I found this online, and found it very informative. My thanks to this group for posting this in an effort to learn about our forefathers and foremothers. This information was collected as a part of the research done by the 25th Continental Regiment, a living history group. The regiment re-creates an American unit from 1776 that fought in the American Revolution. HOW THE SOLDIERS COOKED: We drew a day's ration of beef and flour, what was called a pound of each. The flour, perhaps, was not far from its nominal weight, but the beef was, as it always was in such cases, and indeed in all others in the army, not more than three fourths of a pound, and that, at the best, half bone. And how was it cooked? Why as it usually was when we had no cooking utensils with us, - that is, the flour was laid upon a flat stone and scorched on one side, while the beef was broiling on a stick in the fire. This was the common way of cookery when on the marches, and we could get anything to cook, and this was the mode at the time mentioned. After I had satisfied my hunger, I lay down upon the ground and slept... Private Joseph Plumb Martin, 1777 We arrived at Valley Forge in the evening ... I lay here two nights and one day and had not a morsel of anything to eat all the time, save half of a small pumpkin, which I cooked by placing it upon a rock, the skin side uppermost, and making a fire upon it. Private Joseph Plumb Martin, 1777 F[riday] 16 to T[hursday] 29. very Cold indeed / we git sum wheat that is [in] bags below ware we go after wood and burn it wich makith very good Coffe and selling sum of our thing we git sum money & so we have once in a while Sum Caffe. Private Jeremiah Greenman, February, 1776 [At the siege of Yorktown, Sarah Osborne] took her stand just back of the American tents, say about a mile from the town, and busied herself washing, mending, and cooking for the soldiers, in which she was assisted by the other females ... cooked and carried in beef, and bread, and coffee (in a gallon pot) to the soldiers in the entrenchment. Sarah Osborne, 1781 ************* RECIPES OF THE 18th CENTURY AND THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR PERIOD: At home, families in America cooked following the recipes handed down to them, or from English recipe books. The first American cookbook was not published until 1796, but English cookbooks had been re-printed in America before then. Breakfast Recipes: Indian Slapjacks One quart of milk, 1 pint of indian [corn] meal, 4 eggs, 4 spoons of flour, little salt, beat together, baked on griddles, or fry in a dry pan, or baked in a pan which has been rub'd with suet, lard or butter. Amelia Simmons, 1796 To make fried Toasts Chip a manchet [ a round loaf of fine bread] very well, and cut it roundways into toasts; then take cream and eight eggs, season'd with sack, sugar, and nutmeg; and let these toasts steep in it about an hour; then fry them in sweet butter, serve them up with plain melted butter, or with butter, sack and sugar, as you please. Eliza Smith, 1758 Meat Recipes: To broil Stakes When you have a very clear brisk fire, make your gridiron very clean, put some hot coals from the fire into a chafing dish, and place a dish over them, in order to receive your stakes when ready; take rump-stakes, which should be about half an inch thick; after you have thrown over them a little pepper and salt, place them on the gridiron, and do not turn them till that side be done; when you have turned them you will soon perceive a fine gravy laying on the upper part of the stake, which you must carefully preserve by taking the when ready warily from your gridiron, and placing them on the dish: Then covering the dish, send them hot to the table with the cover on. Some before they take the stake from the gridiron, cut into the dish a shalot or two, or a fine onion, and a little vinegar. Eliza Smith, 1758 To mumble Rabbits and Chickens Put into the bellies of your rabbits, or chickens, some parsley, an onion, and the liver; set it over the fire in the stew-pan with as much water mixed with a little salt as will cover them; when they are half boiled take them out, and shred the parsley, liver, and onion; tear the flesh from the bones of the rabbit in small flakes, and put it into the stew-pot again with a very little of the liquor it was boiled in, a pint of white-wine, some gravy, half a pound or more of butter, some grated nutmeg; when tis enough, shake in a little flour, and thicken it with butter. Serve it on snippets [pieces of toasted bread]. Eliza Smith, 1758 To stew a Rump of Beef Season your rump of beef with two nutmegs, some pepper and salt, and lay the fat side downward in your stew-pan; put to it a quarter of a pint of vinegar, a pint of claret, three pints of water, three whole onions stuck with a few cloves, and a bunch of sweet-herbs; cover it close, and let it stew over a gentle fire four or five hours; scum off the fat from the liquor. Lay your meat on sippets, and pour your liquor over it. Garnish your dish with scalded greens. Eliza Smith, 1758 Vegtable Recipes: To stew Cucumbers Pare twelve cucumbers, slice them as for eating, put them to drain, and lay them in a coarse cloth until they are dry; flour them, and fry them brown in butter; then put in some gravy, a little claret, some pepper, cloves, mace, and let them stew a little; them roll a bit of butter in flour, and toss them up; put them under mutton or lamb roasted. Eliza Smith, 1758 To dress Carrots. Scrape them very clean, and when the water boils, put them into your pot or sauce-pan; if they are young spring carrots, they will be boiled in a half an hour, but if large they will require an hour. Take them out, slice them into a plate, and pour over them melted butter. Eliza Smith, 1758 To dress Potatoes Put your potatoes into the sauce-pan with a proper quantity of water; and when they are enough, which may be known by their skins beginning to crack, drain al the water from them, and let them stand close covered up for two or three minutes; then peel them, plate them in a plate, and pour over them a proper quantity of melted butter: Or after you have peeled them, lay them on a gridiron, and, when they are of a fine brown, send them to table. Or you may cut them into slices, fry them in butter,and season them with pepper and salt. Eliza Smith, 1758 Dessert Recipes: Plain Cake. Three quarters of a pound of sugar, 1 pound of butter, and 6 eggs work'd into 1 pound of flour. [Bake in a loaf pan at 325 degrees F. for 75-80 minutes.] Amelia Simmons, 1796 A Nice Indian Pudding. No. 1. 3 pints scalded milk, 7 spoons fine Indian meal, stir well together while hot, let stand till cooled; add 7 eggs, half a pound of raisins, 4 ounces butter, spice and sugar, bake one and half hour. No. 2. 3 pints scalded milk to one pint meal salted; cool, add 2 eggs, 4 ounces butter, sugar or molasses and spice q.s. [quantum sufficit - as much as suffices] it will require two and half hours baking. Amelia Simmons, 1796 Apple Pastries to fry. Pare and quarter apples, and boil them in sugar and water, and a stick of cinnamon, and when tender, put in a little white wine, the juice of a lemon, a piece of fresh butter, and a little ambergrease or orange-flower water; stir all together, and when it is cold put it in a puff-paste and fry them. Eliza Smith, 1758 Puff Paste for Tarts. No. 5. One pound flour, three fourths of a pound of butter, beat well. Amelia Simmons, 1796 http://members.aol.com/Srlohnes/recipe.html Happy Holidays! Jane Shake your family tree and watch the nuts fall!