150th Goldsboro Bridge& Chicken Noodle Soup

This past weekend, I went to my first weekend event since April. Whew, had it been a while! I was cooking for one of the military groups, which ended up being about 6 people, plus my buddies the Old South Blacksmiths. Since the rain moved in Saturday night, I didn't cook on Sunday because most of the event was called off.  Saturday's breakfast was eggs, fried potatoes and biscuits. I had cooked the biscuits ahead of time, and then warmed them in a dutch oven.  Sadly my camera batteries died, but I was able to snap only 2 pictures.

Me taking a break from cooking & talking to my good friend Matt! 

 Lunch on Saturday was a Chicken Noodle Soup. While the recipe I used does not come first hand from any books I have found, it is supposed to be a period family recipe from Elizabeth Stewart Clark . I started with a whole hen, and boiled it until it was falling off of the bone. While the chicken boils, make your noodles with flour, egg, salt & pepper. Roll the dough very thing, and make long slender noodles- the noodles "plump" a lot. Set these aside to dry for a while.

Noodles  & Carrots Ready for Soup.

While the chicken was cooking I also sliced some carrots and potatoes to add to the soup, just to make it a little more hearty and filling.  The chicken got pulled out to be de-boned, then went in the noodles & veggies. I also added a bit more salt & pepper (This was about 3 gallons of soup after all). By the time the chicken was cooled enough to handle, and the meat pulled off the bones, the noodles were almost done. I added the chicken back in and stirred the whole pot to mix it well.  The soup was served with fresh bread & butter. With pumpkin bread for a little sweet after the soup.

Bowl of warm soup and fresh bread

This really was an excellent soup! It was very tasty and was great for feeding a crowd!! I will defiantly make this again!

An Early Gift

So my DH surprised me last night with an early Christmas Gift! He had bought me a reproduction spice tin!  It is so cute!! It is a round brown tin with six small labeled tins inside and a nutmeg grater! It has containers for Mustard, Ginger, Cinnamon, Allspice, Cloves, Mace, and the nutmeg grater! I was so excited to get it that I filled it up right then, well everything except the Mace, which I will have to buy.

All the spices in their containers

Weekend Plans

So this weekend I am finally getting to camp! I have not been to a weekend event since April, and well, I'm so excited for this one!  On top of that I'm cooking for everyone! And while that is exciting, I am a little nervous since I will be doing it all by myself. No worries. I have done all of my baking, and I have a nice, easy menu for the weekend. It includes chicken noodle soup, eggs, cabbage, and beans, along with other things, but I am not going to give it all away yet!  Check in Monday or Tuesday for the weekend wrap-up and see all the yummies from the weekend! 

Bread Dough ready to rise before baking

Vegetables all in their basket for the weekend! 

Common Jumbles

So I had my first recipe request, and it came from none other than my DH. He requested I make Jumbles. Jumbles are cookies, seemed pretty basic.
The recipe I chose for this cookies comes from Domestic Cookery and Useful Hints to Young Housekeepers, 1859.

Small hands helping Aunt Amanda

Using modern conversions  the recipe calls for 4 cups of flour, 2 sticks of butter, and 3 cups of sugar with 3 eggs. So following the recipe mix the butter and sugar together. Then add the flour & eggs. It does not instruct you on when to add the flavorings or how much to add.  Well, I didn't have any Rose Brandy, so I opted for a little regular Brandy! I added about a teaspoon or so of nutmeg, and about 2 tablespoons of Brandy. The added liquid helped to soften the dough. Then you "mould them in rings." This means that they are going to look similar to doughnuts. For this I rolled them into a ball then gently worked a hole in the center rolling as I went. They looked pretty good, very much like doughnuts ( I did not get a picture of these). Then, into a slow oven of 300 for about 15 minutes.  Well, that was easy! Right? No, no it wasn't. The cookies turned into a sheet of cookie, they didn't stay together at all, just ran all over the pan. I really have no idea what caused this. The mess still tasted good. Luckily, I did have dough left. This time I just rolled the dough into 1" balls, like you would most standard cookies, and baked them at 300 for about 20 minutes. The results were much better! The taste was about the same. Very sweet. They could have baked for 15 minutes, that probably would have eliminated the brown edges. But, other than the runny dough mess from the first batch, the cookies were pretty good! 

Jumbles on the pan.

Buttermilk Biscuit

I have never made biscuits, aside from out of the can. I know, what kind of Southern girl has never made biscuits?!?! Well, I do remember helping my mom do it when I was little, but I have never made them by myself.   I chose "Buttermilk Biscuit" from The Practical Cook Book, 1850. There were other biscuit recipes listed, but this one just looked good.

Rolled and cut

Add one tablespoon of butter to 4 cups of flour, then add about a teaspoon of salt. Mix well. Ton 2 cups of buttermilk add a teaspoon of baking soda and mix it in. Add the liquid to the flour and mix until a nice dough is formed. The dough is a nice thick dough and rolls out well. Roll the dough out to and cut into biscuits, I use the end of a glass since I do not have a biscuit cutter. Place the biscuits in pans and bake at 400 for twelve minutes.
The biscuits are good hot out of the oven with butter. They were a bit heavy, and I am finding a lot of period breads to be. But, they were pretty good for a first try at biscuits!  The recipe made about 15 biscuits.

Biscuits hot out of the Oven

These would keep well for traveling, taking for a weekend event, or for soldiers to keep in a Haversack since they are not a fragile bread.

To Fricassee Eggs

I have been wanting to make these for a while, they sounded so easy. This recipe comes from The Virginia Housewife, 1838, pg. 89. There are few ingredients needed, eggs, bread crumbs, and that's really all.

So you start by boiling the six eggs, and letting them cool before peeling them. After peeling the eggs, I must admit that I forgot the flour & egg part, and just rolled them in bread crumb mixture.  I did not use lard to fry the eggs, instead I opted for vegetable shortening (its a little bit healthier).
They are fried until a nice golden brown. Use your judgement on how brown you would like them. I served mine with a bit of melted butter with parsley as I did not have any gravy, and did not make any.

They turned out great! DH stated "They're delicious!" Since this is essentially a soft boiled egg that is then deep fried, I was not going to try them as I am not a soft-boiled egg eater. But I braved them and tried one, and well, my taste stayed true and I did not like the soft boiled egg part. However, it is a quick easy recipe that can be cooked & served almost anywhere, kitchen or camp!

Cooking in Camp Part 1

Many of us that cook & make period recipes do not have the luxury of having a fully stocked reproduction kitchen for our own use. While I have cooked in period kitchens, most of the time I am stuck in a camp setting with a fire pit for a hearth. So, what do we do in these situations? Do we drag every piece of crockery we own to an event? Well, no.  I am usually in the civilian part of a camp so I don't really need a back story other than the "We have to eat" one. When cooking in a camp setting I usually go with the basics. I establish what I will be cooking before the event. I have cooked as a group, which does cut down on cost & labor! But I have also cooked for group by myself & established a price based on the menu.

So, before the event. Decide on what you (or the group) will eat and how many you will be cooking for. Usually 4 or 5 meals, some events do offer a supper on Saturday night, but sometimes I opt out of this. So you will need at least 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches and one dinner/supper.  The way I plan these meals depends on the type of event & the time of the year. There are a lot of factors that go into  meal planning, but it is so worth it to have a plan of attack.

Breakfast- easy, easy, easy! It's early, the fire is not ready, do not try to do a full coarse breakfast. Go with fruit, bread, cheese, eggs (easy to cook on the morning fire). Set this meal up "buffet" style with options for those waiting to eat.

Lunch- this can be as easy or as difficult as you would like. Soups are always a good way to go, unless the heat prevents such things. A vegetable soup is so easy to prepare on site. Bring plenty of root vegetables that can be cut & peeled on site, this makes an awesome demo in today's canned & frozen food world (root veggies require no refrigeration!).  The soup allows you to cook but does not require constant monitoring, just an occasional stir. A cold buffet is another option. Cold buffets can offer a variety of options for a full crowd. Bread, cheese, fruit, pickles, boiled eggs, cold ham, salads, cakes, the options really are endless.  If you really want to cook, again the options are endless. A boiled or roast meant (fowl or beef), some veggies, and your good to go! Some spectators are really entertained at seeing meat on a spit, so please caution people to not touch your meal.

Dinner/Supper- Again, this can be easy or elaborate. Usually I can concentrate most of my time on making a nice evening meal, preparing it throughout the day. This usually is a nice roasted or stewed meat with plenty of sides. I chose the sides based on what vegetables are in season for the area. Usually bread & cheese are offered as well. Also, use up any leftovers from lunch. You don't want food sitting around camp to attract the bugs & animals.

Repeat for the next day. You can use the leftover meat from supper for breakfast. I do usually do a "buffet" lunch for Sunday at an event, it is easier and does require less clean up at the end of a long weekend.


So, when the menus are decided put together a shopping/ingredients list. If you are cooking as a group decide who will buy/cook what. Get everything together & determine if anything can be made ahead of time. I always bake bread before an event and freeze is until the morning we leave. I also make any cookies or cakes we will have for the weekend, and any cold meats are cooked ahead of time as well. Cooking ahead of time saves lots of time at an event, and causes less stress when on site. Precooked items can also be warmed up on site if needed.  Package everything in period containers. Bags, tins, pasteboard boxes, paper, etc are all good packaging options.

Items to be used on site in recipes should also be placed in period packaging. I do this before I ever leave the house, and pack the items needed, so when I get on site I just unload a box right into the 1860's. I use a variety of crocks, jars, tins, boxes and bags. Make sure that whatever you use for food storage is food safe. I pre-measure everything that I will be using and place these ingredients in their container so that I know I have the right amount for what I will need to cook.