- Joined
- Jul 12, 2007
- Location
- Aledo, IL
Corporal's Kitchen
With reenacting season in full swing for Scott's Battery, the Corporal decided to research Civil War Camp Kitchens. These kitchens were operated during encampments, but not "on the march". For the most part, however, Civil War soldiers never had the luxury of standing in a mess line waiting for army cooks to dish out the chow. Food for both Union and Confederate soldiers was provided by their respective Commissary Departments, but the daily rations were issued uncooked. Soldiers then gathered in small groups each evening to prepare their food. They called these groups "messes" and referred to others in the group as "messmates". Messmates took turns watching the meals they cooked.
As to the kitchens, for every 100-man company, the skilled cook would be appointed two privates; one position would be permanent and the other would rotate among the men of the company. The skilled cook would be given the rank of "Cook Major" and receive a monthly salary of $50. It would be the Cook Major's responsibility to ration the food, prepare it, and delegate tasks to the company cooks.
In 1862, Federal Capt. James M. Sanderson wrote the first cookbook to be distributed to the military. The book was titled: Camp Fires and Camp Cooking; or Culinary Hints for the Soldier: Including Receipt for Making Bread in the "Portable Field Oven" Furnished by the Subsistence Department. In this book, Sanderson described several techniques, such as suspending pots over a campfire, that made cooking slightly more convenient in the battlefield.
Below is a brief description (from the forementioned book by Capt. Sanderson) of kitchen utensils, as well as a description of a proper fire pit for the camp kitchen. Also included from the same book is a recipe for Boiled Pork and Bean Soup (NOTE: as with all other recipes containing dry beans, the beans would have to be soaked over night. Soaking them could be hindered due to the time constraints of marches, campaigns and battle, so they were most likely not consumed by non-garrisoned troops on a regular basis).
CAMP COOKING AND CAMP KE'ITLES.
"The utensils and means furnished by government to the soldier for preparing his food are of the most primitive character. The former consist of camp kettles, made of iron, with a handle, and varying in size from four to seven gallons, (they should be made so as to have one slide into the other, in nests of four,) and mess pans, also of iron, about 12 inches in diameter, and sloping to the bottom. The latter consist of a certain amount of wood per diem, which is to be consumed as taste or ingenuity may dictate. The usual and most simple mode is to dig a trench 18 inches wide, 12 inches deep, and from four to six feet long. At each end plant a forked stick of equal height, with a stout sapling, from which to suspend the kettles, extending from one to the other.
This, however, is neither the best nor most economical mode, as it consumes much fuel wastes much of the heat, and causes great inconvenience to the cook. An improvement can be effected by easing the sides of the trench with brick, adding a little chimney at one end, and, in place of the forked sticks, using iron uprights and cross-bar, to which half a dozen hooks for hanging kettles are attached.
Besides the allowance from government, however, the company cooks should be furnished, from the " Company Fund," with two large iron spoons, two large iron forks, two stout knives, one tin cullender, and one yard of flannel; also a false tin bottom, closely fitting the kettles; for all of which the cook should be responsible."
BOILED PORK AND BEAN SOUP.
"Never serve beans until they have been soaked over night. At eight o'clock in the morning, put eight quarts into two kettles, and fill up with clean cold water. Boil constantly, over a brisk fire, for an hour or more, during which many of the beans will rise to the top. At the end of this time, take the kettles off the fire for fifteen or twenty minutes, and then pour off all the water, replacing it with fresh clean water. Add to each kettle a pound of parboiled pork, without rind, and boil continuously for an hour and a half longer.
At quarter past eight o'clock, fill three kettles loosely with pieces of pork weighing from three to five pounds, cover with water, and boil briskly for one hour; then pour 011' all the liquid, and fill up with clean hot water, and boil for one hour and a half longer; then take out all the pork, and lay it aside. Take out also one-half of the beans from the other kettles, placing them aside for breakfast next morning, and add to the remainder the liquor in which the pork was boiled. To each kettle add also two onions chopped or sliced, with plenty of black or red pepper, some salt, and a tablespoonful of vinegar. After fifteen minutes' longer boiling, mash the beans with a wooden stick made for the purpose, and serve, with a slice of pork, in a separate dish. If onions are plenty, mince fine eight or ten of them, fry them in a pan with a little flour and fat, with half a pint hot water, and the same quantity of the liquor in which the pork was boiled. After cooking five minutes, add pepper, salt, and half a glass of vinegar, and pour over the slices of pork."
With reenacting season in full swing for Scott's Battery, the Corporal decided to research Civil War Camp Kitchens. These kitchens were operated during encampments, but not "on the march". For the most part, however, Civil War soldiers never had the luxury of standing in a mess line waiting for army cooks to dish out the chow. Food for both Union and Confederate soldiers was provided by their respective Commissary Departments, but the daily rations were issued uncooked. Soldiers then gathered in small groups each evening to prepare their food. They called these groups "messes" and referred to others in the group as "messmates". Messmates took turns watching the meals they cooked.
As to the kitchens, for every 100-man company, the skilled cook would be appointed two privates; one position would be permanent and the other would rotate among the men of the company. The skilled cook would be given the rank of "Cook Major" and receive a monthly salary of $50. It would be the Cook Major's responsibility to ration the food, prepare it, and delegate tasks to the company cooks.
In 1862, Federal Capt. James M. Sanderson wrote the first cookbook to be distributed to the military. The book was titled: Camp Fires and Camp Cooking; or Culinary Hints for the Soldier: Including Receipt for Making Bread in the "Portable Field Oven" Furnished by the Subsistence Department. In this book, Sanderson described several techniques, such as suspending pots over a campfire, that made cooking slightly more convenient in the battlefield.
Below is a brief description (from the forementioned book by Capt. Sanderson) of kitchen utensils, as well as a description of a proper fire pit for the camp kitchen. Also included from the same book is a recipe for Boiled Pork and Bean Soup (NOTE: as with all other recipes containing dry beans, the beans would have to be soaked over night. Soaking them could be hindered due to the time constraints of marches, campaigns and battle, so they were most likely not consumed by non-garrisoned troops on a regular basis).
CAMP COOKING AND CAMP KE'ITLES.
"The utensils and means furnished by government to the soldier for preparing his food are of the most primitive character. The former consist of camp kettles, made of iron, with a handle, and varying in size from four to seven gallons, (they should be made so as to have one slide into the other, in nests of four,) and mess pans, also of iron, about 12 inches in diameter, and sloping to the bottom. The latter consist of a certain amount of wood per diem, which is to be consumed as taste or ingenuity may dictate. The usual and most simple mode is to dig a trench 18 inches wide, 12 inches deep, and from four to six feet long. At each end plant a forked stick of equal height, with a stout sapling, from which to suspend the kettles, extending from one to the other.
This, however, is neither the best nor most economical mode, as it consumes much fuel wastes much of the heat, and causes great inconvenience to the cook. An improvement can be effected by easing the sides of the trench with brick, adding a little chimney at one end, and, in place of the forked sticks, using iron uprights and cross-bar, to which half a dozen hooks for hanging kettles are attached.
Besides the allowance from government, however, the company cooks should be furnished, from the " Company Fund," with two large iron spoons, two large iron forks, two stout knives, one tin cullender, and one yard of flannel; also a false tin bottom, closely fitting the kettles; for all of which the cook should be responsible."
BOILED PORK AND BEAN SOUP.
"Never serve beans until they have been soaked over night. At eight o'clock in the morning, put eight quarts into two kettles, and fill up with clean cold water. Boil constantly, over a brisk fire, for an hour or more, during which many of the beans will rise to the top. At the end of this time, take the kettles off the fire for fifteen or twenty minutes, and then pour off all the water, replacing it with fresh clean water. Add to each kettle a pound of parboiled pork, without rind, and boil continuously for an hour and a half longer.
At quarter past eight o'clock, fill three kettles loosely with pieces of pork weighing from three to five pounds, cover with water, and boil briskly for one hour; then pour 011' all the liquid, and fill up with clean hot water, and boil for one hour and a half longer; then take out all the pork, and lay it aside. Take out also one-half of the beans from the other kettles, placing them aside for breakfast next morning, and add to the remainder the liquor in which the pork was boiled. To each kettle add also two onions chopped or sliced, with plenty of black or red pepper, some salt, and a tablespoonful of vinegar. After fifteen minutes' longer boiling, mash the beans with a wooden stick made for the purpose, and serve, with a slice of pork, in a separate dish. If onions are plenty, mince fine eight or ten of them, fry them in a pan with a little flour and fat, with half a pint hot water, and the same quantity of the liquor in which the pork was boiled. After cooking five minutes, add pepper, salt, and half a glass of vinegar, and pour over the slices of pork."
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