A Revolutionary soldier off fighting for freedom ate very differently than he did when home. The daily rations were issued un-cooked and a set of cooking utensils was issued to a group of six to twelve men. This group or “mess” of men would probably have chosen the best cook among them to prepare the food. Here’s a list of what a typical soldier’s rations would have been. Keep in mind, just because it was on the list, didn’t mean that they actually got it.

One pound of bread; half a pound of beef and half a pound of pork; and if pork cannot be had, one pound and a quarter of beef; and one day in seven they shall have one pound and one quarter salt fish, instead of one day’s allowance of meat; one pint of milk, or if milk cannot be had, one gill of rice; one quart of good spruce or malt beer; One pound of good common soap for six men per week; Half a pint of vinegar per week per man, if it can be had.*

Clearly this was a challenge for “The Next Revolutionary Culinary Star!” There wasn’t much variety and I’m guessing that they probably supplemented their diet with whatever edible plants they could forage.

Most of the food eaten back home in New England during the early to mid Eighteenth century, would have been based on the English food of their forefathers. It wasn’t until the later half of the 1800’s that French food would begin to make its way to America, mostly due to the political travels of John, Ben and Tom. (But that’s another story).

Sheperd’s Pie is one of those dishes that came across the pond with the early colonial settlers. Probably created by a frugal farmer’s wife to stretch that pound of “ground meat”, it’s mixed with plenty of vegetables and topped with lots of mashed potatoes. If Abigail could have coined the term “casserole”, this would have been it. Actually a Sheperd’s Pie would have been made out of lamb; sheperd – lamb, and a Cottage Pie would have been made out of beef. This is one of those dishes, that if you ask 10 cooks how to cook a Sheperd’s Pie, you’ll get 10 different recipes. That’s the beauty of cooking, adapting, modifying, and putting your own twist on it. My husband would eat an old shoe if it were covered in enough mashed potatoes and cheese, so I always make my Cottage Pie with plenty of both. I had to cook a lot of Cottage’s Pie when I was a cook at the John Bull Pub in Old town Pasadena, so this has evolved over the last 25 years and I never make it exactly the same way twice.

 

Cottage Pie

1 lb. ground beef (I always use ground turkey, I’m not sure what you call in that case)

One onion, chopped

1 bag of frozen mixed veggies, carrots, peas and corn

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (or to taste)

1 tablespoon fresh chopped thyme

Kosher salt and pepper

(You could also add sliced mushrooms and/or diced tomatoes)

Mashed potatoes (I don’t care how you get there, either from scratch or frozen) I used about 2 lb. spuds. You don’t need a recipe…peel, boil, mash, add butter, milk, salt, pepper and a dash of nutmeg.

3/4 lb. grated sharp cheddar cheese

1. Saute the onion in olive oil for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the ground meat, stirring to break it up.
3. Add garlic, thyme and Worcestershire sauce. Cook until meat is no longer pink.
4. Add veggies and cook a few more minutes.
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper
6. Put into a casserole dish, I use something in between an 8×8 and a 13×9.
7. Top with mashed potatoes and grated cheese.
8. Cover with foil and bake at 350* about an hour, or until hot and bubbly and cheese is melted.

*Taken from Revolutionary Recipes, Colonial Food, Lore and More, by Patricia B. Mitchell, Charles K. Bolton,The Private Soldier Under Washington, New York, 1902 Harold L. Peterson, The Book of The Continental Soldier, The Stackpoles Company, Harrisburg PA, 1968

 

If you want to see my modern day blog, you can find me at  “What A Girl Eats” cynskis.blogspot.com