What was in their pockets and packs?

[tenngun]

It is ‘right’ for eighteenth century colonial cooking, but it would be hard and heavy vs calories, to carry for sure

 

[Grayman]

My treking kitView attachment 61249

Wow. And does all that pack up small? Most of what I have seen of reenactors and drawings the guys had a blanket roll, the bag for the gun stuff, and another small sack. I see your gun bag there up top. Does the rest get rolled up in the blanket? And the two canteens, That water gets heavy, but it sure is a necessary evil.

 

[tenngun]

Right at the top and right side is a snap sack. I folded my blanket and the snap sack rest against. Horn and bag on my right side

 

[Omahkapi'si]

Well I am finding out how much fun it is to shoot my Frontier, that FOOD will be part of my kit going forward....time flies at the range!

 

[tenngun]

"Don’t forget the flask of whiskey."

Drinking while hunting is kinda stupid is it not?

Drinking doesn’t mix with shooting, and smoking doesn’t go with shooting but rum at the fire side at the end of the day with a good smoke makes for a wonderful day.... same trip:

 

[Buck Conner]

Several are asking about periods of different items shown as well as sources, check out Peter at Goose Bay Workshops (good information). http://goosebay-workshops.com/

 

[Loyalist Dave]

To make parched corn, take corn on the cob (sweet corn) and hang up with string until the all kernels are dried-out, will shrink in size, and be hard. Next, pull the kernels out of the cob. Next, you need bacon grease, either fry -up just before making parched corn or saved bacon grease. In a cast-iron pan or standard pan on medium heat with your bacon grease, add your corn kernels and let the kernels simmer until they puff-up. You are not making Pop Corn you just want the kernels to absorb the bacon grease and will puff-up back to normal size, then remove from the pan to cool.

UM..., that's fried, dried corn.

Parched corn is browned in a dry iron pan, OR it is buried in hot ashes in a fire, and sifted out later.

To come closer to the product that they had, when one does not have dried "Indian" corn, one should try to get hold of a bag of dried corn for milling.
Here's what I used the last time I bought. Honeyville Dried Yellow Dent Corn

Then you simply put it in a steel or iron frypan on the stove or over the fire, and brown it. It will "pop" a bit, but won't act like popcorn as the moisture is gone. When browned, you then pour it out of the pan into a metal or ceramic bowl, and repeat the process. IF you wish, some folks like to sprinkle maple sugar on it when it's hot, BUT I don't like adding a sugar source in case it ever gets exposure to humidity, it might mold.

The heat destroys the "germ" as well as any eggs of insects, and then if kept dry will last a very long time. While cooking dried corn in grease will also cause it to go rancid over time, and if it's bacon grease, you're going to attract a lot of critters to your camp. I know as I tried it after watching a video, and the fellow in the video, I discovered was wrong.

They parch it [corn kernels] in clean hot ashes, until it bursts, it is then sifted and cleaned…, History Customs and Manners of The Indian Nations Rev John Heckewelder 1881


[Nookik] It is Indian corn parched in the hot ashes, the ashes being sifted from it ; it is afterwards beaten to a powder and put into a long leatherne bag trussed at the Indian’s backe like a knapsacke, William Wood 1634

LD

 

[Grayman]

Drinking doesn’t mix with shooting, and smoking doesn’t go with shooting but rum at the fire side at the end of the day with a good smoke makes for a wonderful day.... same trip:View attachment 61502View attachment 61503

It may not be period correct, I am so ignorant of "period correct" I would advise one to ignore any advice or comment I offered on the topic of period correct, but I can be taken serious on the topic of rum. I like payrate rum. Here I get it at Specs, and the funny thing is, in places where they make rum, and among rum snobs its held in the same regard that Australians hold Fosters beer, but it taste real nice at the end of the day when you have your feet by the fire and a nice pillow under your butt.

 

[Grayman]

UM..., that's fried, dried corn.

Parched corn is browned in a dry iron pan, OR it is buried in hot ashes in a fire, and sifted out later.

To come closer to the product that they had, when one does not have dried "Indian" corn, one should try to get hold of a bag of dried corn for milling.
Here's what I used the last time I bought. Honeyville Dried Yellow Dent Corn

Then you simply put it in a steel or iron frypan on the stove or over the fire, and brown it. It will "pop" a bit, but won't act like popcorn as the moisture is gone. When browned, you then pour it out of the pan into a metal or ceramic bowl, and repeat the process. IF you wish, some folks like to sprinkle maple sugar on it when it's hot, BUT I don't like adding a sugar source in case it ever gets exposure to humidity, it might mold.

The heat destroys the "germ" as well as any eggs of insects, and then if kept dry will last a very long time. While cooking dried corn in grease will also cause it to go rancid over time, and if it's bacon grease, you're going to attract a lot of critters to your camp. I know as I tried it after watching a video, and the fellow in the video, I discovered was wrong.

They parch it [corn kernels] in clean hot ashes, until it bursts, it is then sifted and cleaned…, History Customs and Manners of The Indian Nations Rev John Heckewelder 1881


[Nookik] It is Indian corn parched in the hot ashes, the ashes being sifted from it ; it is afterwards beaten to a powder and put into a long leatherne bag trussed at the Indian’s backe like a knapsacke, William Wood 1634

LD

This may be a dumb question, but wouldn't the corn pop?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

It took Luis XVI and Count Parmentier (a pharmacist, chemist and employee of Louis XVI) to convince the population potatoes were safe.
Parmentier planted 50 acres of potatoes on a plot of land on the outskirts of Paris. During the day, he instructed a royal guard to watch over it. When the locals noticed that that the crop was of such value that royal guards were protecting it, their curiosity grew and hoards of people came to see what all the fuss was about. The trick worked. The potato gained a heightened intrinsic value overnight, and very quickly attracted widespread acceptance.

Something similar happened in Germany... or so the story goes...., but there is another story too...

Potatoes were given to the peasants by one of the Germanic princes (Germany wasn't one single country at the time), who were instructed to plant them. Potatoes will grow well in poor soil and in depleted soil. Funny thing though..., nobody told them it was a root crop and only a root crop. Probably they figured that IF they told the peasants the potatoes were for planting AND for food, they would've simply eaten them.

So the peasants ate the plants, not the roots, and got pretty sick. They wouldn't touch the plants or the roots after that SO..., the prince ordered the recipe for what is today called "German potato salad" to be prepared in each town, using the potato roots. The Prince, himself would ride in and taste their potato salad. In making such a tour, and commanding a specific dish, he demonstrated that the roots were fine to eat, and good enough for royalty, so potatoes in that part of Germany caught on. German Potato Salad, served hot, made with vinegar, mustard, beef broth, bacon, and of course potatoes, survives to this day...

..., or so the story goes.

LD

 

[Loyalist Dave]

It will "pop" a bit, but won't act like popcorn as the moisture is gone.

LD