Hearth Cooking!

As many of my good friends know, I LOVE food! I love trying new foods, cooking food, sharing food, eating food, and today, talking about food!

On Sunday I was trained in hearth cooking for my work as an interpreter in the village. We worked in the museum education building so that there’d be space for everyone in our large group (9 people) to cook and eat without worrying about visitors. This has probably been my best day at OSV so far.

The menu:

Pounded cheese and crackers

Hash/Minced Meat (Ham & potatoes seasoned with sage)

Boiled Dinner of Ham, vegetables (turnips, potatoes, carrots, and onions), and flour pudding

Apple Pie

Hot Slaw

Three Grain Bread

Cup Cake

The Facts:

“Dinner” was the biggest meal of the day, like today, but it was eaten around noon. People came home from school if they were close, and came in from the fields to enjoy a big meal before heading back out to work. “lunches” are smaller snacks one might carry to eat in the field between meals. “Supper” or “tea” was the evening meal which would have been smaller, probably just leftovers unless you were having a party.

Most women planned out their work over the course of a day, week, month and year. Certain tasks are done at a certain time of year (candle making in the late fall, early winter after butchering is done), others at a certain time of day etc.. Baking was usually done once a week because of the large amount of time and wood needed to heat the oven. “Dinner” at noon meant most of the hot work of cooking was finished in the morning before the hottest part of the day. Tasks which required good light like sewing were done in the afternoon when the sun was brightest.

Apple pie was eaten as part of a meal (like apple sauce). It had less sugar and spices for a stronger apple taste. It wouldn’t be uncommon to have an apple pie everyday with dinner. I guess that’s why they say, “As American as apple pie!”

The Fun:

This food was GOOD! And easier to make than I expected. I was assigned to make the apple pie and I was so proud of it! The crust came out the flakiest I’ve ever seen and it was so yummy. It was the only thing with no leftovers.

The craziest recipe was flour pudding. Here’s why: you make kind of a pancake batter, just flour milk and eggs, and you cook it in a bag in a pot of boiling water! Crazy, right?! I didn’t think it would work but it did. You actually smear butter all over the cloth, if you miss any the batter can seep out, then drape the cloth over an empty bowl so you can fill it and then tie it up with string like a tea bag to cook. It was pretty bland but went nicely with the meal. Since we made boiled dinner, the flour pudding bag cooked in the same pot as the ham and veggies.

 Because of modern food and health regulations, OSV can’t serve hearth cooked food to guests. But… if you’re in the area you can sign up for OSV’s hearth cooking programs. If not, some organizations (parks & rec) offer hearth cooking classes, and OSV has a great cook book which includes original “receipts” (1830s term for “recipes”), modern cooking instructions, and understandable hearth cooking instructions. I highly recommend trying this stuff!