Tag: Food

Monmouth Menus

On By kittycalashIn Events, Food, Living History, Reenacting6 Comments

Food: It is always on my mind, even cataloging. When the tan and brown and black colors of a sampler make me think of Tiramisu,  I know it’s time to wrap up work for the day. But food is particularly on my mind this week, as I plan and calculate for Monmouth, hoping to use the lessons I’ve learned in the past instead of just being anxious. I know it’s not a test, but it feels like one, somehow.

The Young Mr has aged suddenly, in Don Draper’s kitchen.

Continental rations were supposed to be a pound of beef and a pound of flour a day for man, half that for a woman employed by the army and a quarter of that for a child. The Young Mr (who isn’t really a child and is sort of a soldier) would get more if he was really a drummer… but in any case, we’re looking at 2 + ½ + ¼ or 2 ¾ pounds of beef and the equivalent of flour at a minimum to feed two soldiers, a woman, and a child per day (at a minimum, I expect to feed the adjutant as well as ourselves).

I float out ideas like fire cake or pudding to take account of the flour, but Mr S reels me in and suggests that we should stick to what we know until we can test other ideas on the landlord’s fire pit. We shall substitute bread, therefore, and I probably will not make a nuisance of myself at the bakery or the grocery and ask them to weigh the loaves, as I have my own kitchen scale and can obsess about this in the comfort of our home.

Too fancy! From the Complete Housewife.
Too fancy! From the Complete Housewife.

My plan is about the same as every camp dining plan: that’s suitable, given the repetitive nature of Army rations (and the repetitive complaints of the soldiers, echoed in every war).

Friday
Pasties. They keep and travel well.

Saturday Morning
Bread, cheese, strawberries, eggs
Ideally, I’ll find a farm stand where I can buy local strawberries, but we will only get into a discussion of what exactly would have been in season on New Jersey in June 1778, which leads to a discussion of global heating.

Saturday Lunch
Bread, cheese, ham, cookies from home

Saturday Dinner
Beef stew and bread, strawberries, cookies from home

Sunday Morning
Bread, cheese, fruit, eggs

Sunday Lunch
Bread cheese, ham, and anything that’s left

This is essentially the same plan that I had for OSV last year, with the biggest sticking points being: will I remember the eggs? Will I manage coffee? I’m not very good at anything until I have coffee, or some kind of caffeine, which could be a challenge this time around. There’s an ice truck scheduled to go through the camps, but what I want to know is, when’s the coffee truck coming?

New Model Army Stove

On By kittycalashIn Events, Food, Living History, Reenacting7 Comments
From the BAR FB page.
From the BAR FB page.

Cooking and eating will be different at Monmouth, because there will be camp kitchens.

This means two things that give me stomachaches: trying something new in public and sharing with strangers. How to alleviate this discomfort? Research, of course, because we don’t think our landlord wants to have an 18th century camp kitchen in our yard, even as an attraction or energy saving option. (Nor have we figured out how to ask him about the hanging-chicken-cooking experiment we want to try using the metal fire pit he lights for snuggling with his many girlfriends.) For more on camp kitchens, you can read John U. Rees’s article here, or check out the work done on the common British soldier in America by the 18th century Material Culture Center.

"D" are the kitchens.
The circles are the kitchens.

With a camp kitchen, we can leave our three sticks at home. Kitchens are also far more authentic for a large camp (see the plan from von Steuben at right). I’ve also read that it’s quicker than cooking over an open fire, which is a plus.

A large heap of earth cannot be good in a downpour.
A large heap of earth cannot be good in a downpour.

The main downside that I can see to a camp kitchen is rain: from the photo and this drawing, you can imagine for yourself the results of a downpour. At least it’s going to be drier there by the end of the week…

Be Sensible: Eat Cookies

On By kittycalashIn Events, Living History, Reenacting2 Comments
The Dame School, Isaac Cruikshank. V&A 144-1890
The Dame School, Isaac Cruikshank. V&A 144-1890

Back to fluffier content…

In the fine tradition of do-as-I-say, I mean self-perceptive evaluation, I offer some lessons learned from the weekend just past.

Dress for the weather, not for style.

I wore a pair of blue silk stockings because somewhere I found a description of a woman in a brown gown with blue silk clocked stockings. It was flipping 30-something degrees Saturday morning. Did I change my plans? No. Did I regret that later? Yes. And so did the people who had to hear about my numb toes. (Sorry, folks, really. Totally my fault.) And yes, even though the stockings are awesome with lilac silk garters, I should have worn wool. I have a pair already, and for more,  I don’t even have to knit them myself. 

No excuse, really.
I have no excuse, really.

Suck it up and get glasses.

My line about always meeting new people at events because I can’t see who they are works for the first ten minutes of a military event, and then I have to try to guess who’s who by their stocking colors. Works so well when everyone wears overalls. Yes, I wear glasses everyday, and need a new prescription. It’s time to get the new script and get the period glasses made. What makes this even worse? I have antique frames. Yes, I deserve your scorn.

Don’t just eat lunch. Eat a snack. 

This is a rule I try to follow at work. The 3:00 PM of the soul can be just as debilitating as the 3:00 AM of the soul. Low blood sugar makes you wacky, and if you have a tendency to insomnia-based exhaustion, shyness, or can have trouble in large crowds, one has a responsibility to oneself and one’s companions to take care of some basics. I had my snack after the late-afternoon tactical, two hours after I should have. I solemnly swear that next time, I will eat more cookies sooner.

To Lexington, Tomorrow

On By kittycalashIn Events, Food, Living History
The Battle of Lexington, 1775. Engraving by Ralph Earl. NYPL Digital Library
The Battle of Lexington, 1775. Engraving by Ralph Earl. NYPL Digital Library

We’re as done as we’re going to be. Buttonholes are stitched, the Young Mr’s garters are in process, so the last thing to do would be to replace the green ribbon on my bonnet with black, just because I feel picky and want to change it.

That, and pressing clothes and making lunches.

Mr S completed two hand-sewn market wallets so that the boys can have their own lunches and I do not have to be the walking buttery.

Clara Peeters (fl. 1607–1621) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

On the menu? A Cheshire pork pie or pasties (apple and pork), apples, water, and gingerbread cakes. I may pick up a loaf of bread (I ran out of flour this morning and barely eked out enough for the gingerbread, so rising time is out of the question) and bring some cheese as well. It’s a long day outdoors, and we are likely to be hungry. When my family gets too hungry, we get weird. By the time we are done, I expect to be this tired, so I am considering making Saturday night’s dinner tonight.

The modernized recipes for gingerbread cakes and the pork pie are from the History is Served website, but this week I found a wonderful site from the Westminster City Archives, The Cookbook of Unknown Ladies. Almond puddings are not portable, but they look fun to try.