Recipes and Tips
Check here often for great camp recipes and tips for your cooking impression.
Corn Pones:
2 cups cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. lard or shortening
milk, enough to make a stiff dough.
Mix together cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Cut in lard and add enough milk to make a stiff batter. Form into oblong patties with your hands and place in a greased baking pan. Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes.
(Or bake in your dutch oven at the campsite!)
Why not bake a wonderful Sally Lunn to take to your Season's Events? Made at home, you can just slice the bread at camp, toast, and serve with butter and jelly or honey!
Sally Lunn:
1 cup milk
1 pkg. (2 1/4 tsp) dry yeast
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. butter for greasing pan
Pour 1 cup milk into saucepan. Cook over medium heat until milk begins to boil. Reduce heat and cool milk to 120 degrees F.
Add 1 package yeast. Let stand 5 minutes.
In a mixing bowl, beat 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup sugar with fork or hand mixer until mixture is light and fluffy.
Add 3 eggs. Beat well with fork or hand mixer.
In another mixing bowl, combine 4 cups flour and 1 tsp. salt.
Switch off adding small amounts of flour, then milk mixture to butter and egg mixture. Beat well after each addition. Batter will be stiff.
Use a paper towel or napkin dabbed with 1 tbsp. butter to grease large bowl. Place dough in bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Let dough rise about 2 hrs. until doubled in size.
Use a paper towel or napkin dabbed with 1 tbsp. butter to grease 10" tube pan or bundt pan. Use a spoon to put the dough into tube pan. Cover tube pan with plastic wrap.
Let dough rise about 2 hrs. until doubled in size.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Bake bread 50 or 60 minutes, or until top is golden brown.
Remove from oven. Let stand 10 minutes. Remove from pan.
Cut bread with bread knife into slices about 1/2" thick. Serve with butter, jam, or honey if desired.
(Who was Sally Lunn? There are many explanations for the name. It may have been the name of a woman who sold the bread in England. Another story is that the name comes from the French language: The top of the bread was golden as the sun. "Soleil" is the French word for Sun. The bottom of the bread was white as the moon. "Lune" is French for Moon.)
(From Civil War Cooking: TheConfederacy)
How-To Reseason Your Skillets and Pans:
*Step 1. Wash the cookware with warm, soapy water and stiff nylon brush. Rusty? Scrub it with steel wool. Rinse and dry thoroughly.
*Step 2. Apply a thin, even coating of vegetable oil to the entire surface of the pan (inside and out) using a paper towel. Set pan aside.
*Step 3. Place aluminum foil on the bottom rack of your oven to safeguard it from oil drips. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
*Step 4. Place the pan upside down on the top rack of the oven. This will allow the oil to drip down and coat the entire pan. Leave the pan in the oven to "bake" for one hour. Store your newly reseasoned pan uncovered in a dry place.
(Source: Mark Kelly, spokesman for Lodge Cast Iron Cookware)
Check back next month for a recipe to use in your iron cookware at battles and reenactments.
