10. Creative Civil War Recipes
Hunger is more than just a great appetizer. It is also a great prod to get people’s culinary creative juices flowing. Inadequate and frequently interrupted food supplies made Southern Civil War soldiers come up with new dishes, of which the most famous – or infamous – were “cush” or “slosh”. Small bits of beef were placed in bacon grease, then water was added and the mixture was “stewed”. Cornbread was crumbled into the concoction and stewed again until all the water had evaporated.
One stew recipe used potatoes and green apples boiled together, then mashed and seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, or onion. Another recipe began with a stew of potatoes and whatever meat was available, to which flapjack batter was added, a spoonful at a time. The mixture was stirred together, and as a Rebel soldier recalled, the next morning: “we got meat, bread, and potatoes all in the same slice“. Another dish known as “slapjack” used a thick mixture of flour or cornmeal fried in bacon grease in a skillet until the bottom turned brown before it was flipped over to cook the other side.
