Hard Tack

[William Brand]

'Tis the song that is uttered in camp by night and day,

'Tis the wail that is mingled with each snore;

'Tis the sighing of the soul for spring chickens far away,

'Oh hard crackers, come again no more!'

'Tis the song of the soldier, weary, hungry and faint,

Hard crackers, hard crackers, come again no more;

Many days have I chewed you and uttered no complaint,

Hard crackers, hard crackers, come again no more!"

-from a soldiers' parable called "Hard Times"

Let's see those mild variations and personal adaptations of Hard Tack recipes. Everyone who makes it does something a little bit different. A subtle degree in thickness, a dash of salt or a an alteration in cooking time can make all the difference in the world.

Here is a Hard Tack Bread Recipe from the Civil War which employs a smaller flour to water ratio than most and the addition of salt, which some recipes do without.

Ingredients:

5 cups flour

1 cup water

1 tbs salt

Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Knead dough and roll out till it is 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into 3x3 squares, and poke a 3x3 series of holes in the center, evenly spaced. Bake in preheated oven, 425 degrees

until dry and lightly golden brown.

[Rumba Rue]

and I'm sure your dentist will appreciate your broken teeth....

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

That Civil War recipe is essentially the same one I use (for CW reenacting). I still have a piece from one of the first batches I made ... back in 1992. It remains as inedible as the day it was baked.

During the (US) Civil War, they made and ate square hardtack (which, of course, is easily packed inside rectangular boxes)....

... but what I see in movies, books and museums is ROUND hardtack ("ship's biscuits") that was used at sea in earlier eras.

Can anyone quote reliable and historically accurate measurements of these earlier round biscuits? (I suspect this question belongs in CAPTAIN TWILL).

[Captain Bob]

When I was in the service I did a lot of reading about the history of military rations. It wasn't my job, just a hobby. While I can't recall any way to render hard tack palatable, the nearest approach I heard about involved soaking the biscuit in your coffee while frying the bacon, then frying it in the bacon grease. If any ACW reenactors are brave enough to try this, I'd be glad to hear whether it actually helped choke the @#$% thing down.

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

While I can't recall any way to render hard tack palatable, the nearest approach I heard about involved soaking the biscuit in your coffee while frying the bacon, then frying it in the bacon grease. If any ACW reenactors are brave enough to try this, I'd be glad to hear whether it actually helped choke the @#$% thing down.

As a matter of fact, I have done this very thing. What do you think, that I made batches of hardtack, took them to Civil War reenactments, and then did not at least try to eat them by whatever authentic means possible?

You can eat them raw. Which is to say you can pull one out of your haversack (or pocket), nibble a bit off one end, and wash it down with water and/or coffee. Not unlike really hard bread or really bad crackers ("biscuits," if you're British). But it takes quite a long time for one person to eat an entire piece unless you cooked them too soft, or added things in addition to the proper recipe -- which was accurately quoted above. By the time you have made any progress to the piece, it probably has become nasty from being handled (or extra drool) and you will toss it in the nearest shrub. But I and others have eaten then this way.

... but that was not what you asked...

Among the various recipes (methods) used, I soaked (then boiled) hardtack in a tin cup of coffee. Then I fried the resultant softened (not all the way through) hardtack in bacon grease. Then I tried to eat it.

Okay, if I was part of a starving army that had little to eat other than hardtack, coffee and bacon grease, I would cetainly resort to this. But it was not delicious by any means, and the hardtack never "cooked" all the way through (it still had its crunchy center). Despite sharing it with others, we could not finish it. This is baked unrisen bread -- essentially: really, really thick matzoh. It really is not very good -- but we hardcore (American) Civil War reenactors are known for stupidly trying virtually every "authentic" thing that the original soldiers did. Some of those things really suck.

Crumbling hardtack (a hammer, rock, or rifle butt should be employed in this process) and then soaking the pieces in your hot cup of coffee was something soldiers did when the hardtack was infested with weevils. The bugs would float to the surface where they could be skimmed off (or eaten, if you believe that soldiers would eat bugs "for the protein" as some like to claim -- I have my sincere doubts). You then sip your slightly cloudy coffee to the dregs, then eat the somewhat softened bits of hardtack with a fork or spoon -- like a very poor man's oatmeal. You could alternately fry these coffee-softened bits in bacon grease... having been crumbled, they fry up better than the previous method.

And I have tried all these, too. Except try as I could, I never got weevil-infested hardtack (but one morning I awoke to my hardtack covered in hundreds of ants! And I proved that scalding coffee is great for removing ants from hardtack -- in case there were any doubts. But for some reason, ant coffee creeps me out more than weevil coffee, so that was the end of that beverage incident).

Here's some lessons I learned:

(1) Bacon-fried coffee hardtack needs a lot of salt.

(2) If that's all you brought to the reenactment, you are going to be really hungry later.

(3) You have to use it in moderation: the real problem is the quantity of unpalatable substance created. BFCH can be used rather effectively as a filler. For instance, if you fry up a few eggs, and add some (not all) BFCH to the mix, it is actually rather tasty.

Okay, I do not think too many people will appreciate my expounding endlessly into Civil War cooking -- while this is related to the topic at hand, I don't want to turn this into a Civil War thing...

But one more successful recipe to add...

A few years ago I made the tastiest campfire thing ever. In a large pan I fried (in grease) some coffee-soaked (ground up) hardtack (effectively making a roux), along with a bunch of chicken, onions & diced carrots. I added some more coffee & water, and allowed this to simmer. With additional salt, pepper and fresh sage, this turned into an outstandingly excellent chicken soup -- I have rarely had its equal. Of course, cooking and eating it outdoors over a fire with no modern provisions or utensils enhanced its flavor beyound what could be reproduced in a kitchen.

[Patrick Hand]

Scilligally... breaking up hardtack into small chunks... soaking it in water, and then frying it in fat, is kinda good......

Th' other way to eat Hardtack...... break off a chunk, and pop it into yer mouth..... after awhile it will get soft enough to chew.........

Filling stuff tho.................. (kinda like a brick)

This can't be doccumented..... but add about two tablespoons of oil to the above resipe, and you will get a cracker that you can actully eat......

I have a batch made with a little oil...... it's over two year old, it hasn't molded or gone "bad" (going "bad" is kinda a wierd discription for hardtack.....) BUT it isn't quite as hard as the Play-do version of hardtack........ and you can actully eat it.......

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

"Brick" and "(hardened) Play-doh" .... thank you. These are the accurately descriptive words I was looking for to describe eating hardtack.

[William Brand]

Patrick is right about the olive oil. We made hard tack with a touch of olive oil and the entire platter of hard tack we made disappeared during our last "Speak Like a Pirate" event. Everyone was raving about them, and I never thought I would use the word "raving" when discussing hard tack.

Except perhaps "raving mad".

[Patrick Hand]

It dosen't have to be any specific oil (well other than not using motor oil........)

But any cooking oil will do, and it dosen't use enough oil to make them "Unstable" or mold quicker... just enough to make them eatable.....

When I make "Sea Biscuts" I replace one cup of the flour with oatmeal (and sometimes really "cheat" and add about 2 to 3 tablespoons of brown sugar.... ) It makes a good sturdy semi-hard cracker that isn't as sweet as a cookie, but taste really good.....

I'm one of the few (outside of CW reenactments) that eats hardtack (or Sea Biscuts) because they are "Just so dang filling........."

And a pocket-full... looks better than a Big Mac (and a pocket-full of a Big Mac would get a little messy........)

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

A few years ago I made a highly (extremely!) modified hard tack recipe to make replica lembas elven bread (from Lord of the Rings). The idea was to make a portable bread similar to hardtack as described by Tolkien and as seen in the movies, but completely dissimilar to hardtack in that it should taste light and refreshing -- as if it were made by elves.

My kids deemed the experience a complete success. Enhanced with citrus juices (my original batch included kumquats!) the stuff was entirely palatable. For added effect, I wrapped the finished product in large fake leaves purchased from the local gardening and craft store (just as the elves did). By popular request, I have baked at least one batch of these tasty treats each summer -- and just realized that this was the first summer we forgot this tradition ... probably because we did not take any forest hikes this summer; which is when the Middle Earth mood comes over us, and when elven bread comes in so handy.

So, again, I withdraw myself for fear of turning this thread into a Middle Earth-themed topic....

[Patrick Hand]

turning this thread into a Middle Earth-themed topic...

Isn't Orc hardtack........

3 Barrels of bonemeal

a handfull of salt

Hobbit squeezings to moisten......

Eat or throw as a weapon..........

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

Isn't Orc hardtack........

3 Barrels of bonemeal

a handfull of salt

Hobbit squeezings to moisten......

Eat or throw as a weapon..........

A handful of salt? Only the luckiest orcs would have something so tasty.