Revolutionary War Period Cookery is chock full of delightfully different and delicious cooking ideas favored by many famous and some forgotten yet historically important individuals and families of yesteryear. It contains the favorite dishes of numerous well known as well as lesser-known figures from the Revolutionary War period of our glorious history. Included are tasty breads and other baked goods, taste-tempting main dishes, soups and stews and loads of other wonderful recipes.
Here you will find the favorites of such historical luminaries as Alexander Hamilton who was born in the West Indies, but moved to the Colonies in 1772. He became one of the brightest stars in the fight for independence. One of George Washington's closest friends, this man sometimes enjoyed having Blood Bread with his dinners. A delightful Walnut Bread Pudding dish was eagerly eaten by General Lafayette in 1824 on his final visit to his beloved America. And those very special Sweet Potato Griddle Cakes were often prepared and served by the family of General Philip Schuyler.
Most early American recipes as originally written would be quite difficult, if not impossible, to use today with any degree of ease or accuracy. Such concoctions were most often written as one long and rather complicated, sometimes rambling paragraph. Or they might simply be a long list of ingredients in no particular sequence or order. And many of the ingredients called for would not be recognized by today's readers.

One of the most popular cakes, as well as the only cake made without bread dough in the Colonies, was that called The Nun's Cake. The recipe for this special cake was carefully cherished and handed down as a prized heirloom from prior generations. It was no doubt, often handwritten, and bequeathed from mother to daughter. Or, the ingredients were memorized, and passed along by word of mouth. The recipe for this highly regarded cake appears in almost all early cook books, with little or no variation of its ingredients or instructions as to how it was to be made in those days. Here it is:
"You must take four pounds of the finest flour, and three pounds of double-refined sugar beaten and sifted; mix them together and dry them by the fire till you prepare your other materials. Take four pounds of butter, beat it with your hand till it is soft like cream, then beat thirty-five eggs, leave out sixteen whites, strain off your eggs from the treads, and beat them and the butter together till all appears like butter. Put in four or five spoonfuls of rose or orange-flower water, and beat again; then take your flour and sugar, with six ounces of caraway-seeds, and strew them in by degrees, beating it up all the time for two hours together. You may put in as much tincture of cinnamon or amber-grease as you please; butter your hoop, and let it stand three hours in a moderate oven. You must observe always, in beating of butter, to do it with a cool hand and beat it always one way in a deep earthen dish."
The ultimate in simplicity went into this description of an old favorite "To Make Little Cakes For Tea." But, alas, it certainly would not be so simple a task for today's lady of the house to make them successfully. Here are the complete instructions:

"Of butter, flower, sugar a quarter of a pound of each and as much yoke of egg as will mix into a stiff paste. Make them into round cakes the size of half a crown. Bake them in tins. Put some Caraway seeds in them."

The year 1796, 20 years after the Revolutionary War, saw the publication of American Cookery by Amelia Simmons. In her book, this woman gave these fine examples for the homemaker of that day to use in making:

"A NICE INDIAN PUDDING:

"No. 1. 3 pints scalded milk, 7 spoons fine Indian meal, stir well together while hot, let stand till cooled; add 7 eggs, half pound raisins, 4 ounces butter, spice and sugar, bake one and half hour.
"No.2. 3 pints scalded milk to one pint meal salted; cool, add two eggs, 4 ounces butter, sugar or molasses and spice q.s. it will require two and half hours baking.
"No.3. Salt a pint meal, wet with one quart milk, sweeten and put into a strong cloth, brass or bell metal vessel or earthen pot, secure from wet and boil 12 hours."
Early American baking recipes might call for German or Compressed Yeast, Patent Yeast, Brewers Yeast or Potato Yeast. Some yeasts were made from hops or grape leaves. Such recipes are made much more practical for today's homemakers to use by simply substituting the more modern versions of yeast - those small packets we can readily purchase in our supermarkets. Nevertheless, here's a unique old-time method for making yeast using grape leaves. My Great-great grandmother Huldah Radike Horton who once entertained and rode with the great French General Lafayette handed this down. This is exactly how she inscribed it in her own hand:

"YEAST FROM GRAPE LEAVES
"Grape leaves make a yeast in some respects superior to hops, as the bread made from it rises sooner, and has not the peculiar taste which many object to in that made from hops. Use eight or ten leaves for a quart of yeast; Boil them for ten minutes; Pour the hot liquor on the flour, the quantity of the latter being determined by whether the yeast in wanted thick or thin; Use the hop yeast to raise it with to begin with, and afterwards that made of grape leaves. Dried leaves will be as good as fresh. If a dark film appears upon the surface when rising, a little stirring will obviate it."
Measurements were given in ways that present day cooks aren't at all familiar: a teacupful, wineglassful, tincupful, kitchencupful, 1/2 a tumbler, 1 dram liquid, dessertspoonful , saltspoonful, butter the size of a walnut, butter the size of an egg, pound of eggs, pound of milk, gill, etc. Therefore, all the recipes herein have been carefully updated. When used by the homemaker of today, they will turn out just as they did for the woman of the house that prepared them so many long years ago. Here's a list of a few of the more unique measurements sometimes used by housewives and others during the Colonial period of our history. The original measurement is initially given followed by its modern day conversion:

Dessertspoonful 2 teaspoons
Saltspoonful 1/4 teaspoon
1 gill 1/2 cup
1 fluid dram 1 teaspoon
Kitchencupful 1 cup
Teacupful 3/4 cup
Coffecupful 1 cup
Tumbler 1/2 pint
Wineglassful 4 tablespoons
Dash pepper 1/8 teaspoon
Pound of milk 1 pint
Pound of eggs 12 medium eggs
9 large eggs

As you probably know, James Monroe (1758-1831) bravely fought with the Continental Army during the first years of the War for Independence and was wounded at Trenton, New Jersey. He was sometime later the major man behind the writing of our magnificent Constitution. Monroe eventually got into national politics under the sponsorship of Thomas Jefferson and ultimately became the 5th President of the United States. Monroe was a Christian and in his inaugural address on March 4, 1817, he referred to God's overruling providence: "Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain."
James Monroe enjoyed a special dish his wife, Elizabeth, called her "Delicate Fritters." And this is how they were made:

1 cup flour 4 tbls sugar
1-1/2 tsp baking powder 1 egg yolk, beaten
2 tbls cornstarch 1/3 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt 1 tbls olive oil
1 egg white, beaten

Sift together the dry ingredients in a wooden mixing bowl. Repeat the sifting three times. Alternately stir in the beaten egg yolk and milk. Add the olive oil and beat until smooth. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Set aside while you heat a frying pan of cooking oil. Lastly, drop the fritter mixture by large spoonfuls into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown. Turn them once. When done, lay fritters on absorbent paper to drain. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve while hot.

The above was Mrs. Monroe's basic recipe for plain fritters. For variety she would add fruit pieces to the batter. Or she might toss in chopped vegetable pieces, clams or oysters. In so doing, she would add more milk to her batter "ever so slightly." This particular recipe makes around 10 good size fritters.
Every unique recipe found in this book was popular during, or at least the favorite concoction of, some notable personality during the Revolutionary War Period. Many were coveted within a famous family of that historical era and handed down from one generation to the next. All are historical gems, for each was the invention of, or the culinary specialty of, some family or individual of days long gone by. Here they are presented, for the first time, for America's families of today to have the fun and experience the thrill of cooking and baking. And lastly, to thankfully to pass a blessing over before eating these special meals - be it for a unique breakfast, lunch or dinner treat.