• Welcome to the Receipts of the Blue & Gray. - The receipts you will find here are original Antebellum, and Civil War period receipts, as originally published between the years 1796 and 1880. One exception, is: Newspaper Clippings & Periodical Receipts are limited to a publishing period from 1858 to 1866.

    Some receipts from this era attempted to give medicinal advice. Many dangerous, and in some cases, deadly, "cures" were given, reflecting the primitive knowledge of that time period. Don't assume everything you read here is safe to try! Recipes and Receipts posted here are for Historic Research Purposes, enjoy them, learn from them, discuss them!

    ★ If you attempt to try one of these recipes / receipts, you do so at your own risk! ★

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Receipts of the Blue & Gray

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(from the Southern Recorder, Milledgeville, Georgia, June 16, 1863) Ingredients: 1 gallon shelled corn 1/2 gallon good ashes Instructions: Now that meal is hard to get about our villages and towns, we recommend lye hominy as a good substitute, at least as a change. The simple plan of preparing it is as follows; to a gallon of shelled corn add a half a gallon of good ashes. Boil together until the husk begins to come off the corn. Then rub briskly to clear the grain completely off the husk. Wash the corn clear and boil it for ten or twelve hours, adding water from time to time to keep it from burning. it is then ready, and only has to be warmed over for use as needed. It is perhaps better fried. This is said to be more wholesome than...
(from The Virginia House-wife, by Mary Randolph, 1825) Ingredients: salt 1 egg 4 oz. butter 1 quart flour new milk Instructions: Put a little salt, one egg beaten, and four ounces of butter, in a quart of flour - make it into a paste with new milk, beat it for half an hour with a pestle, roll the paste thin, and cut it into round cakes; bake them on a gridiron, and be careful not to burn them. (Advertisement from the Morning Register - Eugene, Oregon) Anna Murray Douglass was more than just the wife of Frederick Douglass. While recently perusing the book, Women in the World of Frederick Douglass, by Leigh Fought, I learned she was also known for her garden and her ""Marlland Biskits". A letter from Louisa Sprague, who lived...
(from Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt-book, by Catharine Esther Beecher, 1846) Ingredients: 1 gill distillery yeast or 2 gills fresh home-brewed yeast 1 quart warm water flour On 2nd day: 7 quarts sifted flour powder volatile salts the size of a hickory-nut powder alum the size of a hickory-nut alternately, 1 tsp. of saleratus can replace volatile salts and alum heaping tbsp. salt 1 quart of blood-warm water butter for pans Instructions: Take a gill of distillery yeast, or twice as much fresh home-brewed yeast, add a quart of warm (not hot) water, and flour enough to make a thin batter, and let it rise in a warm place all night. This is the sponge. Next day, put seven quarts of sifted flour into the kneading tray, make a hole in...
(from Mrs. Jefferson Davis's Personal Cookbook) Ingredients: A piece of butter the size of a hen's egg A piece of lard the size of a hen's egg One quart of flour Four eggs One tea-spoon of soda. One tea-spoon salt Instructions: Preparation: Mix the butter and lard well in the flour. Beat the eggs light in a pint bowl. Fill the bowl up with butter-milk, add the salt, and soda. Mix all together and knead for 8 to 10 minutes. Roll into cakes the size of a breakfast plate and bake in a quick oven. Remember a tea-spoon is a kitchen spoon, and a quick oven is 375 to 400 degrees F.
(from Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agriculture Society, Blue Ribbon Winners at the Wisconsin State Fair of 1860) Ingredients: 2 qt. indian corn meal 1 qt. Graham flour (whole wheat) 1 packet or cake yeast 1 c. molasses or sugar 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 tsp. salt Instructions: Two qts. Indian meal, 1 qt. Graham flour, 1 cup yeast, 1 c. molasses or sugar, 1/2 tea-spoonful soda, 1/2 tea-spoonful salt. First Place - Blue Ribbon Recipe by Mrs. H. W. Hayes, Palmyra, Wisconsin.
(from Transactions of the Wisconsin State Agriculture Society, Blue Ribbon Winners at the Wisconsin State Fair of 1860) Ingredients: flour 1 qt. boiling water 1 pint cold water 1 teacup homemade yeast pinch of saleratus Instructions: Sift the requisite flour into a dish, scald with 1 qt. of boiling water, add a pint of cold water, take 1 tea-cup of yeast, add a small quantity of saleratus to prevent souring, mix stiff and let it rise. When light, mould it into convenient loaves and bake. First Place - Blue Ribbon Recipe by Miss S. J. Peffer.
(from Domestic Cookery, Useful Receipts, and Hints to Young Housekeepers, by Elizabeth Ellicott Lea, 1845) Ingredients: slices of stale bread cold sweet milk wheat flour 2 eggs 1 tsp. salt 1 tbsp. good yeast Instructions: Soak slices of stale bread in cold sweet milk for half an hour; then put it over the fire, and let it come to a boil, and mash it well; when nearly cool, add wheat flour enough to make a stiff batter; beat this together with two eggs, a tea-spoonful of salt, and a table-spoonful of good yeast; let it rise and bake as buckwheat cakes; if light before you are ready, set them in a cold place. Photo by How can I recycle this, CC-2.0 Some time ago I posted a list of the ways to use stale bread - this one was not on...
(from A Poetical Cook-book, by Maria J. Moss, 1864) Ingredients: 1 quart of buckwheat meal 1 portion yeast water to thicken suet butter Instructions: Do, dear James, mix up the cakes; Just one quart of meal it takes; Pour the water on the pot, Be careful it is not too hot; Sift the meal well through your hand, Thicken well-don't let it stand; Stir it quick,-clash, clatter, clatter! O what light, delicious batter! Now listen to the next command; On the dresser let it stand Just three quarters of an hour, To feel the gently rising power Of powders, melted into yeast, To lighten well this precious feast. See, now it rises to the brim! Quick, take the ladle, dip it in; So let it rest, until the fire The griddle heats as you desire. Be...
(from Housekeeping in Old Virginia, by Marion Cabell Tyree, 1878) Ingredients: 1 quart buckwheat flour 1 pint wheat flour 1/2 teacup yeast a pinch of salt warm water 1 cup of milk baking soda butter Instructions: 1 quart buckwheat flour. 1 pint wheat flour. 1/2 teacup yeast. A pinch of salt. Make into a batter with warm water. Set to rise. Thin the batter with a cup of milk (to make them brown well). Add a pinch of soda and bake quickly on a griddle. Butter and send to the table hot. - Mrs. D. B. K. *by definition, a ”Tea Cup” equals 4 ounces or 8 tablespoons. Corporal’s Kitchen As a good Sons of the South, we are well versed in the song "Dixie". It was written by minstrel Daniel Decatur Emmett circa 1859, quickly growing...
(from Housekeeping in Old Virginia, by Marion Cabell Tyree, 1878) Ingredients: 1 quart milk 1 pint corn meal 1 tsp. salt 2 tsp. cream of tartar 1/2 tsp. soda 3 eggs 4 tbsp. flour butter Instructions: Pour one quart of boiled milk over one pint of corn meal. Add a teaspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of cream of tartar, half teaspoonful of soda, three well beaten eggs, four tablespoonfuls of flour, a little butter. - Miss E. P. NOTE: The author of “Housekeeping In Old Virginia” did not give instructions for cooking this recipe, so this is what I do: Heat oven to 425° F. Grease a cast iron skillet with bacon grease and place in the oven while it heats. Pour the mixture into the hot skillet and bake for 20 minutes. Invert onto a plate.
(from The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-cook, and Baker, edited by Eleanor Parkinson, 1844) Ingredients: 1/4 peck flour 3/4 pint yeast 4 oz. salt water or milk Instructions: Muffins are baked on a hot iron plate, and not in an oven. To a quarter of a peck of flour add three quarters of a pint of yeast, four ounces of salt, and as much water (or milk) slightly warmed, as is sufficient to form a dough of rather a soft consistency. Small portions of the dough are then put into holes, previously made in a layer of flour about two inches thick, placed on a board, and the whole is covered up in a blanket, and suffered to stand near a fire, to cause the dough to rise; when this is effected, they will each exhibit a semi-globular shape...
(from The Great Western Cook Book, Or Table Receipts: Adapted to Western Housewifery, by Anna Maria Collins, 1857) Ingredients: 2 quarts sweet pumpkin 2 quarts fine Indian meal 2 tsp. salt 1 tbsp. heaping full of lard hot water Instructions: Take two quarts of sweet pumpkin, stewed dry; two quarts of fine Indian meal, two tea-spoonsful of salt, a table-spoon heaping full of lard, and mix them up with sufficient hot water to make it of the consistence of common corn-meal dough. Set it in a warm place, two hours, to rise, and bake it in a pan, in a moderate oven. It will take an hour and a half to bake. Photo by Cphackm CC-4.0
(from the Edgefield Advertiser of Edgefield, South Carolina, February 18, 1863) Ingredients: a pint of rice a pint of rice flour 2 tbsp. wheat flour a pint of milk and 2 eggs if you have them something to grease a baking pan good syrup for fried cakes Instructions: Boil a pint of Rice soft, and let it get cold; divide it in two portions, and with the additions needed it will make breakfast or tea bread for a large family. Add a pint of rice flour and two tablespoons of wheat flour to one half the cold rice; -- if you have milk and eggs, you can make it delicious by beating a pint or less milk and two eggs; if you have not, simply add water enough for a thin batter, pour half of this batter into a thin pan, greased, and set it to...
(from A Poetical Cook Book by Maria J. Moss, 1864) "Of wine she never tasted through the year, But white and black was all her homely cheer, Brown bread and milk (but first she skimmed her bowls), And rasher of singed bacon on the coals." -Chaucer Ingredients: 2 quarts of rye 2 quarts of Indian meal 3 pints of milk 2 tablespoons of salt 1/2 pint of good, fresh yeast; if from the brewery and quite fresh, a smaller quantity will suffice. Instructions: Sift the rye and Indian meal, and mix them well together. Boil the milk; pour it boiling upon the meal; add the salt, and stir the whole very hard. Let it stand till it becomes of only a lukewarm heat, and then stir in the yeast. Knead the mixture into a stiff dough, and set it to rise...
(from Miss Leslie's Complete Cookery, by Eliza Leslie, 1838) Ingredients: 2 quarts rye 2 quarts Indian meal 3 pints milk 2 tsp. salt 1/2 pint good fresh yeast Instructions: Sift two quarts of rye, and two quarts of Indian meal, and mix them well together. Boil three pints of milk; pour it boiling hot upon the meal; add two tea-spoonfuls of salt, and stir the whole very hard. Let it stand till it becomes of only a lukewarm heat, and then stir in half a pint of good fresh yeast; if from the brewery and quite fresh, a smaller quantity will suffice. Knead the mixture into a stiff dough, and set it to rise in a pan. Cover it with a thick cloth that has been previously warmed, and set it near the fire. When it is quite light, and has...
(from Godey's Ladies Magazine, edited by L.A. Godey, Sarah J. Hale, 1862) Ingredients: 2 lbs. flour 1 tsp. soda 1 tsp. cream of tartar 1/2 tsp. sugar salt to taste milk butter Instructions: The following receipt affords a dish of light, spongy, most quickly made muffins: To two pounds of flour add one teaspoonful of soda, ditto cream of tartar and half teaspoonful of sugar; mix thoroughly, with salt to taste, and make into a stiff batter with some milk; beat well for a few minutes. Have ready a hot earthenware pan, well buttered. also rings for the purpose. Pour in the batter, nearly half inch thick; bake a nice brown on each side; either butter them and serve hot, or allow them to cool and toast before the fire. This is a nice...
(from Godey's Ladies Magazine, edited by L.A. Godey, Sarah J. Hale, 1862) Ingredients: 2 lbs. flour 1 tbsp. soda 1 tbsp. cream of tartar 1/2 tsp. sugar salt mike butter Instructions: The following receipt affords a dish of light, spongy, most quickly-made muffins: To two pounds of flour add one teaspoonful of soda, ditto cream of tartar, and half a teaspoonful of sugar; mix thoroughly, with salt to taste, and make into stiff batter with some milk; beat well for a few minutes. Have ready a hot earthenware pan, well buttered, also rings for the purpose. Pour in the batter, nearly half an inch thick; bake a nice brown on each side; either butter them and serve hot, or allow them to cool and toast before the fire. This recipe is for...
(from the Edgefield Advertiser of Edgefield, South Carolina, February 18, 1863) Ingredients: 2 large, or 4 small sweet potatoes a spoonful of lard a pinch of salt 1/2 lb. wheat flour 1/2 cup of milk (optional) 1 egg, or 1-2 tbs. of sugar (optional) Instructions: Patty Peablossom contributes the following "new dishes" to the Cultivator: Potato Wafers. -When flour is so high priced as at present, sweet potatoes can be used to great advantage in a variety of breads. Boil two large or four smaller sweet potatoes. Peel and mash them. Put in a large spoonful of lard, a little salt, and knead into them half a pound of wheat flour. Cut into small pieces and bake in a waffle iron, or roll out thin, cut into squares, and bake in an oven as...
(fromThe Virginia House-wife, by Mary Randolph, 1825) Ingredients: 1 lb. flour 1/2 lb. sugar 1/2 lb. butter some mace nutmeg powdered 1 glass of brandy, or wine milk Instructions: To one pound of flour, add half a pound of sugar, half a pound of butter, some mace and nutmeg powdered, and a glass of brandy or wine; wet it with milk, and when well kneaded, roll it thin, cut it in shapes, and bake it quickly.
(from The Book of Household Management, edited by Isabella Beeton, 1861) (Miss Acton's Recipe) Ingredients: 1 quartern flour 1 large tbsp. solid brewer's yeast - or nearly 1 oz. fresh German yeast 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pint warm milk-and-water Instructions: 1 quartern of flour, 1 large tablespoonful of solid brewer's yeast, or nearly 1 oz. of fresh German yeast, 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 pint of warm milk-and-water. Put the flour into a large earthenware bowl or deep pan; then, with a strong metal or wooden spoon, hollow out the middle; but do not clear it entirely away from the bottom of the pan, as, in that case, the sponge (or leaven, as it was formerly termed) would stick to it, which it ought not to do. Next take either a large tablespoonful of...
(from Godey's Ladies Magazine. Edited by Mrs. Sarah J. Hale, 1864.) Ingredients: 2 eggs 1 pint cold water 1 tsp. salt flour butter Instructions: Two eggs beaten very lightly, one pint of cold water, one teaspoonful of salt, flour to make it as thick as fritters, bake half an hour in a hot oven ; eat with butter ; bake in little tins filled full. Here is Civil war Recipe I found recently and tried.
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