GOOBER'S GOURMET GRUB

Goober, (43rd NC) tells me he is a 'Gourmet Cook' on camp and has made these recipes over an open fire with great success.

Perhaps we can all try them out. We could even have a 'Competition Cook Out' to see who is the best cook on camp. We all know there are only two heats on an open fire HOT and FREEZING.

Old Fashioned Sour Milk Pancakes

Heat griddle while mixing batter

1 egg
1 1/4cup sour milk, buttermilk or yogurt
1 1/4cup whole wheat flour
Pinch of salt
2 tblsp vegetable oil
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sugar (optional)

In a mixing bowl beat together egg, milk and oil. Sift together dry ingredients add to liquid mixture. Stir until smooth. Bake on griddle. This makes about 16 4 inch pancakes. Serve hot or cold with maple syrup, apple sauce, fruit or cream.

NOTE For a thicker mix use less liquid. Blueberries may be added to each pancake after pouring on the griddle.

The following story is told about General Robert E Lee.

General Lee was very fond of old Virginia flapjacks Thin as a wafer and nearly as big as a cartwheel; and when made with new flour and served hot with melted butter and maple molasses and folded and folded, layers thick, they are a feast for the gods. But General Lee, the best and tenderest of men, as well as the greatest, hadn't it in his heart to fare so well much as his ample means would have allowed, when his men were suffering for food; and if one wanted a poor dinner he had only to drop in on General Lee at that hour. He lived but little better than his men.

This greatly disturbed his cook; and when the army advanced into Pennsylvania, flowing with milk and honey and other good things edible, he said 'Well I'll gwine to git something good Marse Robert, for once, if he never cats none no mo'.' So, skirmishing around, he got up the necessary ingredients for the General's favourite cake. The cook, in his pride as chef and zealous love of his master, outdid himself on the 30th June 1863. The cakes were too tempting; the General ate to plentifully, was sick accordingly, and Gettysburg was lost.

Hardtack

Use one part water and six parts flour. Mix and knead. Roll dough flat and score into cracker shapes. Bakes for 20-25 mins and cool off until completely dry before storing in container. The crackers should be hard as bricks and indestructibly unappetizing. If not consumed by hungry soldiers, the crackers might last at least until the Lord returns.

Note: The moisture content of flour varies, so more water may actually be needed. Add tiny amounts of water at a time to reach the consistency of dough can be rolled out.

The men joked about Hardtack. Some called them Worm castles, or tooth dullers.

While doing siege work at Petersburg in the summer of 1864, the men had 'wormy' hardtack served to them for a time. It tested the temper of the men. Breaking the biscuit open and finding worms in them, they would throw the pieces in the trenches, although the orders were to keep the trenches clean, for sanitary reasons.

A brigade officer of the day, seeing some of the scraps along the front, called out sharply. "Throw that hardtack out of the trenches. Don't you know you have no business to throw hardtack in the trenches?" Out from the injured soldier hear there came a reasonable explanation. "We've thrown it out two or three times, sir, but it keeps on crawling back."

Submitted by Stewart Douglas 43rd NC

The above article first appeared in the ACWS Newsletter, Spring 2008