Vinegar Lemonade

Vinegar Lemonade

By Mark Fitzgerald

"Tuesday 7 started at half past six[.] travelled well[.] we have seen no Indians for the past four or five days[.] an incident connected with the Indians I will here relate as they have been very friendly with us[.] we returned the compliment in the same manner[.] they called at our table for refreshment and accordingly I was making lemonade which I offered to one who had watched the process of preparing and to whom I had handed a chair[.] he seated himself with great dignity and took in his hand the cup I offered but would not touch the drink untill I would drink with him[.] I began to drink from another cup but he handed his to me as much as to say drink from this[.] I took it[.] drank and returned it[.] he drank said good squaw with many gestures of satisfaction[.] he drank exclaiming good[,] good[.] encamped on the Loup fork[,] a splendid place[.] a good spring of water and everything very[,] very nice except the muscutoes [mosquitoes] which were very troublesome"

This recipe intrigues me.  Lemons would have been incredibly common on the pioneer trail, but vinegar would have been readily available.  I imagine that this would have been refreshing and in cases covered up what other things might have been in the water.

When we tried this as a family we had mixed results.  Some liked it and others were grossed out.  The biggest problem isn't the taste, but the smell of vinegar.  It is pretty strong.  The taste is quite good but I find that it has somewhat of a metallic aftertaste.  Still, it is pretty fun to try.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 quarts water
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Directions
• Mix vigorously using cold water.

Information

Serves 10, 1 cup servings
100 Calories per serving

Making Butter From Scratch

Making Butter From Scratch

By Mark Fitzgerald

"Many families brought their cows along with them so we had plenty of fresh milk, butter and cheese. Our butter was very easily made . . . we would put cream in a covered pail which was hooked to the back of the wagon. The shaking and jolting of the wagon made a very good churn so we always had nice fresh butter without any trouble. Our other food was made up of the provisions we had brought with us such as potatoes and flour with which we made our bread."

I love the concept of finding a covered pail that I can attached to a handcart and see if we have butter by the end of the day.  Making butter with a kitchenaid is one thing, but having to do it by hand is something completely different.  I say let the machine do the work.  One of the benefits of making your own butter is getting buttermilk, the liquid that separates out during the butter making process. 

Ingredients

1 pint heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

In a mixer, food processor or old fashion butter churn add the milk and whip the butter until thick.  As it begins to be whipped cream you may be tempted to stop.  Keep going until the buttermilk separates out.  Drain off the the butter milk and mix in the salt.

Information

Makes about 1/2 pound of butter

Skillet Chicken and Broccoli

Skillet Chicken and Broccoli

By Mark Fitzgerald
We were wanting something different than chicken and rice this week.  So we started looking for something in which we could add broccoli.  This is what we came up with.  We keep almost all of these ingredients on hand.  You can always sub out frozen or dried for fresh.  The most odd ingredient is sun dried tomatoes, in which we try to dry each year from our garden.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds chicken cut into 1-inch squares 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced 
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano 
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 
• 16 ounces penne pasta 
• 4 cups water 
• 4 cups chicken broth 
• 1 pound broccoli florets (frozen)
• 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk  
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

Add 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 14 sauce pan over medium-high heat until just smoking. Salt and pepper the chicken.  Add the chicken in a single layer and cook for 1 minute without stirring. Stir the chicken and continue to cook until most until the chicken is lightly browned around the edges, 1 to 2 minutes longer.  Remove the chicken and put into a bowl.

Add another tablespoon of oil, onion, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the skillet. Return the skillet to medium-high heat and cook, stirring often, until the onion is softened, 2 to 5 minutes. Add in garlic powder, oregano, and pepper flakes, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the pasta, 3 cups of water, and the broth. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until the liquid is very thick and syrupy and almost completely absorbed, 12 to 15 minutes.  Add the broccoli, sun-dried tomatoes, and the remaining cup of water. Cover, reduce the heat to medium, and cook until the broccoli turns bright green and is almost tender, 5 minutes.

Uncover and return the heat to high. Stir in the sour cream, cheese, and reserved chicken with any accumulated juices and continue to simmer, uncovered, until the sauce is thickened and the chicken is cooked and heated through, 1 to 2 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Ham Cuts for Lunch

Ham

by Mark Fitzgerald

"Aug. 5. Away early, drove 5 miles and the axletree of my carriage broke . . . stop and repair. Went fishing, no luck. Off at 3, encamped close to the river where there had been immense destruction of wagons and property. Plenty of currants, no game. Cooked bread and boiled our last ham which was nearly spoiled. Sat up late and sang songs."

Ham was an excellent way of preserving pork in the 1800s.  Like sausage it is cured with salt, sugar and sodium nitrite.  Because they are cured nearly all supermarket hams are fully cooked through.  Look on the label for "fully cooked."  When looking on the label try to avoid hams that are marked "water added," "water product," or "injected."  These all have water added to the ham to increase its weight.  The downside is that it decreases the texture and taste of the ham.  

If you are looking for 30 servings go for a 10 pound ham.  There are probably a lot of people that think I am under estimating.  I am not aiming for a dinner portion, but rather to put on bread.  I am also not cooking it, loosing water and juices to evaporation.  I am also not looking for leftovers.  A bone in a 10 pound ham should be about 1 pound.  With the remaining 9 pounds I am looking to get a good 30, 1/4 pound cuts with some leftover. 

Ingredients 

2.5 lbs ham, plus the weight of the bone (between .5 and 1 pound)

Directions

Slice to individual serving sizes.  Cut out the bone and save for cooking with beans.

Information

Makes 10, 4 ounce servings
150 calories per serving

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Molasses sticks

Molasses Stick Cookies

By Mark Fitzgerald

"We came through Echo Canyon and Emigration Canyon and arrived safely on the camping place in Salt Lake, where the people came to look for old friends and brought watermelons and molasses cookies. We camped here for some days and the oxen were drove away to feed."

I was looking for a dessert to share for an LDS trek recreation.  In searching for a black-strap molasses candy I found something call molasses sticks.  It is more of a cookie than a candy.  Either way it is something that tastes great.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Ginger
• 3/4 cup Shortening
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Packed Brown Sugar
• 1 Large Egg
• 1/4 cup Molasses

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray baking sheet with spray oil. Combine flour, baking soda, and spices in a small bowl. In a large bowl, cream the shortening and two sugars. Beat in the eggs. Beat in the molasses. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Using a sharp knife, cut into 1/2 inch wide by three-inch long. Place on baking sheet, one inch apart. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until lightly colored. Transfer to racks to cool.

Information

Makes 10 servings of 3
270 calories per serving

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Johnnycake - corn cakes for the morning

Old fashioned Johnnycake

by Mark Fitzgerald
Some how I always thought that Brigham Young was said to have loved johnnycake.  I can't find an authoritative source for that.  I could find that when traveling he complained about people always offering him sweets and pies and that he would rather have something simple like johnnycake.

Joseph Smith's family had cornmeal johnnycakes so often that one of his children, in asking the blessing on the food, made a special request: "Something better, please, for the next meal."  My children might have agreed.  They described this recipe as a little bitter.  Adding a little baking soda and an egg may change this a little and make it a little more like pancakes.

Ingredients

1 cup cornmeal
1/4 flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon powered milk

2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cup water

Directions

Mix together the dry ingredients.  Bring water to a boil.   Slowly add the boiling water into the mixture forming a mush.

Generously grease skillet (I use an electric griddle). When pan is hot, drop the batter in quarter cup spoonfuls. Flatten the batter with a spatula to a thickness of approximately 1/4 inch. Fry until golden brown, turn, and brown on the other side.

Information

Makes 10, 1/4 cup cakes
50 calories for 1 cake

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Simple Syrup

Vanilla Pancake Syrup

by Mark Fitzgerald

"This morning we made preparation for starting on our journey, but on account of several oxen being lost[,] we did not get off until the afternoon. We started at ½ past one & as we went along, I called at my sisters and she gave me some butter for the plains & some golden syrup for my wife and some presents of baskets and sweetmeats for my children. "

With many of the pioneer saints coming from the North East, maple syrup would have been a common staple. Maple syrup was being made in the United States in the 1600s. A substitute for maple syrup would have been golden syrup, a byproduct of refining sugar. This ended up being honey colored and a similar consistency.

A quick an easy syrup for pancakes and waffles is equal parts brown sugar, white sugar and water. Adding the vanilla brings a wonderful floral smell and extra something to the taste. Unless you really cook it down, this ends up being a really thin syrup, but it sure does taste good.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

In a small saucepan, combine the sugars and water. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in maple flavoring. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 2 cups.

Information

Makes 8, 2 tablespoon servings
100 calories per serving

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Fresh Dill Pickles

Fresh Dill Pickles

by Mark Fitzgerald

"We came to the fort [Laramie] in the afternoon, left some things, etc. I bought a bottle of pickles for $1 and some cigars. They have a full and well assorted stock of variety merchandise, something such as my own when full, but prices are at least double what we sell for. There are a few fine buildings and the place bids fair to become a pretty one. "

In 2011 the Deseret News ran a story about a story about the BYU football team using pickle juice to avoid and overcome cramps due to dehydration. The alluded to this being something originating from the pioneers. Whether true or not, pickling was a great preservative in the 1800s and perfect lunch companion for a trek recreation.

At first I was apprehensive about the fermentation process. I had never attempted anything like it. In the end it was quite easy. I took a short cut that didn't help, but is likely something I would do again. We don't normally find pickling cucumbers in the store, so we used normal ones. The end result was too many seeds and too soft of texture. Even so they were good.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of water
• 1/8 cup of kosher salt
• 1/8 white vinegar
• 1 to 2 large cucumbers
• 2 sprigs of dill
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon pickling spice

Directions

Wash a wide mouth quart canning jar. Put the 2 cups of water in the microwave and bring to a boil, about 2 minutes. Mix in salt and let the water cool.

Cut the cumbers into wedges, trimming off extra seeds. Fill up the jar with the cucumbers. Toss in the dill, garlic and pickling spice. Pour in brine and fully submerge the cucumbers. Using a flat from a small mouth canning jar and a weight create a platform to keep the pickles submerged. Cover with a cheese cloth.

Keep the pickles in a cool, dark place for about two weeks. The brine should turn yellowish green and a little cloudy. Afterward they are fermented keep in the fridge.

Information

Each pickle spear is 5 calories

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Bacon

Oven Baked Bacon

by Mark Fitzgerald

"It was the policy of the Church, from the time the pioneers arrived in 1847, until the railroad was built in 1868, to send, each year, a train of freighters from Utah to the Missouri river to bring Church immigrants. I was loaded with flour which was left at the "Supply Forts." This flour was used by the immigrants on our return trip. It took four or five months to make the trip. 

When we arrived at Florence, on the bank of the Missouri river, the immigrants were there. Our train of fifty wagons was loaded with 500 immigrants, flour, bacon, and provisions for our company. My wagon was loaded with bacon, which was used when we reached Laramie, Wyoming. Here I was loaded with buffalo robes, which after a few days, were distributed among our company for their use."

While different than bacon the 1850's pioneer migration consumed barrel loads of salt pork.  Bacon is cut thin, cured or smoked.  Salt pork was usually left in a slab and far saltier.  Leaner cuts of the belly were used for bacon.  One of the reasons the pioneers used salt pork is that you could pack it in a barrel and keep it refrigerated for a year.  Though the pioneers used more salt pork bacon was also common.

While you could get salt pork for a pioneer trek recreation, I think it would be easier and more familiar to deal with bacon.  With an oven bacon can be pretty easy to cook for a crowd.  By cooking it in the oven you have the added benefit that it does not curl up.  It also gives you the bacon fat to use for other recipes.

We plan on serving bacon cold with biscuits as a lunch, which was a common "nooning" meal.  To do this we make sure to get as much fat off of the bacon before chilling it.  Though not common on the trail, I think we will need to provide tomatoes and lettuce to have a true BBLT (Bacon, Biscuits, Lettuce and Tomato).

Ingredients

• 12 ounces bacon

Directions

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread out 12 slices of bacon flat on a cookie sheet. Cook for 15 to 18 minutes.  For easier clean up place on parchment paper.

Information

Makes 12 1 ounce servings (about 1.5 slices per serving)
45 calories per serving

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Southern biscuits

Southern Biscuits

by Mark Fitzgerald

"One night I was awakened by the people shouting "Biscuits, biscuits, biscuits." A relief party had arrived and brought us food. I can still hear those people shouting "Biscuits.""

The Mormon migration west was powered by flour.  It was their main food and at 150 pounds per person it was a good portion of what they had to transport as well.  Though a variety of breads were made the most common on the trail was a biscuit using chemical leavening.  Biscuits were used throughout the day, but almost always accompanied the noon day meal (lunch).

Today we would use baking soda to make biscuits.  The pioneers between the 1840s and 1860s would have used saleratus (potassium bicarbonate).  Saleratus can be found in the wild.  Though they often started with about 5 lbs, they would replenish supplies along the way in places such as Independence Rock.

In our recipe we use salted butter, solely because we only buy 1 type of butter.  As a result we reduced the amount of salt the recipe originally called for.  We also substitute out the buttermilk with milk in which we have added lemon juice to.  It is important to use either buttermilk or lemon juice because the acid is necessary to react with the baking soda to create the rise.

Ingredients

• 4 cups flour
• 2 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons shortening
• 2 cups buttermilk

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a food processor, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Blench the butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. Add the milk and pulse until the dough just barely comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

Turn dough onto floured surface and dust top with flour.  Roll out into a 1-inch thick round. Cut out biscuits with a cutter.  We use a cup.  Place biscuits on baking sheet so that they just touch. Reform scrap dough, working it as little as possible and continue cutting. Bake until biscuits are tall and light gold on top, 15 to 20 minutes.

Information

Makes 24 biscuits
360 calories for 2 biscuits

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Making French Toast Simple

Food Storage French Toast 

by Mark Fitzgerald

This recipe is a weekend family favorite.  It is a way to have french toast without having to use a dozen or more eggs and still feed the family.  The key is to make a batter using flour and powered milk.  The recipe uses frozen bread to allow it to soak in the batter without being over saturated.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup powdered milk
• 1/8 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 loaf of frozen sandwich bread
• 3 tablespoons of shortening

Directions

Place all of the dry ingredients into a flat bottom mixing bowl.  I use a Corningware dish.  Mix with the eggs and form a paste.  After all of the dry ingredients are mixed in, add in the water and vanilla.

Preheat an electric griddle to 325 degrees.  Once heated add 1 tablespoon of shortening to the griddle and spread around.  Dip a piece of frozen bread into the batter, pull it out and let it drip off.  Add it to the griddle.  Repeat.

Cook for about 2 minutes on one side.  When browned and crisp, turn and cook for another minute on the other side.

Information

Makes about 20 slices of French Toast.

Stew for a Crowd

Stew

by Mark Fitzgerald

"Winter came in October with eighteen inches of snow, but in spite of this we did not suffer from hunger, due to Mother's careful and frugal planning. In Iowa City Mother sold a quilt and a bedspread for the sum of twenty-four cents. With this she bought food. She had a way with Indians: she traded trinkets for dried meat, which proved to be of great help to us on the journey. Frequently it would be stormy so that a fire could not be built; then mother would allow each of us to have a piece of dried meat on a piece of bread. As food became more and more scarce and the weather colder, she would stew a little of this meat and make a delicious gravy over it. I guess the reason it tasted so good is that we were allowed only a small portion
at each meal.

One very cold night, some young men were on guard. Mother prepared some meat broth, thickened with flour, and a little salt; she gave each one of the young men a half pint. They often declared it saved their lives and never before or since had anything tasted so good. "

When designing this recipe I wanted a way of doing a quality stew for a large amount of people.  So I was looking for a recipe that could easily be expanded and not require me to stand over the stove browning meat for ages on end.  

America's Test Kitchen pointed to a solution with a couple of recient recipes that they brown the meat in the oven.  They accomplish this by having the meat place above the liquid.  By not being submerged, it still achieves the Maillard reaction (browning).  This method also allows us to caramelize the veggies.   

The recipe calls for some chicken broth and some beef broth.  This is assuming you are using canned.  If you are making your own broth you can use straight beef or chicken broth.  Being this is a food storage recipe you can also substitute this with beef bullion.  

We plan on using this recipe for an LDS trek in which will have 100 people or so.  Pioneers did not have beef nearly as much as they had pork while crossing this plains.  Especially early on in the migration cattle was for milk, transportation and to establish herds in Utah.  It may be more accurate to have a bison stew instead of beef.   As the years past it was more common to have beef and it was placed strategically along the way.

Ingredients

• 2 lbs beef
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 quarts chicken broth
• 6 large carrots
• 4 medium onions
• 2 lbs potatoes
• 2 cups hominy
• 1 tablespoon parsley 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Pepper

Directions

Cut your beef into 1 inch cubes. Place into a large bowl and coat with 1 cup of flour.   Shake off the flour and place the meat on a single layer on a metal cake or roasting pan.  Add in 2 cups of beef broth.  Place into a oven preheated to 400 degrees.  Cook for 40 minutes.

Cut us carrots, onions and potatoes into 1 inch cubes.  Lightly coat them with vegetable oil  and place them in another cake pan.  Place them into the oven to cook for 20 minutes.

Bring a quart 2 quarts of chicken broth to a boil with teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and a bay leaf in a large pot.  Add the hominy.    Remove the veggies from the oven and pour into the pot.  Remove the beef from the oven and pour all of the liquids and beef into the pot.  If there is any fond on the bottom of the pan deglaze it with the vinegar and pour into the stew.

Bring to a simmer, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add in parsley, 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.

Information

Serves 10
365 Calories per serving

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Overnight Oatmeal Oats

Overnight Oatmeal use Steel-Cut Oats

by Mark Fitzgerald

"Tuesday. Started 10.O Clock and rested abt ¾ of an hour. Made about 13 Miles. lent Bro Forsgreen a horse[.] Country very Mountainous and numerous creeks[.] dividing a little oatmeal and Biscuit among the Bretheren who were desperately short"

I am not a big fan of oatmeal unless it is drenched in brown sugar.  Homemade oatmeal normally tastes, looks and feels like paste.  Using steel-cut oats changed that for me.  It started with the texture, but I think this recipe also helped put some flavor by using apple juice.  It is worth the preparation the night before.

It is a meal that I would use with an LDS Trek recreation, though would not have been very authentic.  The pioneers all had oats with them.  They even foraged wild oats along the way.  But from what I can tell it was mostly used for the livestock but would be used for breakfast on occasion.

Ingredients

• 6 cups water
• 2 cup steel-cut oats
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups apple juice
• 1 cup dried apples
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

Bring 6 cups water to boil in large saucepan over high heat. Remove pan from heat; stir in oats and salt. Cover pan and let stand overnight.

The next morning take 2 cups of juice and stir it into oats, brown sugar, dried apples and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture starts to get thick, about 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let stand for 5 minutes to finish thickening up.

Information

Makes 10 1 cup servings
120 calories per serving

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Mozzarella cheese

Freshly kneaded mozzarella cheese

Fresh Mozzarella Cheese

by Mark Fitzgerald

"We all enjoyed traveling, although it was a long hard trip. Claudi[u]s [Victor] Spencer was president of the company and there were fifty wagons in the train. Brother [Christopher] Arthur was Captain of the ten we belonged to. Mother [Ann Preece Walker] made some butter and also cheese on the way. When we stopped to rest the teams, she would save the milk and make cheese, and would press them with a wagon tongue. We milked two cows, good ones, and lots of the people of the company would come to her to buy some of the cheese, and she would sell what she could spare."

I have always loved cheese.  I think I have loved the idea of making cheese even more.  Stories from my wife's family history sealed the deal.  Sarah Lunt was renowned for her cheese making ability.  She would trade it for flour.  Each year she would even send it the Mexican president as a gift.

Mozzarella has been a great starter and in which I have had the most success.  This recipe calls for citric acid.  If you can't find that you can use 7 tablespoons of white vinegar.  Though many people would disagree with me you can substitute the rennet for 4 tablets of Junket, which is often easier to find.

My son asked was was rennet and Junket.  Rennet is an enzyme that helps the cheese setup and separate into the curds and whey.  Junket is a brand name of a type of rennet.  It is not as strong and more is needed to get a firm set.

A benefit of making your own cheese is that you get the biproduct of whey.  It is great to use in biscuits, pancakes and other baked goods.

Ingredients

1 1/4 teaspoon citric acid

1/2 cup water

1 gallon whole milk

1/4 cup water

1/2 tablet of rennet

2 teaspoons kosher salt

Directions

Mix the citric acid and water together until it is dissolved.  Mix together with the milk into a large heavy bottom pot.  Slowly heat the milk to 88 degrees over the course of 20 minutes.  

Dissolve 1/2 tablet of rennet with a 1/4 cup water.  Add to the mixture to the milk and mix for 1 minute.  Get the mixture mixed top to bottom.  Raise the temperature to 90 degrees and keep it for 8 minutes without stirring.

With a long knife slice the cheese into a 1 inch strands making a checkboard pattern.  Once cut bring the mixture up to 105 degrees.  With a slotted spoon fish out the curds into a microwave safe bowl.  Afterwards I rerun the whey through a wire-mesh strainer to get a few more curds.

Microwave the mix for 1 minute.  Press down on the curds and pour off the whey.  (The curds will be hot, you may want to use a wooden spoon.)  Microwave 2 more times at 30 seconds each, kneading the mixture in between and draining off the whey.  During the last knead mix in the salt.

Put into an ice water bath to cool and then wrap in plastic and keep in the fridge.

Information

Makes a 1 lbs loaf, divided into 10 1.5 ounce servings
185 per serving

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

No knead sourdough bread

No-knead Sourdough Bread

by Mark Fitzgerald

"When we reached the point on the Platt[e] River where there was no wood for about 3 hundred miles, we had to burn buffalo chips, or droppings. After a good rain it would take an expert cook to get a first class meal with such fuel, but the meal was always flavored and not too great a variety, as we used sourdow [sourdough], or soda to make bread with, and that and bacon, and dried apples with a very little sugar, was our fare. Sometimes the boys would kill a deer or a chicken, and one buffalo was killed. We had been without fresh meat for so long, and using so many kinds of water, it was not good to eat much fresh meat. We did not see many buffalo on the plains, but plenty of deer and antelope. They were like flocks of sheep. Bear and wolves were plentiful."

I love the taste of sourdough.  It is an amazing, unique flavor.  But I have also been interested in knowing how to make bread if all I had was flour and water.  I received my sourdough starter from a friend and have been keeping in my fridge for a couple of years.  We get it out every couple of weeks and wake it up to make some yummy goodness.

As I have been reading making your own starter isn't too much harder than combining 1 cup flour and 1 1/2 cups water and leaving it out on the counter until it is bubbly.  Somehow I think it must be harder than that and one day I will have to try.  

As we have been looking at pioneer trek recipes, sourdough seemed appropriate.  What also seemed right was a recipe that didn't require a of kneading.  The latest no knead artisan bread seemed like a good starting point.  

From what I have read, many pioneers had sourdough starter with them, but they were more likely to use chemical leavening on the trail.  The banging around on the handcart or wagon would tend to cause the rise to fall, making it difficult to make a good bread.  Either way using a dutch oven seemed the size and shape to use.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup sourdough starter (proofed and bubbly)
4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup of water
2 teaspoons kosher salt

Directions

Pour sourdough starter into a bowl with flour, salt and water. Mix with a spoon until combined. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and set it in a warm spot in your kitchen overnight.  Allow the dough to rise until doubled.

Set as dutch oven on the middle level of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450 F.  If using a dutch oven with coals pre heat a 12 inch dutch oven with 24 coals on top and 8 underneath.

Sprinkle the dutch oven with with cornmeal or cut out a piece of parchment paper and place it in the bottom of the dutch oven. Gently place your bread into the dutch oven and bake for 45 minutes.

Information

Makes 1 round that can be cut into 10 slices
220 calories for 1 slices

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Summer sausage sandwiches

Summer Sausage

by Mark Fitzgerald

Summer Sausage with
Fresh Cheese and Cucumber 

"Monday, June 30, 1856. Weather: beautiful. 10 o'clock provisions were issued for two days: flour, sugar, dried apples, coffee, tea, salt, and smoked pork. It was made known to the handcart company that no person could convey more than 17 pounds per person with them on the carts."

For an afternoon lunch try something different.   Put together slices of summer sausage along side some fresh cheese and slices of sourdough artisan bread.

A summer sausage refers to any sausage that can be kept without being refrigerated.  Today's summer sausage is normally beef.  In pioneer times it would have likely been pork.  Both would have used saltpeter (potassium nitrate) to cure the meat.  Either way it makes for a tasty treat and would have kept along the trail for the long pioneer trek across the plains.

I haven't made summer sausage.  It looks ambitious and I do not yet have all of the right tools, such as casings.  A good guide if you are looking to do it on your own can be found at  http://butchersupply.net/blog/2009/11/01/making-summer-sausage-step-by-step/

Ingredients

2 lbs summer sausage cut into 64 1/2 ounce slices

Information

Makes 10 3 ounce servings (6 slices)
270 calories per serving

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Cast Iron Cornbread

Cornbread

by Mark Fitzgerald

"On Green river Sept. 18th we commenced on a bread & water diet; yet made coffee of bread crusts, morning & evening with only milk enough to color it. Some days after, had a few messes of rice & sugar, with a change of corn mush & sugar for dinner.—The last week of our journey we had nothing but corn bread; except a little flour on the last days journey, we borrowed of Mr. Stevens."

The key to this recipe is cast iron - lots of heat and a way of keeping it hot after you add the batter.  You can use a cast iron skillet in an over, or it also makes a good dutch oven recipe.

For the corn meal we often will use popcorn that we regularly keep in our food storage.  We put it into our wheat grinder and set it for a course grind.  We also rarely have buttermilk, so we make our own mock buttermilk.  We substitute it with an equal amount of milk and to it 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.  This will help lower the pH and coagulate the milk.  

This 1800s version of this recipe would have used animal fat rather than shortening.  Though the sugar was available, it probably wouldn't have used it.  I like having it in there as it bring a brightness to the recipe.  The chemical leavening would have been something more like saleratus.  Either way this is fun recipe that turns out a wonder bread to use on our LDS trek. 

Ingredients

• 4 teaspoon butter flavored shortening (or better yet bacon drippings!)
• 2 cup cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 large egg

Directions

Position the oven rack in the lower-middle of the oven. Put the shortening in an 8-inch cast iron skillet, set the skillet in the oven, and preheat the oven to 450ºF.  If you are going to use a dutch oven, use an 8 or 10 inch and a fair amount of coals.  For a 10 inch about 21 coals on top and 7 underneath and let it heat for 15 minutes.

Whisk 1 1/3 cup of the cornmeal with sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a small bowl.  The remaining 2/3 cup of the cornmeal goes into a medium-sized bowl.  Add the boiling water and stir to make a stiff mush. Gradually whisk in the buttermilk and once there are no more lumps whisk in the egg.  Take this liquid mixture and add the dry ingredients until just combined. Be gentle.

Open the oven and the batter into the hot pan.  Let there be steam!  Bake until golden brown, about 18 minutes. When you pull out the bread, flip over the cast iron and turn the cornbread out onto a wire rack.

Information

Makes a pan full. Cut into 10 pieces.
80 calories per serving

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Pie dough

Pie Dough

by Mark Fitzgerald

"On this day, returning from writing, the assistant captain offered me a piece of pie. However, I had seen him roll the dough out on the wagon tongue. I said, 'No thank you. I don't care for any!' Father ate the pie and relished it, saying to me, 'You were very foolish not to have taken any, as it tasted very good.' Before I reached Salt Lake City, I would have had that piece of pie."

This recipe was put together by my wife, a master at making pies.  For some reason pies scare lots of people.  It shouldn't.  Besides what is wrong in practicing with pies?  In fact maybe that should be a nightly chore.  The other person I knew that was a master in pie making was my grandmother.  To me pie is a nostalgic desert that brings much more to the table than sweetness.

Ingredients

2 2/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups shortening
1/2 cup water + 1 tablespoon water

Directions

Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Scope the shortening into the bowl and cut into the flour with a pastry blender.  If you really want to do pies, this is the right piece of equipment and makes it easy.  You can use 2 knives, a hand mixer, or even a food processor, but a pastry blender is pretty cheep and really easy.  The flour and shortening mixture should look like little peas or pebbles.

Drizzle the water over the flour. Stir with a fork until it comes together.  This gives you a crumbly, loosely packed ball.  Take that and put it on your floured surface and roll it out.  Try to make it circular and about a 1/8 inch thick.  When in doubt, we likely it thicker than thinner.

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Breakfast Sausage

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

by Mark Fitzgerald

"Sunday 3rd I arrose before six and assisted my wife to baking, got breakfast and at half past 9 we started for and reached Willow Creek, a beautiful open camping ground with a few scattered treets [trees] that gave shad[e] during a very hot day[.] My wife werry as she was attended to the fire and soon had tea ready and pertook of Bread and a little pork fried which I bough[t] at our Camp last night."

We love sausage in our house but between rising prices and bigger appetites it is getting hard to provide enough to our young men.  We also started wanting to find how to do this from scratch.  If we ever had to live off of food storage we wanted to make sure we had sausage.  We also wanted a more authentic recipe that we could use for an LDS trek.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs pork butt with bone and fat
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper
• 2 teaspoons sage 
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary leaves
• 1/16 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions
Cut the pork into small pieces, including the fat, roughly 1/2 inch in size. Toss all the ingredients together and put into the fridge for an 1 hour.  After it is has chilled run it through a grinder.  You can get an attachment for your kitchen aid or go through your grandma's stuff and find an old fashion manual one.  Using the fine blade, grind the pork. You are now ready to use it like any other ground breakfast sausage.

Information

Makes 10 1/3 lb servings
230 calories per serving

Make sure to see how this recipe fits into the entire menu we have cooked up for LDS Pioneer Handcart Trek recreations.

Holiday Lemon Cheesecake

by Mark Fitzgerald

Cheesecake is one of my favorite substances on earth.  It is the combination of cream, sweet and tart.  It represents the holidays and happiness.  It is sometimes a fear recipe.  This one works though and doesn't have to have water baths and complexity in the oven.

Crust

• 14 graham crackers
• 1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup sugar

I take graham crackers and pulse them in food processor until fine.  The cracker crumbs tend to be uneven, so I then shake them through a strainer.  I then return the larger pieces to the food processor again and repeat the process.

Once evenly pulsed I return all of the crumbs to the food processor and add the butter.  This will give a good consistency to the crust and make it easy to press into the spring form pan.  Use a cup to press it tight into the side of the pan.  You will like have to work it up the sides.

Bake at 350 degrees for 5 minutes.

Filling

• 3–8 oz packages of softened cream cheese. Beat 1 minute and then add sugar.
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 eggs beaten
• 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

You will want to take our your cream cheese well ahead of time.  If it is not room temperature the cheese will not fully incorporate into the batter.  Beat the cheese for a minute with a mixer.  Hand mixer is adequate, though a Kitchen Aid works best.  A Bosch is okay, but it tends get lost in the bowl.  After a minute add the sugar and mix until fully distributed.

Combine eggs with lemon juice in a separate bowl.  This will thicken the eggs and give the batter a silkier texture.  Afterwards add the eggs to the cream cheese sugar mixture. Then beat together until smooth. Pour into prepared crust and bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Topping

• 2 cups sour cream
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat together all of the ingredients and spread on top of baked filling (pull out of oven and put it on.) Return the cake to the oven and bake for 12 more minutes at 350 degrees. Turn off oven and open the oven door, leave the cheesecake in the oven and let it cool, about an hour. Then refrigerate.

Cool overnight before removing pan sides. Spread desired fruit topping on before serving or just eat as is.