Well, I haven't kept to a very good schedule with this, but then there haven't been many recipes to record. I decided to treat purchasing food as if I was visiting forts or saloons as I slowly made my way West. I haven't bought any food in apart from a single block of cheese since I started, with my diet essentially being reduced to one or two stodgy meals a day, occasionally enlivened with a meal at the pub, which usually can last me a whole day as my body doesn't seem to want to accomodate a lot of food these days.
Dishes I have attempted prior to being reduced to flatbreads with cheese and onion, have been:
Trout. I cooked the trout in the oven with oil, and had it with some carrots and potatoes. It wasn't very flashy but damn was it tasty.
Pemmican. I actually managed to make beef jerky by cooking finely sliced beef at a very low heat in the oven for an hour and a half. I then ground up the hardened meat and added it to an equal mass of fat (the rendered dripping from the bacon and kidneys) and used as a spread on flatbreads. When you aren't eating much protein, this stuff very quickly becomes very addictive. While making the pemmican I also had a meal of uncooked vegetables and raw beef, as many mountain men didn't cook their meat at all. I found the beef excellent, and when I had a steak when my flat went to the pub recently, even though it was rare I found it rather dry in comparison to the moist rich flesh I had enjoyed before.
I tried combining mashed potato with a flatbread and made a thick stodgy meal.
Something I've noticed as the weeks have gone on is that my appetite is less and less satisfied. I haven't lost weight (or at least I haven't noticed) but I am certain the restriction of food, and the monotony has been wearing. In March I am going to try another historical diet, and I'm going to buy ingredients this weekend.
Friday, 28 February 2014
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
12/02/13: DAY 8
As is normal, I've been a bit off the ball this last week. Due to a series of social events, I ate pub food over the weekend, though my lack of need for huge quantities of nutrition meant I could limit myself to one meal a day without getting hungry.
I've continued cooking flatbreads, and they have essentially replaced normal bread as a staple. They are very good with bacon grease as a simple topping. I've also tried adding sugar to make a more pancake-like meal.
As for other food I've tried, there has been a bacon and kidney fried dish I've made. I washed the kidneys, and chopped up the bacon. As I fried the bacon, I chopped some potatoes and carrots, only a few. I used three rashers of bacon. I plonked in the kidneys and as they browned I added mustard and vinegar. When they looked brown, I threw in the carrots and potatoes which I had boiled until they were soft. A lot of fluid came out of the kidneys (not that kind of fluid thank goodness). When that fluid has boiled away, add some of the dripping (I saved some from frying the bacon) and give it a last couple of minutes on a high heat stirring continuously. At this point I added a single diced onion which fried quickly in the fat. I divided this into two portions and it was delicious. It was all I could do to stop myself from eating the second portion immediately.
In an effort to acquire more dripping, I've also made my own pork scratchings, which would likely have been a staple in the old west. Bar snacks were often free, and salty to encourage drinking. What bar snack is saltier than pork scratchings. I sliced the pork rind into finger sized pieces and stacked them, adding olive oil and a sprinkling of salt with each layer. I put it in the oven for about forty minutes at 200C, flipped them, and after that flipped them every twenty minutes ensuring all got equally cooked/burned. When they were sufficiently crunchy, I put them in a bowl and stuck it in the freezer. The fat in the tin I transferred to a jar, planning to render it down later.
I've continued cooking flatbreads, and they have essentially replaced normal bread as a staple. They are very good with bacon grease as a simple topping. I've also tried adding sugar to make a more pancake-like meal.
As for other food I've tried, there has been a bacon and kidney fried dish I've made. I washed the kidneys, and chopped up the bacon. As I fried the bacon, I chopped some potatoes and carrots, only a few. I used three rashers of bacon. I plonked in the kidneys and as they browned I added mustard and vinegar. When they looked brown, I threw in the carrots and potatoes which I had boiled until they were soft. A lot of fluid came out of the kidneys (not that kind of fluid thank goodness). When that fluid has boiled away, add some of the dripping (I saved some from frying the bacon) and give it a last couple of minutes on a high heat stirring continuously. At this point I added a single diced onion which fried quickly in the fat. I divided this into two portions and it was delicious. It was all I could do to stop myself from eating the second portion immediately.
In an effort to acquire more dripping, I've also made my own pork scratchings, which would likely have been a staple in the old west. Bar snacks were often free, and salty to encourage drinking. What bar snack is saltier than pork scratchings. I sliced the pork rind into finger sized pieces and stacked them, adding olive oil and a sprinkling of salt with each layer. I put it in the oven for about forty minutes at 200C, flipped them, and after that flipped them every twenty minutes ensuring all got equally cooked/burned. When they were sufficiently crunchy, I put them in a bowl and stuck it in the freezer. The fat in the tin I transferred to a jar, planning to render it down later.
Tuesday, 4 February 2014
04/02/13: DAY 1
I didn't have breakfast today because I am a damn-fool, but I did have lunch and dinner.
'Mumby's Flatbread' with Onion and Tomatoes
Okay so I didn't invent flatbread. But I'm fairly certain this isn't how the prospectors of the California Gold Rush did it. I based it roughly on a description of Mexicans cooking on hotplates (http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpioneer.html#goldrush). The flatbread itself is nothing but flour mixed with water. I don't tend to weigh things out but it was enough to cover the bottom of my frying pan and was about a centimetre thick. I oiled the pan and got it to a high heat before pouring in the flour water mixture. I gave it about five minutes on each side. I was using self-raising flour, so it rose slightly.
As for the topping, I made that up. I chopped one onion, roughly and put in the now empty frying pan with a little oil. I chopped one large tomato and added a splash of soy sauce (wouldn't have been unheard of in California, lots of Chinese labourers worked there and brought the distinct flavours of their cuisine with them). I fried it on a high heat until the onions were soft and starting to brown.
I put the onion and tomato mixture on top of the flatbread and folded it in half. I couldn't eat it quite like a burrito, the bread was too spongy and soggy. It was rather like a pancake. It was however delicious and certainly filled a gap.
Fried Apples and Bacon
This is an Old West pudding, but I found it was stodgy enough for a good dinner. Especially if you are as physically inactive as me and don't require much sustenance. I found the basis for the recipe here (http://www.chronicleoftheoldwest.com/chuckwagon.shtml#fried_apples)
First of all, I fried three rashers of bacon on a medium heat. When they had secreted plenty of fat, I put the bacon to one side, and put most of the bacon dripping in a jar for later use. It then chopped and peeled about six apples. These had been in the freezer so were already very soft. I mashed them and added them to the remaining bacon fat which I had put in a saucepan. While it cooked on a high heat, I added a good cup full of sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. When the mush had gone a uniform brown colour, I took it off the heat and divided into two portions. One I put in the fridge for breakfast, the other I added the bacon to.
I thought the sweetness of the apple and the saltiness of the bacon complimented one another well. I thought it might have done with some cream, but its already pretty ridiculously unhealthy by modern standards. Theres only so far you can go.
'Mumby's Flatbread' with Onion and Tomatoes
Okay so I didn't invent flatbread. But I'm fairly certain this isn't how the prospectors of the California Gold Rush did it. I based it roughly on a description of Mexicans cooking on hotplates (http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpioneer.html#goldrush). The flatbread itself is nothing but flour mixed with water. I don't tend to weigh things out but it was enough to cover the bottom of my frying pan and was about a centimetre thick. I oiled the pan and got it to a high heat before pouring in the flour water mixture. I gave it about five minutes on each side. I was using self-raising flour, so it rose slightly.
As for the topping, I made that up. I chopped one onion, roughly and put in the now empty frying pan with a little oil. I chopped one large tomato and added a splash of soy sauce (wouldn't have been unheard of in California, lots of Chinese labourers worked there and brought the distinct flavours of their cuisine with them). I fried it on a high heat until the onions were soft and starting to brown.
I put the onion and tomato mixture on top of the flatbread and folded it in half. I couldn't eat it quite like a burrito, the bread was too spongy and soggy. It was rather like a pancake. It was however delicious and certainly filled a gap.
Fried Apples and Bacon
This is an Old West pudding, but I found it was stodgy enough for a good dinner. Especially if you are as physically inactive as me and don't require much sustenance. I found the basis for the recipe here (http://www.chronicleoftheoldwest.com/chuckwagon.shtml#fried_apples)
First of all, I fried three rashers of bacon on a medium heat. When they had secreted plenty of fat, I put the bacon to one side, and put most of the bacon dripping in a jar for later use. It then chopped and peeled about six apples. These had been in the freezer so were already very soft. I mashed them and added them to the remaining bacon fat which I had put in a saucepan. While it cooked on a high heat, I added a good cup full of sugar and a teaspoon of cinnamon. When the mush had gone a uniform brown colour, I took it off the heat and divided into two portions. One I put in the fridge for breakfast, the other I added the bacon to.
I thought the sweetness of the apple and the saltiness of the bacon complimented one another well. I thought it might have done with some cream, but its already pretty ridiculously unhealthy by modern standards. Theres only so far you can go.
HELLO THERE
Well, this is a bit of jump into the unknown. I've never done anything like this before but it should be quite interesting.
Last January, during my second term of my first year of university, I ate strictly within the limits of Second World War British rationing. It was surprisingly easy, tasty and enjoyable with only some worries about cheese or butter going off. There were some unforeseen complications (a frozen Woolton Pie which I forgot to defrost and ended up putting in the shower to melt quicker for example) but it was otherwise an eye-opening adventure into the culinary past. Not only that, but it was cheap.
Now, this term, I've decided to try out a new historical diet. And this one will be very different. I'm aiming for 1840s Western Pioneer. But I will be trying out recipes from all over the Old West in the next month before I move on to another historical diet. This one will probably be more expensive being heavier on meat, but I also plan on simulating the long periods of time that mountain men went without such rich food by spending at least one week in the next month subsisting on little else than root vegetables. I will be posting recipes that I have tried out, the sources I got recipes from and possibly describe some background history as we go along
I hope that you find this interesting, at least as much as I do, and if I inspire anyone thats all to the good.
Mumby
Last January, during my second term of my first year of university, I ate strictly within the limits of Second World War British rationing. It was surprisingly easy, tasty and enjoyable with only some worries about cheese or butter going off. There were some unforeseen complications (a frozen Woolton Pie which I forgot to defrost and ended up putting in the shower to melt quicker for example) but it was otherwise an eye-opening adventure into the culinary past. Not only that, but it was cheap.
Now, this term, I've decided to try out a new historical diet. And this one will be very different. I'm aiming for 1840s Western Pioneer. But I will be trying out recipes from all over the Old West in the next month before I move on to another historical diet. This one will probably be more expensive being heavier on meat, but I also plan on simulating the long periods of time that mountain men went without such rich food by spending at least one week in the next month subsisting on little else than root vegetables. I will be posting recipes that I have tried out, the sources I got recipes from and possibly describe some background history as we go along
I hope that you find this interesting, at least as much as I do, and if I inspire anyone thats all to the good.
Mumby
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