I’ll admit that I’ve been a bit busy this month- there’s a full calendar of political demonstrations and lists of phone calls to make, meetings to attend, and dinners to be eaten on the run.
Hardtack is a biscuit/cracker that requires three ingredients, stores forever (give or take a weevil or two) and tastes like…. nothing. Not a thing. It’s there to fill your belly and that’s about it.
I used the recipe from Lobscouse and Spotted Dog ( A | BN ), which includes the scene in which Aubrey leads Maturin to the joke about the “lesser of two weevils.”
All it takes is flour, salt, and water. Two cups of four to half a teaspoon of salt to somewhat less than a cup of water, mix it up, let the dough rest for a bit, then you get to beat the shit out of the dough!
THAT PART IS FUN.
The book said you do that for 30 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. I did not go 30 minutes. I gots shit to do. It was, I will say, quite cathartic. (The authors of Lobscouse and Spotted Dog do say that they discovered that putting the dough in a sturdy bag and driving a car over it a few times produces the same effect.)
Then you roll it out, cut it into squares, and stab it full of holes to let the air out (you don’t want these to rise, that is a waste of space), and bake it for an hour. They should be completely dried out in order to keep. It’s dampness that makes mold. If they are dried and stored in a watertight container in a dry place, they’ll last for a long voyage.
For the Royal Navy, they had massive bakehouses in Deptford that did 20 batches daily, and each batch produced 102 pounds of biscuit. They could bake hardtack for 24,000 men every day.
Carrie told me about an Alaskan delicacy (well, “delicacy”) called pilot bread, which is, essentially, a salt-less saltine. It was one of those things that could survive being shipped up to Alaska and stay good. At this point, Alaskans have made a virtue out of former necessity, claim they like the stuff — Carrie said it was “quite yummy with jam.” (To which I said, “It’s not hardtack if it’s yummy.”)
If an army (or navy) marches (sails) on its stomach, and your goal is to have a carb that you can mass-produce for a reasonable cost and store for a while (and to be fair, it’s not bad when soaked into a soup or tea or something), this is your stuff. The idea is to get calories into your people so they can do the job they’ve been sent to do. Tasty calories are a secondary concern- those calories do no one any good if they’re moldy. (Also if you run out of ammo, you can throw these suckers at your enemies and do some damage.)
Next month I am going to try to find some sort of high protein pocket food that’s also good on the march AND (hopefully) tastes good. It may come in handy in the months ahead.
Pemmican!
It’s just like a marginally more attractive version of dwarf bread.
@Susan Reader, I thought the very same thing!
It’s basically a cracker, which means it’s quite nice with cheese. Of course, I’ve only eaten them fresh – anyone put any aside for six months for that real ocean going experience?
@Susan Reader, me three. Although pemmican doesn’t taste all that great. Maybe jerky instead.
In Newfoundland, we soak it and use it with salt fish. A local company makes it: http://purity.nf.ca/recipes/
Bake at what temperature? (Not planning to make them, it’s just bugging me.)
Reminds me of the Elven lembas bread from the Lord of the Rings 🙂
Might try making it if only for the opportunity to release some rage by beating the shit out of something for 30 minutes (and then stabbing it). No I’m not pissed at the world right now, not at all…
@Heather T Salmon Jerky is what immediately sprung to mind. Although anything made of peanuts might work too.
I vote for pasties (hand pies). Miners used to take those down into the mines because they stayed warm for hours and were full of meat and veggies wrapped in a nice bready crispy crust/pastry. A lunch you could carry in your pocket!
Although jerky is quite delicious…
Oh! Also we took Pilot Bread backpacking when I was a Girl Scout. No joke. Lightweight, indestructible, and great for dipping in stew (made from freeze dried stew and cooked over a camp stove). The Pilot Bread wasn’t too bad, actually. A bit bland, but edible. I can’t say the same for the freeze dried bananas…
My husband grew up in Nome, AK, and ate pilot bread all the time. His favorite way to use it was topping it with canned sardines in mustard. When I was a research grunt on a ship, we used pilot bread to make ice cream sandwiches as well as eating it with butter or pb & j.
The blue box with the sailor boy on it is pretty much a staple in AK grocery stores even today.
I would think that head-cheese type preparations, the kind with some liquor in them, in aspic would keep fairly well? Maybe not for a round-the-world sailing voyage, but super high protein, high fat, and once you get around the name really damn tasty (regardless of the merits of the flour/salt/water substrate you place ’em on).
Pilot Bread by itself tastes like…calories. It’s pretty tasteless. But that means you can put anything on it and it will work. Also when you are really cold you want calories like crazy.
What is the (non-cathartic) reason to beat the dough for 30 minutes?
Agreed, Carrie. Pilot Bread is a conduit for other foods. Kind of like how artichoke leaves are basically there to get flavored mayo or garlic butter to your face 🙂
I’ve been told by someone in a position to know that a certain military force that brought the US to a standstill fought on C&H sugar and rice. All I could think of was the difficulty of keeping sugar dry and clean. Hardtack seems reasonable in its context. Along with a few limes here and there so you have teeth with which to attack it.
I also had a friend teach me to make journey bread with flour, salt, and water, though less kneading. It was very palatable served fresh with a meal and the child and I have made some since. The choice of flour used does make a difference.
This was such a fun post! Thanks so much for sharing.
Oh my gods, if this is anything like Pilot Bread (which I have been told is extremely similar), I will love you forever, because I can make this gluten free and have many a delicious meal.
(Yes. I am, in fact, a born and bred Alaskan, and I wouldn’t necessarily say Pilot Bread is really a salt less saltine–the consistency is all wrong, but I love Pilot Bread and have been gluten free since I was 19. That said, I have learned the hard way that if you didn’t grow up with it, you think we’re all nuts for buying several boxes at a time. I worked as a legal intern once for a Native corporation, and we had an out of stater in for some audit, and we handed him the snack of the day without even thinking–smoked salmon dip on Pilot Bread. I have never seen as many horrified Elders as I did when he spat it back out. Despite this being delicious, delicious noms. To be fair, he brought whoopie pies with him, and after I cautioned that none of us were going to actually *like* them [I was going to school on the Vermont state line at the time] to my boss, we waited until he left to try them. I was, in fact, right.)
Hardtack will keep for even longer than a long voyage, given the right conditions. Some years ago in the Imperial War Museum in London, I saw a piece on display that dated from the First World War.
On a completely different note, RedHeadedGirl, did you see Eloisa James mentioned you in the essay called Naughty Children, Pet Rats, and Pornographic Cigar Boxes at the end of Seven Minutes in Heaven? She mentioned you when talking about period cakes and trifles. I thought we “know” her! 😉
I love all the Alaskans and former Alaskans chiming in on Pilot Bread! I haven’t had it myself in years, but I still see it in the grocery stores on a regular basis. I suppose if I lived in the Bush, I’d get pretty creative in my use of it.
@Annie, that was sacrilege to spit out smoked salmon dip on Pilot Bread! Heck, it’s sacrilege to spit it out ever (barring allergies)! Who would do such a thing? No one I want to know.
And now I’m curious to know how many Alaskans we have hanging around here. I count 3 (4, if Carrie S is honorary) in this thread so far…
Like Nancy C said, I’m loving all the Alaskans adding their experience with pilot bread! In fact I saw @Annie’s comment, and my first thought was “my daughter is commenting??”, because she is Alaskan, born and bred 🙂 Then I read further, and nope, not my Annie.
So, I guess I’m the 5th Alaskan (well, Alaskan since 1991) here? Counting Carrie S as honorary, of course.
I’ve never bought pilot bread, but of course see it all the time in Sam’s and Costco. I’m really working on getting together a better emergency kit, so I need to add these to the pile.
Also wanted to mention, I freaking love the movie Master and Commander, and wish there would have been a sequel.
I vote for Cornish pasties for next month – though they don’t have the “keeping” ability of hardtack. I’ve made them a few times and they are too tasty to stick around for long. Perhaps a comparable long-storage food would be some sort of protein bar. Can’t wait to see what you come up with.
I lived in Bethel, AK for five years so I think I count as Alaskan 4 ever even though that was 15 years ago!
Totally counts, Carrie!
The closest I come to being Alaskan is being on the left coast where we get stormy weather from Alaska or the Gulf thereof.
I am going to point out that the recipe for hardtack is basically the same recipe that we used to make Christmas tree ornaments back in my grade school days. Those ornaments are still around, in spite of the occasionally bout of humidity and they’re getting close to the half century mark. Personally, I tasted the dough in spite of orders to the contrary. It was a bit salty, but otherwise bland. I can see where adding it to one’s soup/stew might improve both items.
I may be the only person who wants a Master and Commander sequel. I loved that movie.
For the M&C lovers, if you haven’t read the books, what are you waiting for? Best bromance ever.
Omg if you make a tasty protein bar type thingie I will love you forever, which is poor incentive given I already do, but yes pleeeeaaaaaassse.
I went to Junior High and High School in Alaska, but I don’t remember ever trying or even seeing pilot bread. Perhaps because I lived in Juneau, the capital, and we were much more sophisticated there. (Cough.) Or maybe because my parents were from Down South and not used to it. I did later try making my own pemmican from cornmeal and dried fruits. It wasn’t bad. Not particularly good either, but not bad.
RHG may I recommend you check out “Cinnamon and Gunpowder” by Eli Brown? One of the best books I’ve read in a long time; and the cooking descriptions are amazing! It’s a beautiful story beautifully written! And the cover is amazing.
If I’m going to eat something made out of flour and water, I’ll stick to matzo, thanks! Martha Rose Shulman has recipes for simit, taralli, granola bars and whole wheat scones that travel well and provide carbs and protein.
This guy eats actual Civil War era hardtack in a video. It’s strangely fascinating!!!
I always thought of hardtack as round.
Kind of related. My SiL happened to claim yesterday that if you keep flour for over 6 months weevil eggs will hatch in it even if it’s kept in an air tight container because it all has the larvae in it.
I’m not supper squeamish about these things. I grew up on small farm bugs happen in food. This just sounds odd. I tend to use up my flour quickly but rarely use it all up before refilling my canister so you would think in 30 years I would’ve seen a creepy crawly by now. At least in summer when baking slows a little.
May I recommend biltong or droë wors as your high protein, preserved, pocket food? The wors (pronounced “vorce” as in “divorce”) is a little more tricky to make, but biltong is pretty easy.