henny Company's Tabasco Sauce
Indoor cooking was done over a wood stove, typically filled with hickory or other hardwoods because of the long burning potential. The fire had to be started several hours ahead of meal preparation to ensure a hot bed of coals.
The fireplace sat in the kitchen, usually a separate building from the rest of the house to prevent the heat and fire from consuming the main living quarters. The kitchen fireplace was quite large, with a fixed horizontal iron bar across the top or an iron bar that hinged to one side of the fireplace that the cook could swing in and out of the fire. The cook would hang a pot or kettle from an S-hook attached to one of these bars.
The cook prepared the food in either a Dutch oven or a frying pan. The Dutch oven of the 19th century, unlike those of today, more closely resembled a cauldron, a deep, round pot with three legs that sat directly over the coals. Cooks could make several items in the Dutch oven, including cakes, breads, vegetables, meats, soups and stews. If the cook was frying the food, she would rake some coals onto the hearth and place the frying pan directly on them. The fire itself was used only when boiling water or making coffee.
Before secession, a typical Southern family's grocery bill was $6.65 per month. By 1864, it was $400 per month. In fact. Confederate dollars were so devalued that many families could not afford to buy food staples. As produce became more and more scarce or expensive, people had to find substitutes for common foods. Many residents were quite creative, and although most of the substitutes did not survive until modern times, satisfied southern appetites to some degree. Here are some examples:
Meat (at least $20 for one meal):
Domestic animals, crows, frogs, locusts, snails, snakes and worms
Okra seeds that were browned, dried sweet potatoes or carrots, roasted acorns, wheat berries
Herbs, sumac berries, sassafras roots, raspberry, blackberry, huckleberry and holly leaves
Water and corn and molasses, fermented in an old barrel
Milk or cream:
Beat an egg white to a froth and add a small lump of butter, mix well.
Molasses, sorghum, dried, ground figs, honey, watermelon syrup
Vinegar (apple): molasses, honey, beets, figs, persimmon, may-apples and sorghum
Rice, rice flour, cornmeal, and rye flour.
Boiled sea water, or taking dirt from the smokehouse, adding water and boiling it. Skim off the scum on the top and drop in cold water, and the salt sinks to the bottom. The impurities could be boiled off. Wood ashes or gunpowder could substitute for salt as a seasoning.
Source: Varhole, Michael J. Everyday Life During the Civil War.
Most nineteenth century families used salt to preserve meat, but during the war, it was not only scarce but prohibitively expensive. Louisiana and Virginia produced salt, but as Union forces captured more ports, transporting the salt became impossible. To cope with the shortage, North Carolinians used the dirt from the smokehouses, mixed it with water and boiled it. When a scum rose to the top, the cook would skim it off and plunge it into cold water. The salt would sink to the bottom. Coastal residents used seawater that they would allow to evaporate.
To preserve meat, southern cooks would slice it very thinly and smoke it. They would found fish flat and dry it in the sun, often without the addition of salt. Unfortunately these did not last long, so often southerners would use preservatives such as a solution of salt, water, sugar (or other sweetener), and a small amount of potassium nitrate.
1 quart buttermilk
1 quart cornmeal
1 quart coarse flour
1 cup molasses
a pinch baking soda
a pinch salt
Mix ingredients together and bake over a wood fire.
"Apple-less" Apple Pie
1 bowl crackers
1 t tartaric acid
Take a small bowl of crackers and soak the crackers in water until no hard parts remain. Add one teaspoon of tartaric acid, sweeten to taste, add some butter and a little nutmeg. Bake.
Take flour, a little sugar and water, mix with or without a little yeast, the latter better if at hand. Mix into a paste and fry 