Civil War Recipes

Godey's Lady's Book, perhaps the most popular magazine for women in nineteenth-century America, had a national circulation of 150,000 during the 1860s. The recipes (spelled ""receipts"") it published were often submitted by women from both the North and the South, and they reveal the wide variety of regional cooking that characterized American culture. There is a remarkable diversity in the recipes, thanks to the largely rural readership of Godey's Lady's Book and to the immigrant influence on the country in the 1860s. Fish and game were readily available in rural America, and the number of seafood recipes testifies to the abundance of the coastal waters and rivers. The country cook was a frugal cook, particularly during wartime, so there are a great many recipes for leftovers and seasonal produce. In addition to a wide sampling of recipes that can be used today, Civil War Recipes includes information on Union and Confederate army rations, cooking on both homefronts, and substitutions used during the war by southern cooks.

Every Civil War buff will want to own this unique cookbook, which takes the reader right into the kitchens of 19th-century America. Illustrated with wonderful period photographs, it intertwines history and food for a fascinating new look at the lives of Civil War soldiers and their families. Traditional recipes, illustrated with full-color photographs and highlighted with historical anecdotes, include instructions for recreating treats sent in care packages to soldiers in the field, camp dishes, and special meals.

"Discusses the everyday life, cooking methods, foods, and celebration of Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Includes recipes and sidebars"--

"[Hardtack was] positively unsuitable fodder for anything that claims to be human...and I think it no exaggeration to say that any intelligent pig possessing the least spark of pride would have considered it a pure insult to have them put into his swill." (Wilbur Fisk, Civil War soldier). We know the uniforms they wore, the weapons they carried, and the battles they fought, but what did they eat and, of even greater curiosity, was it any good? Now, for the very first time, the food that fueled the armies of the North and the South and the soldiers' opinions of it--ranging from the sublime to just slime--is front and center in a biting, fascinating look at the Civil War as written by one of its most respected historians. There's even a comprehensive "cookbook" of actual recipes included for those intrepid enough to try a taste of the Civil War.

Gody's Lady's Book was a popular magazine for women in nineteenth -century America. The recipes it published were submitted by women from the North and South. This collection of recipes "includes information on Union and confederate army rations, cooking on both homefronts, and substitutions used during the war by Southern cooks" (Jacket).

Only five copies of this receipt book are known to have survived. During the Civil War, Southerners were forced to find substitutes for the food, clothing, and other everyday household items they were used to. This important little book was ""designed to supply useful and economical directions in cookery, housewifery, &c., and for the camp.""

"Discusses the everyday life, cooking methods, foods, and celebrations of Union soldiers during the Civil War. Includes recipes and sidebars"--

Cookbooks offer a unique and valuable way to examine American life. Far from being recipe compendiums alone, cookbooks can reveal worlds of information about the daily lives, social practices, class aspirations, and cultural assumptions of people in the past. With a historical introduction and contextualizing annotations, this fascinating historical compilation of excerpts from five Civil War-era cookbooks presents a compelling portrait of cooking and eating in the urban north of the 1860s United States.