Civil War Restaurant

So give him a gold medal and pat him on the back. Many others said it was real before he did. He just retold it, as did most everyone else. It's a nice story and I'm not asking for proof that it didn't happen, just acknowledgement that it is one of those "stories" told that may or may not be factual. There are, at least, a brazillion of stories that are nice to read but are essentially unsubstantiated.

It's been a while since I read Grant's Memoirs. I don't recall if he mentioned it.

Meanwhile, it remains remains useless. Fact or fiction. Don't make me no nevermind.
Oh, Ole, sometimes you are just like a big old grumpy loveable bear of a grandfather! You give me warm-fuzzies! With all due respect, sir.
 
What an interesting exchange of ideas! We don't go to restaurants very often, MrsMRB is a terrific cook! So when we do go out, we like to make it more special. A CW themed restaurant would be an ideal adventure, maybe even to the extent of a "mess tent" (especially if they did not serve hardtack).
 
Fry bread, a staple of Indian meals, was derived from hardtack - same recipe. Only the tribes took one bite and thought, you're kidding, right? These people eat rocks? Let's soften that thing up in some buffalo grease...! And this from people who eat jerky...

Did they have anything like jerky during the CW, or was it salted stuff all the way?
 
Fry bread, a staple of Indian meals, was derived from hardtack - same recipe. Only the tribes took one bite and thought, you're kidding, right? These people eat rocks? Let's soften that thing up in some buffalo grease...! And this from people who eat jerky...

Did they have anything like jerky during the CW, or was it salted stuff all the way?

They seemed to have had jerky. And it must have been soooo much better than salt beef / (edit: or salt pork):

"The salt pork that was given to the soldiers during the war was a stinky kind of blue extra salty meat, with hair, skin, dirt, and other junk left on it. It was however, their main supply of protein. That counts for something right?
Letters from Civil War soldiers contain numerous references to bacon, but historians believe that the term bacon was used for all salt and smoked pork, not just the strips of meat that we now call “bacon”. Salted beef and jerky were also given to the soldiers. Many ate salt beef only out of necessity. This was especially true for the confederates.
Salt beef was basically all of the very worst parts of a cow that you could think of. These lovely parts included organs, neck and shanks. but the basic meat was pork. Naturally, soldiers grew tired of this monotony."


From: http://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-food.html
 
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They seemed to have had jerky. And it must have been soooo much better than salt beef:

"The salt pork that was given to the soldiers during the war was a stinky kind of blue extra salty meat, with hair, skin, dirt, and other junk left on it. It was however, their main supply of protein. That counts for something right?
Letters from Civil War soldiers contain numerous references to bacon, but historians believe that the term bacon was used for all salt and smoked pork, not just the strips of meat that we now call “bacon”. Salted beef and jerky were also given to the soldiers. Many ate salt beef only out of necessity. This was especially true for the confederates.
Salt beef was basically all of the very worst parts of a cow that you could think of. These lovely parts included organs, neck and shanks. but the basic meat was pork. Naturally, soldiers grew tired of this monotony."


From: http://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-food.html

Thanks! It seemed strange to me that they wouldn't have it, but then I thought it might be easier and faster just to shovel salt on the meat and pack it in a barrel! Jerky, even bad stuff, takes a while. (You know, those people ate things we'd never touch...or recognize as food... :confused:)
 
Thanks! It seemed strange to me that they wouldn't have it, but then I thought it might be easier and faster just to shovel salt on the meat and pack it in a barrel! Jerky, even bad stuff, takes a while. (You know, those people ate things we'd never touch...or recognize as food... :confused:)

diane, I always think that when people here go crazy when they did not notice before that their bread had a spot of mildew/mould on it and had swallowed a little bit. Sometimes it sounds as if they will die on the spot now or immediately develop cancer.
What the soldiers had for "food" was so much worse and they even had to march and fight with only hardtack with more worms than flour in it and rotten meat! :sick:
 
They seemed to have had jerky. And it must have been soooo much better than salt beef:

"The salt pork that was given to the soldiers during the war was a stinky kind of blue extra salty meat, with hair, skin, dirt, and other junk left on it. It was however, their main supply of protein. That counts for something right?
Letters from Civil War soldiers contain numerous references to bacon, but historians believe that the term bacon was used for all salt and smoked pork, not just the strips of meat that we now call “bacon”. Salted beef and jerky were also given to the soldiers. Many ate salt beef only out of necessity. This was especially true for the confederates.
Salt beef was basically all of the very worst parts of a cow that you could think of. These lovely parts included organs, neck and shanks. but the basic meat was pork. Naturally, soldiers grew tired of this monotony."


From: http://www.civilwaracademy.com/civil-war-food.html
Ummm........The article talks about using all the worse parts of the cow, but then states it was mostly pork. Is this truth or just poor research?
 
Ummm........The article talks about using all the worse parts of the cow, but then states it was mostly pork. Is this truth or just poor research?

I think this is a misunderstanding. I think the author meant that the worst parts of a cow were used for salt beef, but the soldiers rarely got salt beef, their main diet was pork.
But I laughed when I read your comment. Very well observed - it could have been said better.
 
diane, I always think that when people here go crazy when they did not notice before that their bread had a spot of mildew/mould on it and had swallowed a little bit. Sometimes it sounds as if they will die on the spot now or immediately develop cancer.
What the soldiers had for "food" was so much worse and they even had to march and fight with only hardtack with more worms than flour in it and rotten meat! :sick:
My mother used to say "you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die", which meant that it was okay if you ate a bit of mould or your kids ate the sand in the sand box or drank from their friends' glasses. My son had a friend in nursery school and kindergarten whose mother would bring him to a birthday party and leave a wet cloth beside him so she could immediately deal with any tiny bit of icing or mess that got on his face or hands. If she didn't happen to be there,
he was fine, but when she was, he would get frantic if there was anything on his fingers. Meanwhile, the rest of the kids were gloriously covered in mustard and icing and having a wonderful time. They moved away and I lost contact with them, but I often wondered how neurotic that child turned out.
My kids got dirty, had fun, got plunked in the bathtub at the end of the day, were hardly ever sick, and grew up incredibly healthy, for which I thank God daily. I have a young friend, who is a lot fussier about her children than I ever was, and they are always sick and on penicillin at least three times a year. Weird!
 
This dish is called Union skillygalee - it uses hardtack, salt pork or bacon grease and water. Confederate skillygalee used cornbread.



Which reminds me of a funny story. A Union company protecting supplies was attacked by Forrest's men - who at that point were hungry enough to eat the saddles - and the mules loaded with crates of hardtack went into the river. It was cold, raining and deep but the troopers dove in and hauled up the hardtack. "Boys," yelled one of them, "it's old and wet and covered with mule hair but it's a d--n sight better than what the Old Man's been feeding us!"
 
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