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CIVIL WAR RECIPE: HARDTACK (1861)

by Eric Colleary
(http://www.americantable.org/author/Eric%20Colleary/)
on June 26, 2013
(http://www.americantable.org/2013/06/civil-
war-recipe-hardtack-1861/)
under Grains & Breads
(http://www.americantable.org/category/recipes/grains-
breads/), Recipes
(http://www.americantable.org/category/recipes/)
tagged Civil War
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/civil-
war/), Confederacy
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/confederacy/),
crackers
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/crackers/),
French
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/french/),
hardtack
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/hardtack/),
John Billings (http://www.americantable.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Soldiers-Eating2.jpg)
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/john-
Hardtack. The Ancient Romans had them. Nelson’s troops kept barrels of them in
billings/), military
their naval vessels. And these cracker-like squares were a staple ration for American
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/military/),
soldiers on both sides of the Civil War.
Nelson
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/nelson/),
(http://www.americantable.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Hard-tack.jpg)Though
rations
they’re called different things in different cultures, this basic recipe has been a
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/rations/),
staple for militaries around the world for centuries. Made of flour and water, and
Romans
sometimes a bit of salt or sugar, they are sturdy, filling and will last a long time if
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/romans/),
kept dry. Indeed, some soldiers kept a few as souvenirs after the war, and they are
soldiers commonly on display in Civil War museums over 150 years later.
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/soldiers/),
Union A naval blockade kept wheat imports from reaching Confederate states, and so
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/union/),
much of the hardtack rationed to soldiers earlier in the war was leftover from the
wheat Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Meanwhile, government bakeries in the north
were supplying hardtacks to Union troops, who were rationed nine to ten each, per
(http://www.americantable.org/tag/wheat/)
∞ Permalink day.
(http://www.americantable.org/2013/06/civil-
war-recipe-hardtack-1861/)
Eating one will make it difficult to imagine
how any human being could consume
that many hardtacks each day. The
dryness sucks out any moisture from
your mouth. The heavy wafer in your hand
feels just as heavy in the stomach. They
are so dense, soldiers used to use them
as small plates. And, of course, the flavor
is incredibly uninteresting – you’re
basically just eating flour. And that, of
course, is the point of making them.
Where other food blogs often just post
old recipes, I’ve always insisted on
making whatever I post – firmly believing
that much about what you can learn
about the history of the food comes from
the actual making and eating of it.

Thanks to John Billings’ memoir of his life as a Union soldier, Hardtack and Coffee
(http://affiliates.abebooks.com/c/216151/77798/2029?
u=https%3A%2F%2F2.zoppoz.workers.dev%3A443%2Fhttp%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fbi%3D0%2
6bx%3Doff%26ds%3D50%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3
D20%26tn%3Dhardtack%2Band%2Bcoffee) (1887), we have a very accurate
description of what Civil War hardtack rations were like:

What was hardtack? It was a plain flour-and-water biscuit. Two which I

have in my possession as mementos measure three and one-eighth by
two and seven-eighths inches, and are nearly half an inch thick. Although
these biscuits were furnished to organizations by weight, they were dealt
out to the men by number, nine constituting a ration in some regiments,
and ten in others; but there were usually enough for those who wanted
more, as some men would not draw them. While hardtack was nutritious,
yet a hungry man could eat his ten in a short time and still be hungry.
When they were poor and fit objects for the soldiers’ wrath, it was due to
one of three conditions: first, they may have been so hard that they could
not be bitten; it then required a very strong blow of the fist to break them;
the second condition was when they were moldy or wet, as sometimes
happened, and should not have been given to the soldiers: the third
condition was when from storage they had become infested with
maggots.

When the bread was moldy or moist, it was thrown away and made good
at the next drawing, so that the men were not the losers; but in the case of
its being infested with the weevils, they had to stand it as a rule ; but
hardtack was not so bad an article of food, even when traversed by
insects, as may be supposed. Eaten in the dark, no one could tell the
difference between it and hardtack that was untenanted. It was no
uncommon occurrence for a man to find the surface of his pot of coffee
swimming with weevils, after breaking up hardtack in it, which had come
out of the fragments only to drown; but they were easily skimmed off, and
left no distinctive flavor behind.
 Having gone so far, I know the reader will be interested to learn of the
styles in which this particular article was served up by the soldiers. Of
course, many of them were eaten just as they were received — hardtack
plain; then I have already spoken of their being crumbed in coffee, giving
the “hardtack and coffee.”

Probably more were eaten in this way than in any other, for they thus
frequently furnished the soldier his breakfast and supper. But there were
other and more appetizing ways of preparing them. Many of the soldiers,
partly through a slight taste for the business but more from force of
circumstances, became in their way and opinion experts in the art of
cooking the greatest variety of dishes with the smallest amount of
capital.

Some of these crumbed them in soups for want of other thickening. For
this purpose they served very well. Some crumbed them in cold water,
then fried the crumbs in the juice and fat of meat. A dish akin to this one
which was said to make the hair curl, and certainly was indigestible
enough to satisfy the cravings of the most ambitious dyspeptic, was
prepared by soaking hardtack in cold water, then frying them brown in
pork fat, salting to taste. Another name for this dish was skillygalee.
Some liked them toasted, either to crumb in coffee, or if a sutler was at
hand whom they could patronize, to butter. The toasting generally took
place from the end of a split stick.

Then they worked into milk-toast made of condensed milk at seventy-five

cents a can; but only a recruit with a big bounty, or an old vet, the child of
wealthy parents, or a reenlisted man did much in that way. A few who
succeeded by hook or by crook in saving up a portion of their sugar ration
spread it upon hardtack. And so in various ways the ingenuity of the men
was taxed to make this plainest and commonest, yet most serviceable of
army food, to do duty in every conceivable combination.

(http://www.americantable.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Screen-Shot-2013-
06-26-at-1.24.03-PM.png)TIPS AND TRICKS

The holes in crackers are made by a process called “docking.” These help the
cracker to bake evenly and prevent them from rising like a bread. Historically, this
was accomplished using ominous looking hand-held tools, but by the Civil War, there
were mechanical tools that accomplished the task. I used a plastic chopstick, but
you could also use a pen cap. Dig around your kitchen drawers and see what you’ve
got.

The entire premise of hardtack is that you add a bit of water to flour so that you can
create a dough just pliable enough to shape, and then bake as much of the moisture
out as possible. So be conservative when you’re adding water – stop just when the
dough comes together. It should be the consistency of a slightly dry play dough. If
you had too much water by accident, just add a bit more flour until it comes back
together.

You don’t want the hardtack to darken much by baking, and you certainly don’t want
it to burn. It benefits from a long baking in a low-temp oven. If it isn’t too humid
where you’re at, you can also leave them out after baking to further dry out on the
cooling rack.

The recipe below

makes roughly
fifteen 3×3
hardtacks. They
will last quite a
long time if you
keep them in a
dry, sealed area
where they can’t
be reached by
insects.

THE TAKE-
AWAY

This recipe
certainly sheds
light on the
monotonous
palate afforded
to soldiers in the
Civil War. When
properly baked, they are quite tough, which explains why soldiers would often soak
them in coffee or soup prior to eating. Another option at the time was to fry salt
pork, soak the hardtack in cold water, and then fry the softened hardtack in the pork
grease.

Hardtack reminds me of a bread described in a novel I was recently reading. Bakers

made a particular kind of bread for survival, but it was completely inedible and
contained rocks and sticks. You didn’t eat the bread. The idea was that if you stared
at the bread long enough, you could think of dozens of other things you could eat
besides that and you’d never go hungry.

But such were the conditions – particularly for the blockaded South – that hardtack
could be seen as a treat. Today, there is still an original supplier of the Union army
that makes and sells hardtack (http://stores.bentscookiefactory.com/hardtack-
crackers/), mostly to Civil War re-enactors.** Outside this market and the
gastronomically-inclined historian, a kind of hardtack can be found on supermarket
shelves in Hawaii and modern-day doomsdayers are rediscovering it as the perfect
survivalist food.

Whatever your reason for making them, do watch your teeth.

** Update (March 19, 2017): G. H. Bent & Co. has operated in Milton, MA since 1801.
A gas explosion in 2006 damaged the building significantly, but re-opened later that
year. The company was sold in 2013 and, as of writing, the bakery has re-opened
with a new website (https://www.ghbentco.com/) but the online shop
(https://www.ghbentco.com/shop/) is still closed.
 (http://www.americantable.org/wp-
content/uploads/2011/11/therecipe.jpg)
2 cups flour
1/2 tablespoon salt (optional)
1/2 to 3/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Combine flour with salt in a mixing bowl. Add water
and mix with hands until the dough comes together. Roll out on a table to about 1/3
inch thickness. Use a knife to cut 3×3 squares from the dough. Place on baking
sheet, and use a dowel (see note above) to make 16 evenly-spaced holes in each
square. Bake for at least four hours, turning over once half-way through baking. Cool
on a rack in a dry room.

(http://www.americantab(http://www.americantab(http://www.americantab
le.org/wp- le.org/wp- le.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/0 content/uploads/2013/0 content/uploads/2013/0
6/image1.jpeg) 6/image_17- 6/image_21-
Measure out flour e1372275757692.jpeg) e1372275786631.jpeg)
Slowly add water Mix with hands

(http://www.americantab(http://www.americantab(http://www.americantab
le.org/wp- le.org/wp- le.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/0 content/uploads/2013/0 content/uploads/2013/0
6/image_31- 6/image_42- 6/image_52-
e1372275807196.jpeg) e1372275826116.jpeg) e1372275841244.jpeg)
Mix with hands Mix until dough comes together Dough and Rolling Pin
(http://www.americantab(http://www.americantab(http://www.americantab
le.org/wp- le.org/wp- le.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/0 content/uploads/2013/0 content/uploads/2013/0
6/image_72- 6/image_82- 6/image_92-
e1372275873729.jpeg) e1372275897765.jpeg) e1372275920641.jpeg)
Roll out dough to 1/3 inch Trim edges Trim edges
thickness

(http://www.americantab(http://www.americantab(http://www.americantab
le.org/wp- le.org/wp- le.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/0 content/uploads/2013/0 content/uploads/2013/0
6/image_102- 6/image_112- 6/image_121-
e1372275939590.jpeg) e1372275958765.jpeg) e1372275980536.jpeg)
Cut into squares Cut into squares Poke holes in square

(http://www.americantab(http://www.americantab(http://www.americantab
le.org/wp- le.org/wp- le.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/0 content/uploads/2013/0 content/uploads/2013/0
6/image_131- 6/image_142.jpeg) 6/image_151-
e1372276009916.jpeg) Pre-baked Hardtack e1372276059749.jpeg)
Pre-baked Hardtack Put hardtack in oven to dry
(http://www.americantab(http://www.americantab(http://www.americantab
le.org/wp- le.org/wp- le.org/wp-
content/uploads/2013/0 content/uploads/2013/0 content/uploads/2013/0
6/image_161- 6/image_171.jpeg) 6/image_18.jpeg)
e1372276126165.jpeg) Hardtack Hardtack
Remove to cooling rack

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