Cooking Lesson Suggestions?

[Karl Helweg]

I have been asked to do a colonial cooking class for the local DAR ladies. We are planning to rent a covered pavilion on the beach with a raised fireplace inside and firepit just outside. The fireplace has maybe a 6' x 3' waist high work area. I have a pretty good collection of Dutch ovens, skillets, tripods, cross irons, tinned copperware, and cauldrons ranging from one can of stew to 10 year old child in size.
I was planning on using various colonial cook books and steal from my favorite JAS Townsend videos. Probably bake oat bread, meat and/or fruit pies, stew/soup, and some sort of sweets.

Any suggestions? Something that might appeal to younger DAR members? The emphasis is on 1st documentation 2nd authenticity and 3rd teaching cooking techniques.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Don't forget the beverages....Switchel comes to mind as does beer/Ale... :grin:

Hardest thing to learn is proper heat and fire management along with the proper ways to use, clean and store said cookware......The stuff they usually don't teach in cook books....

 

[Sean Gadhar]

I thought these were fairly easy and we liked them.

http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showpost.php?post/1498396/

 

[Alden]

10 Year Old Child Au Gratin sounds about right...

 

[crockett]

I think they ate a lot of pumpkin. A "Pie" had crust over the top and a "pudding" did not, so what we call pumpkin pie might have been called pumpkin pudding. In any event- I think they ate a lot of it.
On breads- probably some sort of course ground whole wheat.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I think what they ate....depends a lot on the context.. time, location, time of year, ethnicity, social status, vocation, etc....
A just read a journal about traveling from New York to the western coast by boat during the fur trade in the early 1800's. The list and variety of foods eaten was immense... Everything from exotic fruits and vegetables to a palm full of flour ration per day...
Wherever they stopped they loaded up on what the local native cuisine was...and they stopped a lot.... it seemed every encounter with natives seemed to involve acquiring food.

 

[Karl Helweg]

Drinks and a boiled pudding would be good additions. Thank you all for the recipes and please keep them coming.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Always good to have resources.....
This might help some... http://www.oldandinteresting.com/default.aspx

 

[necchi]

Any suggestions? Something that might appeal to younger DAR members? The emphasis is on 1st documentation 2nd authenticity and 3rd teaching cooking techniques.

Not enough info,,
Have you met them?
My query is,, Are these people that do reenact and are actually looking for something they can duplicate in camp or an open fire setting or are they just a group of ladies that are going to spend an afternoon enjoying tasty tid-bits of foods from bygone days?
Kind of two different things going on there,,
know what I mean?

 

[Karl Helweg]

DAR is not normally a reenactment organization but they are tied to the Revolutionary War since all of the members have at least one grandcestor who fought in the Revolution.
From what I have met so far the two big clusters are 20-35 year olds who have gotten into genealogy or 60+ who have lived at least some of their life where cabins did not have electricity yet.
They came up with a list of activities for the year and specifically wanted to learn firepit and hearth cooking.
You all are giving me ideas like making a Dutch pudding http://gallery.nen.gov.uk/asset660025_2700-cookit.html and a boiled Indian pudding in the same cauldron.
I have not made flip before but I think that I can pull it off http://recipes.history.org/ Any excuse to play with hot iron. Maybe a shrub https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrub_(drink)

 

[necchi]

Yeah, I know what DAR is.

From what I have met so far the two big clusters are 20-35 year olds who have gotten into genealogy or 60+ who have lived at least some of their life where cabins did not have electricity yet.

OK, I get that.
Well then,
Ya can't go wrong with a Boy Scout Peach Cobbler in the Dutch Oven.(Just don't burn it!)(more heat on top--less on bottom)
You can explain (and they will all understand) that the cake mix from a box is the same as scratch just easier for the act of time involved.
Use canned peaches packed in raspberry sauce and real butter. The hint of Raspberry flavor will make the older ones wonder what the ingredient is, and it's sweet enough to make the young ones want more.
Your biggest challenge is going to be heat control during a full day of cooking, that's always the biggest and most skilled chore, even back in the day.
With a pit that big you should have a full rolling fire on one side that's being tended and fed by a helper,,broken into broiling chucks so you can dip what you need to maintain cooking whatever is on or next.
Don't try to tend the fire and cook multiple dishes by yourself,, you won't make it.
A small fireplace shovel and tongs will help a lot in selecting the proper fuel for cooking.
Flames to boil- coals to broil. And remember "barbeque" has nothing to do with the sauce.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Excellent points Necchi. :thumbsup:

Having done a fair bit cooking over fire among the modern tin teepee weekend warriors..
I've noticed a few things...
1. 99% of novices don't even know how to start a fire, without gas, lighter fluid, waste oil or an old tire...
2.They think you can throw and garbage in the fire and it just magically disappears and does no harm...personally I don't like the flavor of cigarette butts, plastic forks and Styrofoam plates. :cursing:
3. They think you can cook on flames 3 feet tall... :shake:

So, my point is don't forget the basics...
Also charcoal is much easier to manage for a beginner than wood...even lump charcoal...

If your outside....don't forget about wind, sun and rain protection.

To bad you don't have one of these to impress them with.....
https://youtu.be/vwF6z2tJHVA

 

[tenngun]

townsend does the vid on scotch eggs, easy to make, hc and can be made in small batchs. Adry smoked bacon looks impressive as its thin and greasy, cooked in to french beans few can turn up thier noses to it. You would have to make it in advance but mushroom ketchup is great. Townsend onion rings are also real good. Lobscose, three sisters, sucatash and hash are great. Hunters pudding can be served as a desert. Dont forget steamed breads such as boston brown bread, or bolied dumlings or noodles.Vermacelli soup is very good and familure enough to not turn weak stomachs away. Lots of germans kicking around the colonies, dont forget krut and sausage or fried cabbage.

 

[Alden]

I'll be damned if this isn't making me hungry and I just had some wonderful McCann's Apples & Cinnamon instant rolled oatmeal with instant coffee!

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I help with cooking demos about twice a year. Instead of the food, consider demonstrating the Methods. Stew in a pot on the fire isn't much different than stew on the electric stove....boring.

Here's one menu we prepared:

Planked Trout, set before the fire
Dutch oven bread
Hung Chicken (vertical on a twisted string to roast it, it rotates back an forth, though the cook has to give it a spin every now and then)
Apples baked in reflector oven
Steamed asparagus with butter (the least "odd" of the cooking methods but many folks think asparagus was unknown to colonials)

---------------------------------------

Depending on what else you have in the way of tools you can do a "jugged" game hen or chicken

Actually bake some beans in a bean pot

Hole cooking....where you line a hole you dug in the ground with rocks, and build a fire and heat them, then take a chicken or a turkey, drop a heated rock into the cavity, place the bird inside a clean, wet canvas sack, remove any remaining fire from the rocks, and remove some of the rocks, put the bird in the bag on the rocks in the hole, add the removed hot rocks on top, cover the hole with a piece of wet canvas, cover the whole thing then with dirt...wait four hours, uncover a nicely steamed bird (OK you have to actually put this in the ground before the guests arrive, and have a second, "demonstration" hole next to it to explain what you're doing)

LD

 

[crockett]

When you speak of "Colonial" do you mean a pre-1776 time period? And...fireplace cooking?
Besides the pumpkin pudding I think plain old baked beans were pretty common. Rum was the big drink- to the best of my knowledge. Maybe high wines.
BTW: there is a male counterpart to the DAR, http://societyofthecincinnati.org/

 

[Karl Helweg]

townsend does the vid on scotch eggs, easy to make, hc and can be made in small batchs. Adry smoked bacon looks impressive as its thin and greasy, cooked in to french beans few can turn up thier noses to it. You would have to make it in advance but mushroom ketchup is great. Townsend onion rings are also real good. Lobscose, three sisters, sucatash and hash are great. Hunters pudding can be served as a desert. Dont forget steamed breads such as boston brown bread, or boiled dumplings or noodles.Vermacelli soup is very good and familiar enough to not turn weak stomachs away. Lots of Germans kicking around the colonies, dont forget krut and sausage or fried cabbage.

If I do the the boiled Dutch pudding I usually put a hard boiled egg in the center to help ensure that it is cooked enough (no raw meat in the center). I like Scotch eggs and was taught a strange version by an old kilt wearing USAF cook where you form the "farced" meat ball around a hard boiled quail egg then wrap it in a "Saint Andrew's Cross" of dough.

If I do the cauldron meal with a Dutch pudding, Indian pudding, etc... all boiling at once then Scotch eggs might be redundant. Or not.

"Lobscose, three sisters, sucatash and hash are great" These are all great ideas and will help fill my side dish list.


"I help with cooking demos about twice a year. Instead of the food, consider demonstrating the Methods. Stew in a pot on the fire isn't much different than stew on the electric stove....boring.

Here's one menu we prepared:

Planked Trout, set before the fire
Dutch oven bread
Hung Chicken (vertical on a twisted string to roast it, it rotates back an forth, though the cook has to give it a spin every now and then)
Apples baked in reflector oven
Steamed asparagus with butter (the least "odd" of the cooking methods but many folks think asparagus was unknown to colonials)

---------------------------------------

Depending on what else you have in the way of tools you can do a "jugged" game hen or chicken

Actually bake some beans in a bean pot

Hole cooking....where you line a hole you dug in the ground with rocks, and build a fire and heat them, then take a chicken or a turkey, drop a heated rock into the cavity, place the bird inside a clean, wet canvas sack, remove any remaining fire from the rocks, and remove some of the rocks, put the bird in the bag on the rocks in the hole, add the removed hot rocks on top, cover the hole with a piece of wet canvas, cover the whole thing then with dirt...wait four hours, uncover a nicely steamed bird (OK you have to actually put this in the ground before the guests arrive, and have a second, "demonstration" hole next to it to explain what you're doing)"

Cedar plank salmon is a common local delicacy and the gourmet cedar planks are sold everywhere here. Showing them how to fix this next to a fire would be the demo trick. I am not a fly fisherman but maybe one of their husbands can score us some trout or dolly varden(?)

My lovely wife can bake bread better in her Dutch ovens than an electric oven. Her favorite is a Savoy oat bread from the 17th-18th century that apparently has to rise in a basket to get the weave pattern on it.... Whatever it is good and I can pawn that job off on her and maybe meat pies of her choice.

Have you seen the JAS Townsend asparagus in a French roll video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8R-w0uhNGU This will give me a chance to use some of these little copper pans.

I have some great bean pots but my lovely wife absolutely hates beans and will not let me cook them in the house. This might give me an opportunity to cook up a serious batch. Chemically leavened corn bread is just a little too recent for RevWar but it will just go with beans.

Unfortunately I do not have a reflector oven. Yet.

I wish that I had a correct jug for jugged chicken which would also be nice to thrown in the cauldron with the Dutch pudding, etc.... Hung chicken might be the substitute.

Grouse season starts August 1st with a limit of five each day. http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=smallgamehunting.sprucegrouse I am not the luckiest hunter but I just helped 3 folks get their first shotguns or muzzleloader this summer....

We usually have lots of local fresh cod. I can find lots of salt cod recipes but does anyone have a good colonial fresh cod recipe?

 

[Karl Helweg]

When you speak of "Colonial" do you mean a pre-1776 time period? And...fireplace cooking?
Besides the pumpkin pudding I think plain old baked beans were pretty common. Rum was the big drink- to the best of my knowledge. Maybe high wines.
BTW: there is a male counterpart to the DAR, http://societyofthecincinnati.org/

There is also SAR http://www.sr1776.org/

Which sounds more appetizing: pumpkin pudding or Indian (corn) pudding?

I am a corn meal fan but there are lots of other corn dishes that I could make I suppose.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I hope you take some pictures of your endeavor to share with us...... :thumbsup:

 

[Karl Helweg]

I hope you take some pictures of your endeavor to share with us...... :thumbsup:

I am terrible at remembering to take pictures but we are going camping August 2-4 (you all are welcome to join us) where I plan to practice some of these recipes while I have some guinea pigs. I'll pack my trusty-rusty iPad. There might be a salmon run in the river running by the cabin. I seem to recall a colonial cheese stuffed salmon in pastry but I cannot recall where I read it.
http://recipes.history.org/recipeindex/