Civil War Period Cookery is chock full of delightfully delicious cooking ideas favored by many famous people of days long past. It contains the prized recipes for those dishes cooked by or eaten by some of the better known as well as lesser known figures from the Civil War era of our glorious history. Included are recipes for tasty breads and interesting baked goods, skillet southern fried chicken and really good poultry dishes. Here you will also be treated to many taste-tempting soups, stews and stuffings -- and, yes, even pickles as well as loads of other wonderful things. Or you may wish to try some buttermilk pie, an array of wonderful desserts, rhubarb punch and other delightful beverages. Then make the unique corn bread with a streak of delicious custard running through it. Yes you can now enjoy a meal exactly like that eaten by those who wore both the blue and the gray during the War Between the States - or as some unreconstructed Southerners still refer to it - the War of Northern Aggression.
Here you will find the favorites of such historical luminaries as Gilbert van Camp who dearly loved sweet potato biscuits for breakfast. Or those brown sugar cookies eaten by General Ulysses S. Grant. And the special pork and parsnip stew so enjoyed by Medal of Honor winner, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker. That unusual molasses pie made by the wife of famed Confederate Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest. Or those special huckleberry pancakes so dearly loved by General Robert E. Lee. And the giblet-cornmeal turkey stuffing prepared on special holidays by the Abner Doubleday family
One very special traditional cake recipe handed down from the Civil War era is this favorite from the family of Confederate Brigadier General Roger Atkinson Pryor (1828-1919). Mrs. Pryor made this wonderful sponge cake for her family each Christmas season in three distinct steps as follows:
SPONGE CAKE
Step 1:
5 egg whites 5 egg yolks
1 cup sugar, sifted 4 times 1/2 lemon, rind only (grated)
1 tbls lemon juice 1 cup flour, sifted 4 times
1/4 tsp salt
Beat egg whites until stiff. Gradually beat in 5 tbls of the sugar and set aside. Add lemon juice to egg yolks and beat until lemon colored and so thick that beater turns with difficulty. Add grated lemon rind and beat in remaining suger. Combine egg yolks with egg whites and fold together with a spoon until mixture is blended evenly, Mix and sift together flour and salt in separate bowl. Fold this into egg mixture. Do not beat after adding flour to avoid breaking air bubbles. Pour into an unbuttered 9 inch tube pan. Cut through mixture several times to break air bubbles. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or more. When cake is done, loosen with spatula or knife and remove from tube pan. Turn out on wire rack and let stand until cool.
CUSTARD
Step 2:
4 cups milk 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten slightly 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
Scald milk in covered saucepan. In a separate saucepan, combine beaten eggs with sugar and salt. Blend well. Stir scalded milk into egg mixture and stir constantly. Let cook until mixture coats spoon. Set aside and chill. Then stir in vanilla. If custard should curdle, beat until smooth.
CAKE ASSEMBLY
Step 3:
3 cups split almonds, blanched 3 cups sherry wine
1/2 pint heavy cream
Carefully slice cake into three layers. Stick 1 cup of split almonds into each layer, dividing them as evenly as possible. Pour 1 cup of sherry wine over each layer as it is reassembled. An hour before serving, pour the soft custard over the cake. Make occasional deep gashes with a knife so custard will seep all the way through cake. Whip the cream and place on cake in large tablespoonfuls.
General Roger Atkinson Pryor was an influential Christian newspaper publisher in Virginia and a firebrand secessionist. He resigned from his first term in Congress in 1861 to join the Confederate Army and fought heroically at Seven Pines and Williamsburg. An impatient man who was disillusioned with the political machinations of the Confederate War Department, he resigned his commission and went on to fight as a mere private in August of 1863 with General Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry brigade. Pryor was taken prisoner by Union troops near Petersburg in November of 1864, but was given his freedom in a prisoner exchange a few months later.
To sum everything up. each recipe found in this unique cook book was once popular, or at least commonly used during the Civil War period. They were all part of the history of a particular family, or person, who lived and loved and prayed and fought through this tragic time of our great nation. Many were coveted treasures within a family, some famous, some not so famous, and handed down through the years or lost with the passage of time. Each recipe has been meticulously updated. When the recipe is used today, it will turn out exactly as it did for the woman of the house who prepared it for her family so many long years ago. Here they are presented for the first time for today's American families to enjoy and experience the pleasure of preparing, cooking, baking and serving - exactly as it was done in the past. And lastly, to thankfully pass a blessing over before eating - be it for breakfast, lunch or dinner.