Bob, Another real fun one! I love Howard C. Gardiner's vocabulary and story telling. Bob, you sure can find the fun stuff to let us know what it was really like. Keep 'em coming...... Thanks, RUTH _____________________________ Ruth & Don Skewis [email protected] > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Friday, September 25, 1998 2:51 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [CA-GOLDRUSH-L] Dutch Oven Bread &c. - Northern Mines - 1851 > > > Howdy, > Let's join our 49er Howard C. GARDINER as he delves into > the culinary > arts:-)): > > "It was at Whiskey Bar[ up from Horse Shoe Bar toward > Auburn] that I > first undertook systematic housekeeping. I lived alone... The greatest > difficulty was making bread:-) The rest was comparatively easy, > and except in > bread-making, I soon became expert in the cuisine department. I could cook > pork and beans, fry ham, boil potatoes, manufacture a pork stew, concoct > coffee, and toss slap-jacks 'secudum artem,' but bread was for a > long time > beyond my capacity. Simple as it seems, the preparation and baking [of] a > batch of bread is no easy matter. Time after time, after mixing the > ingredients with the utmost care, kneading the dough and setting > it to rise > till it reached a proper state of fermentation, then placing the > loaf in the > Dutch Oven with glowing coals beneath and on the lid, I would watch it > carefully, and at intervals probe it with a stick to see if it > was done; yet, > when the loaf was turned out upon the table, it invariably proved a LAP > STONE:-), heavy and indigestible. Finally, however, when I caught > the knack, > my previous failures were incomprehensible. My bread was > excellent. The loaf > when placed in the oven would gradually rise up, up, up, til it > fairly raised > the cover, and when taken out was light as a feather. Sourdough, > left in the > pan at the previous baking, was used for YEARS, and after I once > got the hang > of it, I always had good bread...." > "A fifty-pound sack of flour lasted five weeks, hence my > consumption of > bread and slap-jack required ten pounds a week. Provisions were sold at > reasonable rates, and I lived well, far better than at any > previous period in > California. Never a hearty eater, my wants were easily satisfied. Coffee, > fried ham, fried sweet potatoes, with bread and butter, usually > constituted my > breakfast. Dinner was a pick-up meal, but supper was more > elaborate. Salmon > were then caught in the river, and fried salmon was no uncommon > dish. Taken > all in all, my life at Horse Shoe Bar was a pleasant one" > > We need a place for the winter; how about Secret Ravine? It's only 4 or 5 > miles from Horse Shoe:-), > Bob Norris in Dallas > BNorris166aol.com > > > ==== CA-GOLDRUSH Mailing List ==== > Automatic Administrative Reminder: > ROOTSWEB is archiving the messages on CA-GOLDRUSH-L, and a > search screen is available on their web site. The address > to do an archive search for this list (and most other rootsweb > lists) can be found at: > http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl > Good luck! > > >