for piercing, and spatulas for turning were all-important implements used.
Cookbooks were not common items in the 1860s. All good cooks knew their recipes by heart. If a cookbook were found in this time era though, you would see recipes for French bread, ladyfingers, sponge cake, and puff.
Your wood, knowledge of fires, implements, and of course, safety, are all a part of open hearth cooking this type of cooking is continuous process of learning. New recipes tried against old are always a challenge. The best teacher of all in open hearth cooking is just experiencing it yourself and the old cliché - if at first you don't succeed- try, try again!
ARMY RATIONS
The exact daily rations for each man per day were as follows:
This was the food ration in the 1860s although the actual ration would have included soap and candles. The flour was made into bread and was baked on site in the post bakery or bake house. The rest of the rations would have been shipped and stored in the Commissary Storehouse. The salt beef or salt pork was usually not served as a meat dish but rather in a soup, a stew, or a hash-with the main difference between the three dishes being the amount of water poured into each one. Prior to this time, whiskey was also included as part of the standard army ration.
The rations were issued in bulk to the companies, cooked, and then served to the men. There were variations on these rations. For example, tea might be traded for coffee.
When on campaign, hardtack crackers were issued when fresh bread was not available, and hardtack was often issued in camp as well. One pound (about 9 or 10 crackers) was issued to the soldier whether on the march or in camp. Common problems with hardtack were being too hard, wet, moldy, or infested with maggots and weevils. One way to remedy these problems was to boil the hardtack in coffee and skim the weevils and maggots off the foam. Other culinary artists used hardtack to thicken their soup, toasted it with butter, soaked it in cold water and fried it in pork fat (called "skillygalee") or just ate it plain. Soldiers grumbled hardtack did not satisfy them. Many parodied the popular song "Hard Times". The following chorus illustrates their frustration:
'Tis the song and sigh of the hungry,
"Hard crackers, hard crackers, come again no more!
Many days have you lingered upon our stomachs sore,
O hard crackers, come again no more!"The ration in particular and the food in general was one of many factors that contributed to the soldiers' discontent with army life.
Despite promises to the contrary when they joined the army, soldiers often found army rations dull and unappetizing and complained about both the quality and quantity of the food. But at least the soldiers did not go hungry, unlike many civilians in the area. By the 1860s, the ration had actually improved because beans were added as were sugar and coffee. Bacon could replace the salt beef. Whiskey was out and vegetables were in, although the vegetables were grown in the post gardens and weren't actually part of the ration.
©2005 Bard & Wika, Inc.,
James V. Acker, Pres.
