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| Photo Courtesy of Heart to Hearth Cookery |
When researching food in period cookbooks and cooking the receipts, it is best to only modify to the amount of people being served. This cannot always be done with creams, custards, puddings and the like, but it is always fun to attempt the preparation. One of the best parts of being the cook is that you get to taste everything made – just don’t let anyone see you!
The below are a sample of receipts that may have been served at General Washington's table. As our Housekeeping page states, he stayed in homes as well as in a camp setting. Household expense accounts list familiar foods such as butter, eggs, potatoes, rice, “lemons,” pastry, turnips, veal, and chickens to name a few. Those that are not so familiar to a modern palate are hurtleberries, pidgeons, turtle, squirrel, and mutton.
The period receipts are not listed as it is called for this type of research in the attempt to save time when compiling this list. Future editions will be fixed. Interpreting the ingredients called for, what to use to cook it with, how to cook it, and finally to serve it, is a trial and error process. The source of the receipt is stated which includes using other adaptations from original receipts is shown. All instances are translated for hearth or camp cooking (sometimes almost verbatim from the source), and have been made in a modern kitchen with trial and error!
Breakfast was usually served at 8 am, Dinner (or lunch) at 2 or 3 pm, and a Supper at 7 or 8 pm. Dinner was the largest, longest, and most formal meal of the day and would have been at least three courses served depending on General Washington’s situation. If he had dinner guests, he would have tried to make the best impression that he could.
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| Turtle Soup made while at a Heart to Hearth Cookery Course |
The housekeeper for the HQ has a very important role. The housekeeper had to plan, supervise, and cook for up to 30 people. The correct portions carefully thought out and nothing wasted. For our HQ kitchen, we use all period correct original or reproduction cookware to make our meals. In most instances, we are in a camp setting and cook over an open fire. The meals prepared are simple. When cooking for the unit, we try to stay as close to rations given to the men, but also look for other foods to supplement their meals by foraging, trading, or purchasing items in local villages and markets.
The HQ eats better. General Washington stayed in multiple homes over the course of the war, which allowed the housekeeper a chance to cook over an open hearth and prepare more elaborate dishes.
There is extensive research done to ensure that the meals are correct and the receipts are as close to the original as possible. Please check back often for updates and further historical information regarding our interpretation. All feedback on how your receipts turn out is appreciated! If you’d like to share as well, please contact me at hq@generalwashington.net.
Eaten at Breakfast
NELLY CUSTIS HOECAKES (ADAPTATION)
Food – 8-3/4 cup White Cornmeal, 1-¼ teaspoon dry yeast, 1 Egg Warm Water Shortening or Cooking Grease Butter and Honey
Utensils - 1 bowl, 1 griddle, 1 spoon, 1 serving platter, 1-2 hot pads or towels, 1 fire set for hanging griddle
Preparation-
• In large container, mix together 4 cups white cornmeal, 1 1/4 teaspoons dry yeast, and enough warm water to give the mixture the consistency of pancake batter (probably 3-4 cups). Cover and set on the stove or counter overnight.
• In the morning, gradually add remaining cornmeal, egg and enough warm water to give the
mixture the consistency of pancake batter (3-4 cups). Cover and set aside for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Add cooking grease to a griddle or skillet and heat until water sprinkled onto it will bead up.
• Pour batter, by the spoonful, onto the hot griddle. (Note: since the batter has a tendency to
separate, you will need to stir it well before pouring each batch.) When the hoecake is brown
on one side, turn it over and brown the other. Serve warm with butter and honey.
Serving- Place on tin platter or right on plates.
Cooking Time – 5 minutes each with a hot fire
(Adaptation from Mount Vernon)
Eaten Cold at Breakfast and Supper or Hot at Dinner
TO ROAST A LOIN OF PORK (WITH ONIONS)
Food – Loin of Pork, Sage, Salt/Pepper, Egg yolk, Bread Crumbs, Butter or Sweet Oil for rubbing, ½ onion
Utensils - 1 knife, 1 whisk or fork, 1 large fork, 1 Wooden Spoon, 1 cutting board, 1 small bowl, Butcher’s Twine, 1 sauce pan (to heat onions through), serving plate, 1 Tin Dutch Reflector Oven or fireset with rotisserie, 1-2 hot pads or towels
Preparation-
• Create a force-meat of stuffing with 1/2 onion (minced), sage, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and beaten egg yolk.
• Score the skin in narrow strips and rub it all over with a mixture of powdered sage leaves,
pepper, and salt.
• Make deep incisions between the ribs and fill them with the force-meat/stuffing mixture.
• Moisten it with butter or sweet oil rubbed lightly over it.
• Put it on a spit before a clear fire. Moisten it as needed with butter/sweet oil. Don’t put it too close to the fire to burn the outside, try to keep it steady and even, turning the spit often.
Preparation with Onions-
• Add 8-10 onions, flour, vinegar, and three teaspoonful of mustard. Slice the onions thin and
lay them in the bottom of the tin dutch reflector oven. Allow the fat to drop on them from the
pork.
• When the pork is done, place the onions and the fat into a sauce-pan and add the flour and
vinegar and stir. Add the mustard and cook 5-10 minutes.
Serving- Serve on a dish spreading onions around it.
Cooking Time - 3 hours
(by Eliza Leslie,”Directions for Cookery, in it’s various Branches,” 25th Ed, Carey & Hart, Philadelphia, 1847, p. 117 and WITH ONIONS (by Hannah Glasse, “The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy,” 1747, reprint by Prospect books, London, page 52)
Eaten Warm at Breakfast or Dinner
FOR BROYLED CHICKENS OR PORK STAKES
Food – Chicken Breasts/Sliced Pork Loin, Parsley, ½ to 1 Onion, 1 Shallot, Salt, Pepper, Bread Crumbs, Butter or Sweet Oil, Thyme, Mushroom Catchup, Sage
Utensils - 1 knife, 1 large fork or spatula, 1 Spoon, 1 cutting board, 1 small bowl, 1 serving plate, 1 Gridiron, 1-2 hot pads, or towels Wooden Mallet
Preparation-
• Chicken: Cut chickens in half or use breasts. Receipt calls to “flat them well.” Mince some
parsley, thyme, salt, pepper, and onion and mix with some grated bread and roll the chicken in the bread. Rub butter or sweet oil on gridiron so chicken will not stick. Lay on your chicken or chicken breasts.
• Pork: Cut stakes half an inch thick, when your gridiron is hot, rub it with fresh lard or butter, lay on your stakes. When done, rub them with butter, slice a shallot very thin into a spoonful of water, pour it on them with a spoonful of Mushroom Catchup, sage, and salt, serve them up hot.
• Keep turning as quick as possible, if you don’t take care, the fat that drops from the chicken or stakes will smoke.
• Broyle over a clear fire.
Serving- Serve on a dish with gravy (possibly brown celery sauce)
Cooking Time - 1 hour
(For Pork - The Experienced English House-Keeper by Elizabeth Raffald, Manchester, printed by J. Harrop, 1769 and for chicken - by a Philadelphia Manuscript 1715 as written by Susan McClellan Plaisted)
Eaten Warm at Breakfast or Dinner
STEWED MUSHROOMS
Food – 6 cups of Mushrooms, 6 tablespoons butter, 1-1/2 teaspoons Salt, ¼ teaspoon Cayenne pepper, ¼ teaspoon Mace
Utensils - 1 knife, 1 cutting board, 1 frying pan or spider, 1 spoon, 1 serving bowl, 1-2 hot pads or towels, 1 trivet, measuring spoons
Preparation-
• Slice the mushroom (or buy sliced).
• Place the butter in the frying pan on a trivet over hot coals. When it sizzles, add the
mushrooms. Cook for 3-4 minutes over moderate heat, stirring often.
• Stir in seasonings and continue to cook until mushrooms are very tender.
Serving- Pour into a serving dish and keep warm by the fire until ready to send to table.
Cooking Time - 10-15 minutes
(Nancy Carter Crump, “Hearthside Cooking” p. 177, original from Mary Ann Randolph Custis Lee Cookbook as written by Mrs. Robert E. Lee and Mrs. Hannah Glasse, “The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy,” p. 139, 1776 reproduction of the 1796 revision from 1745 original.)
Food – 6-8 large Apples sliced, Butter, Juice from a Lemon, Slivered almonds, Sugar to Taste
Utensils - 1 knife, 1 cutting board, 1 frying pan or spider, 1 spoon, 1 bowl, 1 serving bowl, 1-2 hot pads or towels, 1 trivet
Preparation - Peel and core apples. Drop in cold water to prevent them from turning dark. In a frying pan, melt butter. Add sliced apples and add a little lemon juice. Cook until apples are cooked through, adding sliced almonds just before done. You can substitute the apples with peaches or pears depending on what is in season.
Serving - Pour into a serving dish or right onto plates.
Cooking Time - 20 minutes
BUTTER BISCUITS
Food - Half a pound of butter, two pounds of flour (sifted), half a pin of milk or cold water, a salt-spoonful of salt (optional).
Utensils - 2 tin disks, a spoon and wisk, rolling pin, measuring cups, a fork, a bowl, pastry or cutting board, a round cup or biscuit cutter, 1-2 hot pads or towels.
Preparation - Cut up the butter in the flour and put the salt to it. Wet it to a stiff dough with the milk or water. Mix it well with a knife. Throw some flour or the paste-board, take the dough out of the pan, and knead it very well. Roll it out into a large thick sheet, and beat it very hard on both sides with the rolling-pin. Beat it a long time. Cut it out with a tin, cup, or small round for thick cakes. Beat each cake on both sides, with the rolling-pin. Prick them with a fork. Put them in buttered pans, and bake them of a light brown in a slow oven.
Serving - Place on a serving plate or in a basket.
Cooking Time - 1 hour
(Taken from Eliza Leslie "Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, "Boston, Mass.: Munroe and Francis, 1832, page 64).
STEWED LETTUCE
Food - Approx. 4 heads of lettuce*, Fatback, Spring Onions (chopped), diced bacon or Ham (optional), 3/4 cup Cider vinegar, 1/4 cup water.
Utensils - 1 knife, bowl, spoon, 1-2 hot pads or towels, cutting board, 2 frying pans, 1 pot, 1 serving bowl, 1 trivet.
Preparation - Wash and dry lettuce. Tear lettuce and place ina metal pot with lid. Cut up the fatback in cubes and cook over the warm coals. STir in spring onion and diced bacon/ham. Take off the fire and slowly add vinegar diluted with water. Pour the fatback mixture over the lettuce/greens and cover in the pot.
* Can also use spinach, cabbage, or mustard greens.
Serving - Pour into a serving dish or eat from the pot.
Cooking Time - 30 minutes.
(Adaptation of Stewed Cabbage and Stewed Peas and Lettuce. Mrs. Hannah Glasse, "The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy," p. 137-138, 1776 reproduction of the 1796 revision from 1745 original.)
Half a pound of stewed pumpkin
Three eggs
A quarter of a pound of fresh butter, or a pint of cream
A quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar
Half a glass of wine and brandy mixed
Half a glass of rose-water
A tea-spoonful of mixed spice, nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon
Stew some pumpkin with as little water as possible. Drain it in a cullender, and press it till dry. When cold, weigh half a pound, and pass it through a sieve. Prepare the spice. Stir together the sugar, and butter, to cream, till they are perfectly light. Add to them, gradually, the spice and liquor. Beat three eggs very light, and stir them into the butter and sugar alternately with the pumpkin. Cover a soup-plate with puff-paste, and put in the mixture. Bake it in a moderate oven about half an hour. Grate sugar over it when cool. Instead of butter, you may boil a pint of milk or cream, and when cold, stir into it in turn the sugar, eggs, and pumpkin. NOTE: I used both butter and cream and leave out the rose water as it tends to overpower the flavours in the dish. Stewed or roasted pumpkin is quite delicious.
(Taken from Eliza Leslie "Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, Botson, Mass: Munroe and Francis, 1832, page 21)
Boyl 2 large carrots, when cold pound them, in a mortar, strain them thro a sive, mix them nth [with] two grated biskets, ½ a pound of butter, sack and Orange flower water, Sugar and a little Salt, a pint of cream mixt with 7 yolks of eggs and two whites, beat these together and put them in a dish covered and garnished. “Good”
Mrs. Thompson’s Note: Boil and mash the carrots or just cut them up and throw them into the bowl. Both have different textures and boiled would be best. For the biskets, I use bread crumbs.
Mrs. Thompson’s Note: Boil and mash the carrots or just cut them up and throw them into the bowl. Both have different textures and boiled would be best. For the biskets, I use bread crumbs.
(Taken from Edward Kidder, "Receipts of Pastry and Cooking for the Use of His Scholars," 1740, p. 20)
