Civil War Meat Loaf (1861)

• 1/2 lb ground ham
• 1/2 lb sausage meat
• Salt and pepper
• 4 tbspns milk
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tspn dry mustard

Mix ham and sausage meat together and season with salt and pepper. Add the milk, egg, and bread crumbs, and mix thoroughly.

Heat the water, and add the dry mustard; bring to a boil and add to the meat mixture.  Shape the loaf into a shallow baking pan, and bake in a moderate oven, 375 degrees, for about 1 hour. Serves 6 to 8.

More "Lost" Civil War Recipes

Civil War Potato Dumplings (1864)

Civil War Doughnuts (1861)

(Origin - "The Civil War Cookbook" by William C Davis, published by Courage Books, an imprint of Running Press, 1993.) 

Civil War Potato Dumplings (1864)

"The dumplings are made thus: Peel some potatoes and grate them into a basin of water. Let the pulp remain in the water for a couple hours.

"Drain it off, and mix with it half its weight of flour. Season with salt, pepper, chopped onions, and sweet herbs. If not moist enough, add a little water.  

"Roll the dumplings the size of a small apple, sprinkle them well with flour, and throw them into boiling water.  When you observe them rising to the top of the saucepan, they will be boiled enough.

"These should be easier to handle if they were smaller, and they would cook faster, too."

More Civil War Recipes
Civil War Fried Tomatoes (1865)

Civil War Doughnuts (1861)

(Origin - "Civil War Recipes - Receipts from the Pages of Godey's Lady's Book" compiled and edited by Lily May Spaulding and John Spaulding.)

Civil War Harrison Molasses Cake (1863)

"Two cups of molasses, one cup of butter, one cup sugar, one cup sour cream, one teaspoonful cloves, one of saleratus, two teacups currants.

"Butter melted with molasses and pour in three or four cups of flour; then add sugar, cloves, and half the sour cream. Put in the rest of the cream when you have dissolved the saleratus in it.  Then take enough more flour to make it about as thick as tea cakes. 

"Stir it 10 or 15 minutes, add the currants, and bake it in pans like cup cake."

(Author's note - "This cake my have been named for President William Henry Harrison... During his presidential campaign, a large rally in Ohio featured such food as corn dodgers, hard cider, and barbecued ham.")

(Note - "Saleratus was a chalk-like powder used as a chemical leavener to produce carbon dioxide gas in dough. It was a precursor to baking soda...Substitute: Per teaspoon of saleratus, 1 1/4 teaspoons of baking soda."  Source: Cooksinfo.com)

More from "Civil War Recipes"

How to Make Yeast (1860)

Civil War Fried Tomatoes (1865)

(Origin - "Civil War Recipes - Receipts from the Pages of Godey's Lady's Book" compiled and edited by Lily May Spaulding and John Spaulding.)

Southern Tomato Biscuit Shortbread (1865)

• 2 cups sifted flour
• 1 cup tomato juice
• 8 tspns baking powder
• 6 to 8 tbspns shortening
• 1/2 tspn salt

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into mixing bowl. Cut in shortening with 2 knives, pastry blender, or fingertips. 

When using fingers, pick-up mixture and rub shortening in quickly; drop and take up another portion. Repeat until mixing is complete. 

Mix only until the mass resembles cornmeal. Make a little well in the center. Pour into this well most of the tomato juice at once, stirring with a fork or knife. The amount of liquid needed varies with the flour, but add it until the mixture follows the spoon or fork in the dough.

Mix no longer than needed. The ideal is a soft dough that may be handled. Remove the ball of dough to a lightly floured board. Knead lightly 10 to 20 times; roll to 1/4-inch thickness.

Cut in large (8-inch rounds) or in in individual rounds, and place on greased cookie sheet. Bake in very hot oven (450 degrees) for 12 to 15 minutes.

Two rounds may be put together like sandwiches, spreading melted butter between and on top before baking.  

More "Lost" Biscuit Recipes
Southern Beaten Biscuits (1857)

Sour Cream Biscuits (1949)

(Origin - "'Gone with the Wind' Cook Book, published by Abbeville Press in 1991. This is a "facsimile edition book," part of Turner Entertainment's Hollywood Hotplates cookbook series.) 

Civil War Lemon Cheesecake (1862)

"One pound of loaf sugar, six eggs, but the whites of four eggs only, the juice of three large lemons, but first before cutting them, rub the sugar on the rinds to extract the flavor.

"Beat the eggs well; add them to the juice of the lemons, then strain them into a bright tin saucepan. Add a quarter pound of fresh butter and all the other ingredients.

"Let it simmer slowly over a slow fire till the whole is the consistence of honey. Stir the mixture till cool, when, after having lined the patty-pans with puff paste, bake them, then put on the lemon mixture, and return them to the oven a few minutes just to slightly brown over.

"Author's note - In earlier times, 'cheesecake' referred to any open tart with eggs and lemon or orange juice."

More "Lost" Civil War Recipes
Green Corn Dumplings (1867)

Civil War Vegetable Soup with Ham (1861)

(Origin - "Civil War Recipes - Receipts from the Pages of Godey's Lady's Book" compiled and edited by Lily May Spaulding and John Spaulding.)

Civil War Fried Tomatoes (1865)

"Take large round tomatoes and halve them; place them, skin down, in a frying pan in which a very small quantity of butter or lard has been previously melted.  

"Sprinkle them with salt and pepper, and dredge them well with flour, and let them brown thoroughly. Stir them, and let them brown again, and so on until they are quite done. 

"They lose their acidity, and the flavor is superior to stewed tomatoes."

More "Lost" Tomato Recipes

Quaker Tomato Gravy (1954)

Steaks in Purgatory (1973)

(Origin - "Civil War Recipes - Receipts from the Pages of Godey's Lady's Book" compiled and edited by Lily May Spaulding and John Spaulding.)

How to Make Vinegar (1861)

"Vinegar made of cider is the best; that of sour wine or beer is good. Much of the vinegar sold is not good, being made of poor, often unwholesome materials. On this account, it is advisable for housekeepers to manufacture their own vinegar; it is also much more economical.

"Procure a barrel, or a half a one of cider, put to it a piece of paper dipped in molasses, keep the barrel in a warm place, in a place exposed to the influence of the sun, until it becomes vinegar.

"Tea, coffee, and sour beer, which you have left after meals, may be added to the vinegar without injury to it, if not added in large quantities at once, so as to weaken the vinegar. 

"Very good vinegar may be made of fair, good apple parings, by putting to them rather more than sufficient water to cover them in an unglazed earthen pot, with a paper dipped in molasses put in it. Keep it in a warm situation. In the course of several weeks, it will ferment, and become good vinegar."

More "Lost" Civil War Recipes
How to Make Yeast (1860)

Green Corn Dumplings (1867)

Origin - "Food in the Civil War Era - The North" edited by Helen Zoe Veit, published by Michigan State University Press, 2014.)

Civil War Doughnuts (1861)

"Mix together six pounds of flour and a pound and three-quarters of sugar. Stir a pound of butter into enough of warm milk to make up the flour into a stiff batter.

"Add seven well-beaten eggs to the batter, and a teacupful and a half of yeast, and set it to rise. When it is light, knead in flour enough to make a soft dough, some cinnamon and mace, and set to rise again.

"When it is very light, roll it out thin, cut it in shapes, and fry in hot lard. Sprinkle cinnamon and loaf-sugar over then whilst hot."

More "Lost" Civil War Recipes
How to Make Yeast (1860)

Rhubarb Fool (1863)

(Origin - "Food in the Civil War Era - The South" edited by Helen Zoe Veit, published by Michigan State University Press, 2015.)

Civil War Vegetable Soup with Ham (1861)

"Put a pint of Lima beans, a half a dozen large tomatoes, two teacupfuls of corn cut from the cob, a few snap beans, and two teaspoonfuls of dried ochra, into five quarts of water, with  three slices of lean ham.

"Boil for two hours, and season with salt and pepper. Remove the ham before sending to the table. Thicken with yellow of egg and a little flour.

"A nice winter soup is also made by boiling a few slice of lean ham, half a pint of dried Lima beans, a few heads of celery cut up, and turnips and potatoes sliced thin. 

"A fourth of a teacupful of dried ochra will be a nice addition. A grated carrot, or a teacupful of stewed tomatoes, preserved in cans, will improve the color. If thickening is required, add some made of browned flour and water. Two tablespoonfuls of pepper-sauce will improve it. Put it in after the soup is in the tureen."

More "Lost" Soups
Carrot Soup with Potatoes (1911)

Potato Chowder with Bacon (1911)

(Origin - "Food in the Civil War Era - The South" edited by Helen Zoe Veit, published by Michigan State University Press, 2015.)

Civil War Christmas Cake (1862)

To two pounds of off flour well sifted
     Of loaf-sugar ounces sixteen;
Two pounds of fresh butter, with eighteen fine eggs,
     And four pounds of currants washed clean;
Eight ounces of almonds well blanched and cut small,
     The same weight of citron sliced;
Of orange and lemon-peel candied one pound,
     And a gill of pale brandy uniced;
A large nutmeg grated: exact half an ounce
     Of allspice, but only a quarter
Of mace, coriander, and ginger well ground,
     Or pounded to dust in a mortar.
An important addition is cinnamon, which
     Is better increased than diminished;
The fourth of an ounce is sufficient. Now this
     May be baked four good hours till finished.

More "Lost" Historic Recipes
Abraham Lincoln's Tennessee Cake with Cider Sauce (1835)

Benjamin Franklin's Gingerbread (1770)

(Origin - "Civil War Recipes - Receipts from the Pages of Godey's Lady's Book" compiled and edited by Lily May Spaulding and John Spaulding.)

Rhubarb Fool (1863)

"Boil a quart or more of rhubarb, nicely peeled, and cut into pieces an inch long.  Push pulp through a sieve, sweeten, and let it stand to cool. 

"Put a pint of cream, or new milk. into a stew-pan with a stick of cinnamon, a small piece of lemon-peel, a few cloves, corriander-seeds, and sugar to taste. Boil 10 minutes. 

"Beat up the yolks of 4 eggs with a little flour. Stir it into the cream, and set it over the fire until it boils, stirring all the time. Remove, and let it stand till cold.

"Mix the rhubarb and cream together, and add a little grated nutmeg.

"("Fool" is a dish of crushed fruit with shipped cream and sugar. The name comes from the French word "fouler" which means "to crush.")

Another "Lost" Rhubarb Recipe

Rhubarb Vinegar (1820)

(Origin - "Civil War Recipes - Receipts from the Pages of Godey's Lady's Book" compiled and edited by Lily May Spaulding and John Spaulding.)

Green Corn Dumplings (1867)

• A quart of young corn grated from the cob
• Half a pint of wheat flour sifted
• Half a pint of milk
• 6 tablespoonfuls of butter
• 2 eggs
• a saltspoonful of salt
• a saltspoonful of pepper
• Butter for frying

"Having grated as fine as possible sufficient fresh young corn to make a quart, mix it with the wheat flour, and add the salt and pepper.

"Warm the milk in a small saucepan, and soften the butter in it. Add the milk and butter gradually to the pan of corn, stirring very hard, and set it away to cool. Beat the eggs light, and stir them into the mixture when it has cooled.

"Flour your hands and make it into little dumplings. Put into a frying-pan a sufficiency of fresh butter (or lard and butter in equal proportions), and when it is boiling hot, and has been skimmed, put in the dumplings, and fry them 10 minutes or more, in proportion to their thickness.

"Then drain them, and send them hot to the table."

More "Lost" Corn Recipes

Fresh Corn in Cream (1952)
Classic Corn Chowder with Potatoes (1952)

(Origin - "Civil War Recipes - Receipts from the Pages of Godey's Lady's Book" compiled and edited by Lily May Spaulding and John Spaulding.)

How to Make Yeast (1860)

"Boil one pound of good flour, quarter of a pound of brown sugar, and a little salt in two gallons of water, for one hour. 

"When milk-warm, bottle it and cork it close. It will be ready to use in twenty-four hours. One pint of this yeast will make eighteen pounds of bread."

(Origin - "Civil War Recipes - Receipts from the Pages of Godey's Lady's Book" compiled and edited by Lily May Spaulding and John Spaulding.)