Half-Cocked
40 Cal
Tasteless hard tack then? Lol
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Tasty tasty Hardtack?!
- Thread starter Half-Cocked
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One of my father's buddies was a retired Marine who had a collection of issue manuals from the time he first enlisted. He gave me a couple of them, including one with hand-drawn illustrations instead of photos. Among other information, it included instructions on how long to soak hard tack in a canteen cup before trying to eat it and how many ounces of salt meat per day was a standard ration. I asked him once if that was salt pork the manual was talking about and he said, "Sometimes."
Canute Rex
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If you want to get something fairly close to hardtack but much more palatable, try "Vermont Common Crackers." They were first made in Vermont in 1828, and are still made by the Orton family today with the same 19th century machinery. They look much the same and were made to last a year in a barrel in a farmhouse pantry. They have a little shortening in them, which makes them less like a rock and more like a cracker. I like them. They won't last on a multi-year sea voyage, but how many of us do that?
https://www.vermontcountrystore.com/vermont-common-crackers-2-refill-bags/product/H4437
https://www.vermontcountrystore.com/vermont-common-crackers-2-refill-bags/product/H4437
Half-Cocked
40 Cal
Those look really good and I am darn hungry!
Just a hunk of rock hard stone dry iron ration ready to break your teeth is indeed tasteless.
However worked with a bit and made with whole wheat flour you can note a nutty whole wheat taste
The old boys had taste bud just like ours and teeth just as fragile. They figured was of not only getting it in to the belly but pleasing the tongue on the way down.
My dentist calls hardtack a Jamaican vacation.
Makes me hungry reading about it!
Tanglefoot, WOW! it sounds like you grew up in my back yard, RI. every thing that you eluded to is what I experienced back in the 50's. especially the salt pork. just remember iff'n you don't scald the corn meal when you start to make them you will be eaten ROAD GRAVEL, and better have a good dental plan. the best corn to make them with is WHITE INDIAN FLINT CORN, for the meal. in my town we have a grist mill by the name of KENYONS GRIST MILL that makes and sells KENYONS JOHNNY CAKE MEAL. been making corn meal for over 100 years. look them up they will ship. remember to reirrigate or the WEVELS will come!. as a side dish my mother would boil up a MESS on DANDYLIONS with a piece of salt pork in them. have you ever head of eating DANDYLIONS and salt pork? GOD how did we ever live to be in our 70's ? eaten good old comfort food, that is how!.
Ever occur to you folks that the reason your "hardtack" or "ship's biscuits" are uber-hard is because you're making them wrong? 
See..., I read how folks would eat ship's biscuits which were later called "hardtack" (soft tack btw is bread made with yeast), by simply chewing on them, BUT, teeth back in the 18th century were not as well cared after as they are today, and today we have a hard time eating ships-biscuit..., so something was amiss....
I found that the recipe was flour, water, and sometimes a bit of salt. That's it. IF you add shortening, or hydrogenated oil, or baking soda, you're not making ships-biscuit or hardtack. You're making a cracker. IF you add honey or sugar, you're making what we Americans call a "cookie".
So after some research I found that folks were using whole wheat flour....but it was the WRONG flour. Folks assumed flour was flour...I sure did.
Wheat of the 18th century and through the Civil War was NOT the hard, red wheat that we use today. The hard, red wheat, aka "winter wheat" or "Moravian Wheat" was introduced by the Moravians who immigrated to this country in the 19th century, and it didn't catch on beyond the Moravian settlements until the latter half of the 19th century.
So what did they have then?
They had what we today call soft, white, pastry flour. Made from soft, white wheat. So you need to use whole wheat pastry flour, which has less gluten, and instead has some gluten and albumen, and thus the lower protein = not so hard. But..., that's not all.
They didn't use top-of-the-line flour as you would get by buying whole wheat pastry flour. They used the lowest quality, least expensive flour, aka "ship's stuff". This was the bare minimum stuff that was considered flour, and it had a lot of chaff (buts of wheat straw and bran) in it. So you need to add a substitute for that chaff to simulate "ship's stuff". The easiest thing to use is bran.
So here's a recipe for "Closer to Correct, Ships Biscuit"
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup wheat bran*
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Water
Make it into a stiff dough, roll it out about 1/4 inch thick, and cut it into rounds. Prick the rounds with a fork and then dry them in an oven at about 300 degrees for about and hour, turn them over and repeat for about 30 minutes.
* NOTE ... IF the biscuits are still too hard for you..., make the next batch with more bran. My first recipe years ago was 4 cups flour to 1 cup bran. The resulting biscuits were sometimes too hard if made too thick, so I reduced the ratio to the above recipe.
LD
P.S. IF you want to make bio-degradable targets for your black powder shoot..., simply use regular whole wheat flour, water, bran, and NO salt. IF you want them to stand out then add food coloring, and make a pencil sized hole in the biscuit so you can hang it on a nail in a tree or on a 2x4. They will be very hard and will break when hit by a bullet, and the bits left on the ground won't hurt the birds or other critters who come to eat them after you're done, and everybody has gone home. You can make them into other shapes like diamonds or triangles, etc....
See..., I read how folks would eat ship's biscuits which were later called "hardtack" (soft tack btw is bread made with yeast), by simply chewing on them, BUT, teeth back in the 18th century were not as well cared after as they are today, and today we have a hard time eating ships-biscuit..., so something was amiss....
I found that the recipe was flour, water, and sometimes a bit of salt. That's it. IF you add shortening, or hydrogenated oil, or baking soda, you're not making ships-biscuit or hardtack. You're making a cracker. IF you add honey or sugar, you're making what we Americans call a "cookie".
So after some research I found that folks were using whole wheat flour....but it was the WRONG flour. Folks assumed flour was flour...I sure did.
Wheat of the 18th century and through the Civil War was NOT the hard, red wheat that we use today. The hard, red wheat, aka "winter wheat" or "Moravian Wheat" was introduced by the Moravians who immigrated to this country in the 19th century, and it didn't catch on beyond the Moravian settlements until the latter half of the 19th century.
So what did they have then?
They had what we today call soft, white, pastry flour. Made from soft, white wheat. So you need to use whole wheat pastry flour, which has less gluten, and instead has some gluten and albumen, and thus the lower protein = not so hard. But..., that's not all.
They didn't use top-of-the-line flour as you would get by buying whole wheat pastry flour. They used the lowest quality, least expensive flour, aka "ship's stuff". This was the bare minimum stuff that was considered flour, and it had a lot of chaff (buts of wheat straw and bran) in it. So you need to add a substitute for that chaff to simulate "ship's stuff". The easiest thing to use is bran.
So here's a recipe for "Closer to Correct, Ships Biscuit"
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup wheat bran*
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Water
Make it into a stiff dough, roll it out about 1/4 inch thick, and cut it into rounds. Prick the rounds with a fork and then dry them in an oven at about 300 degrees for about and hour, turn them over and repeat for about 30 minutes.
* NOTE ... IF the biscuits are still too hard for you..., make the next batch with more bran. My first recipe years ago was 4 cups flour to 1 cup bran. The resulting biscuits were sometimes too hard if made too thick, so I reduced the ratio to the above recipe.
LD
P.S. IF you want to make bio-degradable targets for your black powder shoot..., simply use regular whole wheat flour, water, bran, and NO salt. IF you want them to stand out then add food coloring, and make a pencil sized hole in the biscuit so you can hang it on a nail in a tree or on a 2x4. They will be very hard and will break when hit by a bullet, and the bits left on the ground won't hurt the birds or other critters who come to eat them after you're done, and everybody has gone home. You can make them into other shapes like diamonds or triangles, etc....
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LD, I’ve read your post about this before. I tried it.
for it.
folks it’s still hard but won’t provide for that Jamaican vacation for your dentist
for it. folks it’s still hard but won’t provide for that Jamaican vacation for your dentist
LD, I’ve read your post about this before. I tried it.
folks it’s still hard but won’t provide for that Jamaican vacation for your dentist
Thanks for the independent test. Much appreciated...
OH and IF you want some more realism at a historic site..., take a grain or two of long, brown rice, and cup them in the palm of your hand and then pick up one of the ship's biscuits. Make sure the audience of tourists do not see you slip the grains of rice into your hand when you do this... then rap the biscuit on a table top or a plate/bowl hard enough to get the rice to fall out of your hand onto the plate/bowl. It will look like the brown rice came out of the biscuit..., Explain that one needs to knock the weevils out of the biscuits before eating them. It's a pretty good effect.
LD
Half-Cocked
40 Cal
Townsend has lots of good cooking vids.
Check out ‘emmymadeinjapan’ cooking vids also. She has a pemmican and hard tact vids. there is also ‘tastinghistory’ that’s fun. And English Heritage Victorian cooking site.
Check out ‘emmymadeinjapan’ cooking vids also. She has a pemmican and hard tact vids. there is also ‘tastinghistory’ that’s fun. And English Heritage Victorian cooking site.
Artie Peltier
40 Cal.
Question please. How hard are the Sailor Boy crackers compared to say saltines or a regular cracker. Almost 70 Here with original teeth and want to keep it that way. Art
Artie Peltier
40 Cal.
Being historically correct is one thing but spending a fortune on dental work not to mention the pain is another
Mongo
32 Cal
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There's were several pirate living history websites that had recipes going back to the 17th century with several first hand accounts (unfortunately some sites have disappeared from the internet over the decades). Easy stuff to make, hard as a rock (I actually like it better than parched corn). Made some 15 years ago for a living history program, it's still edible and hard on the teeth.
Here's a ship's biscuit from 1784 (UK National Maritime Museum, Greenwich).
Here's a ship's biscuit from 1784 (UK National Maritime Museum, Greenwich).
Half-Cocked
40 Cal
From what I understand the hard tack is meant to be soaked then enjoyed. In extreme condition it is broken off and placed in the mouth not yet chewed until rehydrated to edible with saliva.
Most frequently hard tack is used with other items or broken up as a thickener for soups and stews. most difficult part is getting them completely dry for an authentic feel and long-term storage if that's what you want to do with them.
It's Truly amazing there are a plethora of other civil war reenactment sutible type of foods that look from delicious to disgusting.
Most frequently hard tack is used with other items or broken up as a thickener for soups and stews. most difficult part is getting them completely dry for an authentic feel and long-term storage if that's what you want to do with them.
It's Truly amazing there are a plethora of other civil war reenactment sutible type of foods that look from delicious to disgusting.
Half-Cocked
40 Cal
256 years old and that thing still looks edible. Amazing that it doesn't mold.
remenber that every thing tastes better with lots of butter & syrup!! kind of like cooking food with saved bacon fat!! now that is good!.
