How was hard tack made?

[1961MJS]

Gave my wife one of these hard tack recipes and she makes it for her second graders. They actually like it. Right out of the oven it ain't bad. A week later....that's a different story.

Hi

I had the 15 year-olds in our scout troop make Hard Tack one time, great fresh, but 2 months later is was tough. The 19th Century Navies called it Ship's Biscuit and it was stored in wooden boxes or barrels until eaten.  It was common to rap the biscuit on the table before attempting to eat it so that the weevils would be convinced to exit the biscuit before you ate it.   According to Horatio Hornblower, the best thing to do with Hard tack was to feed it to rats to fatten them, then eat the rat.

Later

[GunClick Rick]

MMMMMMMM~~~Rat back straps!

[Daniel Nighteyes]

Rick,

Just soak them at the same time you soak your teeth

Hear-hear!

With apologies in advance for taking so much creative license:

"The hardtack in the Army
They say is mighty fine,
But one rolled off the table
And killed a friend of mine!

Oh, I,
Don't want no more
Of Army life,
Gee Mom, I wanna go,
But they won't let me go,
Gee Mom I wanna go
Home."

-- Nighteyes

[Guns Garrett]

...The 19th Century Navies called it Ship's Biscuit and it was stored in wooden boxes or barrels until eaten.  It was common to rap the biscuit on the table before attempting to eat it so that the weevils would be convinced to exit the biscuit before you ate it.   

Later

"Do you not know that in the service, one must always choose the lesser of two weevils?"

Though I do enjoy the many fine writings of  Patrick O'Brien, I must admit C.S. Forester's Hornblower novels are much more "readable".  Perhaps my favorite genre of literature and film - about equal to Westerns.  Tough choice.

[Tsalagidave]

One of the Civil War Hardtack Contractors is Still Around!

Real hard tack (aka, sea biscuit, crackers, worm castles etc.) is actually pretty good fresh. Think of a biscuit-sized (3"x3") saltine cracker (but less salty). They re pretty tasty by themselves (especially when dipped in molasses) and can actually be used to make sandwiches. (Steven Crane referenced this in his book, The Red Badge of Courage). It was favored for its long shelf life and easy transportation. But...it also had the habit of getting remarkably hard once it went stale.

Contact G.H Bent Company in Milton Mass.  The made hardtack for the Union Army and they still make it the same way.
http://www.bentscookiefactory.com/hardtack.html

This is the real deal folks. I strongly recommend ordering it. They are the only hardtack manufacturer from the CW that are still making the stuff.

-Dave

[GunClick Rick]

Heck i'm gonna order some of that stuff and a crate :)Pretty cool,thanks... I love my saltines man,had to have those and a banana in my lunch everyday when workin for the road dept.

[Montana Slim]

How about soaking it in whiskey before consumption?
If it doesn't improve the taste dramatically right off the bat....well, after a few bites one would not know (or care) the difference.

Adds new thought to the term Hardtack.

Slim

[griswold]

I had a triple set of books that were a trilogy ........Mr. Lincoln's Army, Army of the Potomac and A Stillness at Appomattox. Very well detailed history concerning the political, social and military events and hardships of the war of Northern Aggression.

The author, (don't remember his name), a Georgia Professor of History........wrote extensively of the hardships of the regular foot solder. Union officers would march their men 20 miles..(mind you, these were not well paved roads but dirt tracks or trails many times)......break for a meal.........Consisting of.........a few whole coffee beans ground with the hilt of their bayonet in their tin cup with water and a bit or hardtack......ate and then march another 10-20 miles then go into battle......

That stuff must have been good to sustain a combat troop all day.

[The Elderly Kid]

Griswold,
You're thinking of Bruce Catton - a pretty good popular history of the War. Dave, thanks for that link. I've been looking for those crackers for several decades. When I was a teenager and first reading the Hornblower stories I found them, believe it or not, in a gourmet shop in Montecito, CA. They're addictive, but I moved away and forgot the name of the maker. Now I'm going to order a bunch. By the way, there's a traditional Newfoundland dish made with soaked hartack, smoked cod and bacon that's really tasty.

[Tsalagidave]

Kid, what you're describing sounds like lobscouse. It's hash made of fried pork or bacon with crackers crumbled into it. It's an old seafaring dish likely related to labskaus, a traditional N. German meal of corned beef and mashed potatoes. My favorite when I'm in Hamburg.

[PJ Hardtack]

One of my re-enactment associates found a Victorian recipe for hardtack and made some. These tasteless things were real tooth breakers, inedible even if dunked in coffee.
He actually succeeded in driving in a nail with his biscuits! It needed four to do the job. Then he scooped up the shattered remnants to thicken his soup later that day.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Kid, what you're describing sounds like lobscouse. It's hash made of fried pork or bacon with crackers crumbled into it. It's an old seafaring dish likely related to labskaus, a traditional N. German meal of corned beef and mashed potatoes. My favorite when I'm in Hamburg.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scouse_%28food%29

It seems that "scouse" is a widespread food preparation method common in Northern Europe.

Start with what you have......

[Delmonico]

Funny it takes a "recipe" just flour water and a little salt made into a stiff dough, rolled and cut, then baked slow till hard and dry. 

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

"Funny it takes a "recipe" just flour water and a little salt made into a stiff dough, rolled and cut, then baked slow till hard and dry."

You are right Del.  It is not about recipes as much as it is about methods of preparation. Prior to WWII, the luxury of dropping down to the supermarket to get what you WANT was not available.

Start with what you have....

You might have the title for the first chapter of your book.

I am experimenting with an American recipe for Swedish hardtack - Knackebrod.

http://www.food.com/recipe-finder/all/swedish-hardtack

Each time I try it I simplify the recipe. Drop the buttermilk, bacon drippings instead of butter or shortening and add dried cranberries (with mixed results). Next time I will try your basic recipe, but with rye flour. I also noted an error;- This recipes seems to use way too much fluid. I halved it.

The same site has the German version; http://www.food.com/recipe/knackebrot-german-crispy-bread-245885

[The Elderly Kid]

Found the recipe. It's called "fish and brewis ( pronounced 'brews') with scrunchions (pronounced 'schrunchins')."
Hardtack is soaked overnight, as is the salt cod (not smoked cod as I wrote above) to reduce the salt content. The scrunchions are salt pork cut into cubes and fried crisp. It's a fisherman's recipe. All three ingredients were preserved foods carried on ships.

[Delmonico]

I cover using what you have.  The GAF guys in July loved the sinner-mon currant bread I whipped up instead of making a trip to town.  Basic biscuit recipe with some good sinner-mon and currants.  If I'd of used buttermilk and soda it would have been sinner-mon Irish soda bread, but that would have required a trip to town.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

This may be old hat, but here is wiki again;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardtack

[Mean Bob Mean]

Shelby Foote indicated that the Union Army ate so much that when Sherman got to the sea and their diet became rich with Oysters, geese, and such, the men clamored for hardtack.

[The Elderly Kid]

Standard Civil War joke:
"I was eatin' hardtack when I bit into something soft."
"What was it, a worm?"
"No, by damn it was a ten-penny nail!"

[The Trinity Kid]

Hey guys.  Over at the bass pro shop forum,  there is a gent who posted a recipe for the stuff.  He titled it "cooking with muddy, Gettysburg edition"  I tried it and it worked.  I even managed to break a tooth on it! Lucky me......

--TK