Colonial American recipes that are common today

[nkbj]

Rodgers Rangers wrote of using bologna as a field ration. Probably closer to the Lebanon bologna then Oscar mayer

Yeah, lactic acid fermentation of sausages wasn't at all unusual.

 

[Some_Mook]

The pot pies common today evolved from an earlier form of cooking proteins by making a thick bland flour based dough formed into a 'coffin', placing the meat inside with herbs and salt, covering the 'coffin' with another sheet of dough, sealing it and then baking it in the coals. After baking, the coffin was broken open and the contents eaten. A Black Bird pie would have originated this way.

An early First Nations dish that would have been eaten by the colonists and later evolved into a more modern dish is called Succotash. The early version consisted of corn and beans cooked in bear grease. The modern versions usually include lima beans, bell peppers, onions, etc... and of course are not cooked in bear grease.

Planked fish would have been common where fish was available - the fish is fastened to a plank, situated toward a bed of coals and broiled. All manner of seafood chowders would have been consumed along the coastal areas.

Cabbage and other root vegetables boiled would have been common fillers to go along with meals.

You might want to look into some Duff recipes. Basically a boiled flour dough dish that would be served with molasses or fancied up with fruit into a 'pudding' - figgy pudding (which did not use actual Figs as we know them today), Spotted Dick, etc.. for deserts and special occasions. Yorkshire Pudding baked in the hearth with the meat roast drippings would fit your time-frame.

Boston Brown bread would be another early colonial dish that has stayed with us. Served with a mess of good baked beans it is a real treat.

 

[TDM]

I see it around here from time to time. Occasionally as a desert "special" at certain restaurants. They were even serving it now and then in the cafeteria at one of the last two hospitals I worked at, and I seem to recall seeing it on the patient menu there and at one other hospital.

I don't mind it, not a favorite, but I'll eat it if it's part of a meal being served, thus I haven't made it myself.
Can't be that hard can it?
Why not make some and surprise the wife with desert after one of your meals?

I might try to make some, doubt that it’s a difficult recipe. It’s not really a dessert that I crave either, just brings back old memories.

 

[Brokennock]

Yeah, lactic acid fermentation of sausages wasn't at all unusual.

It still isn't unusual. It is common in a lot of cased meats.

 

[rkg1]

Fried mush or mush and milk made with cornmeal or milk pie.

 

[Bushfire]

Even an "E" version like for Kindle?

I don't go in for that stuff. I like to feel a book in my hands.

 

[TDM]

Fried mush or mush and milk made with cornmeal or milk pie.

Not sure how Colonial corn bread is, but I love hot, buttered corn bread with cold milk poured over it. I find it delicious, don’t think it’s done much nowadays.

 

[Brokennock]

I don't go in for that stuff. I like to feel a book in my hands.

I never did either. But I'm coming around. I will always prefer a paper book. But, I have a book problem. I never give them up. E-books take up a lot less space, and are usually cheaper. I can read them cheaper then buy I paper copy if I really like it, and keeping the e-book takes no space. Which also means I can bring more to read with me when I travel,,, or quickly get something else if I finish the book I'm reading.

Not to mention,,,, if it is the only way to get a book you want to read,,, well,,, go with it.

 

[user 48702]

Yes but notably absent is cinnamon that was very expensive and raisins. I don’t think raisins were a product anywhere then in America and had to be imported. I think the Mediterranean was the only supply at the time
Rice was grown here, and you could have rice in New England
Nutmeg was THE spice in early America. Ask Jon Townsend

Here's some info regarding raisins. The native Indians introduced the colonist to muscadine grapes. Muscadine grapes were used by the American Indians for fresh fruit and juice, but they were also dried as raisins and preserved as winter snacks, as reported by Captain John Hawkins in 1565 from his sailing records from Florida.

 

[user 48702]

It still isn't unusual. It is common in a lot of cased meats.

Boudin, love that stuff.

 

[user 48702]

Not sure how Colonial corn bread is, but I love hot, buttered corn bread with cold milk poured over it. I find it delicious, don’t think it’s done much nowadays.

With buttermilk.

 

[user 48702]

From what I've read, the Indians and colonist worked wonders with possum and coon.

 

[Magungo1066]

Not sure how Colonial corn bread is, but I love hot, buttered corn bread with cold milk poured over it. I find it delicious, don’t think it’s done much nowadays.

That sounds absolutely delicious. I have eaten lots of cornbread but I have never tried that.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Surprised no one has mentioned the various squash. I like a small pumpkin topped out seeds and innards removed a bit of cream and a few eggs whipped up, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. a bit of allspice in the mixture dump in cleaned out pumpkin replace the top and sit beside the coals in the fire pit rotate the pumpkin every once in a while, when the insides are tender mix it all together and enjoy. any of the squashes done in the coals with a bit of butter is also good eating.

 

[Jay Templin]

Magungo, my friend, you are in for a treat! Vermicelli has been known in America by that name since at least 1668. My favourite receipt for it is Hannah Glasse’s- it’s virtually identical to modern pasta except it’s not as regularly sized. Here you go:

To make Vermicelli.​

Mix yolks of eggs and flour together in a pretty stiff paste, so as you can work it up cleverly, and roll it as thin as it is possible to roll the paste, Let it dry in the sun; when it is quite dry, with a very sharp knife cut it as thin as possible, and keep it in a dry place. It will run up like little worms, as vermicelli does; though the best way is to fun it through a coarse sieve, whilst the paste is soft. If you want some to be made in haste, dry it by the fire, and cut it small. It will dry by the fire in a quarter of an hour. This far exceeds what comes from abroad, being fresher.

Jay

 

[Jay Templin]

That sounds absolutely delicious. I have eaten lots of cornbread but I have never tried that.

Cornbread is 100% Colonial! One great receipt is Mary Randolph’s- it wasn’t published until the early 1800s, but is earlier:
“Rub a piece of butter the size of an egg into a pint of cornmeal, make a batter with two eggs and some new milk, add a spoonful of yeast, set it by the fire an hour to rise, butter little pans and bake it.”

Another is Amelia Simmons’ Johnny Cake (1797):
Scald 1 pint of milk and put to 3 pints of Indian meal, and half pint of flower--bake before the fire. Or scald with milk two thirds of the Indian meal, or wet two thirds with boiling water, add salt, molasses and shortening, work up with cold water pretty stiff, and bake as above.

 

[Magungo1066]

Magungo, my friend, you are in for a treat! Vermicelli has been known in America by that name since at least 1668. My favourite receipt for it is Hannah Glasse’s- it’s virtually identical to modern pasta except it’s not as regularly sized. Here you go:

To make Vermicelli.​

Mix yolks of eggs and flour together in a pretty stiff paste, so as you can work it up cleverly, and roll it as thin as it is possible to roll the paste, Let it dry in the sun; when it is quite dry, with a very sharp knife cut it as thin as possible, and keep it in a dry place. It will run up like little worms, as vermicelli does; though the best way is to fun it through a coarse sieve, whilst the paste is soft. If you want some to be made in haste, dry it by the fire, and cut it small. It will dry by the fire in a quarter of an hour. This far exceeds what comes from abroad, being fresher.
View attachment 201831
Jay

Thank you! Next time I make some pasta I an going to wow everyone and tell them we are eating colonial style.

 

[Magungo1066]

Cornbread is 100% Colonial! One great receipt is Mary Randolph’s- it wasn’t published until the early 1800s, but is earlier:
“Rub a piece of butter the size of an egg into a pint of cornmeal, make a batter with two eggs and some new milk, add a spoonful of yeast, set it by the fire an hour to rise, butter little pans and bake it.”

Another is Amelia Simmons’ Johnny Cake (1797):
Scald 1 pint of milk and put to 3 pints of Indian meal, and half pint of flower--bake before the fire. Or scald with milk two thirds of the Indian meal, or wet two thirds with boiling water, add salt, molasses and shortening, work up with cold water pretty stiff, and bake as above.

Johnny cakes are a staple in my family. I can’t remember the last time I made pancakes. We top ours with butter and the maple syrup my neighbor makes. Johnny cakes and thick bacon have been the meal of champions preceding many cold days in the deer stand

 

[TDM]

That sounds absolutely delicious. I have eaten lots of cornbread but I have never tried that.

It is, I grew up eating it that way, it’s probably more of an old southern taste. In Louisiana the Cajuns call it Coush Coush, but it’s not a strictly Cajun dish.

 

[Sutallee]

Corn whiskey.