Colonial Style Corn Fritters

I love combining my writing research with my love of cooking and good food. My characters need to eat and I want them to enjoy foods that would have been common in their time period. My current WIP (work in progress) is set at the beginning of the 19th century. My characters would have had to grow, gather, or hunt most of what they consumed.

This past week I pulled out a favorite cookbook, History from the Hearth, and made a batch of corn fritters. Yummy? You bet! Our ancestors knew their way around food. And thankfully, some of them recorded their recipes and handed them down through the generations.

Colonial Style Corn Fritters

2 cups cooked corn
2 eggs - separated
1/4 cup cream
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teas salt
1/2 teas pepper
lard for frying

Beat the eggs whites in a small bowl until stiff. In a larger bowl, slightly beat the egg yolks, then stir in the cream, flour, salt, and pepper. Fold in the egg whites. Add the corn last. Heat lard (or oil if you prefer) in a large frying pan. Drop batter by the spoonful into hot fat and fry until golden brown, then flip and cook the other side. Serve hot. 

This recipe is so simple, with ingredients any Colonial good wife would have had on hand. It could have been made over a kitchen hearth or campfire. Full of both protein and carbohydrates, these hearty fritters would have given them the energy to do all the work they needed to accomplish to survive. 

Tweet this: 

Corn fritter #recipe from Colonial American. #Writing research that's tasty too! 

The best part of enjoying a historical recipe like this, is to eat it while enjoying a great Christian historical book. Maybe one day - God willing - it will be mine!

~ Pegg Thomas

Colonial Steamed Brown Bread

Colonial Steamed Brown Bread

A big part of writing historical fiction is research. If you don’t do the history well – it’s just fiction. And trust me, you’re going to honk off a bunch of history geeks in the process. Having been that honked off history geek a time or two, I know what I’m talking about.

I love to cook and bake. Always have. It’s another creative outlet for me. Combining my love of history with my love of cooking and baking was a no-brainer. So researching colonial-era cooking for my book? That was fun!

My grandma used to make what she called Boston Brown Bread. I discovered that the Colonial Steamed Brown Bread is very close to what grandma made. I think hers was considered “Boston” because it was served with baked beans.

Tweet this: #Colonial Steamed Brown Bread #recipe on the #ColonialQuills 

Home ovens were rare in Colonial times. The fort or settlement would have one oven, maybe two, that were shared. Yeast breads were baked only when the oven was available and heated.

Steaming breads was something that could be done in the hearth over an open fire. The bread – not a yeast bread, but more like our modern-day quick breads – was poured into a bowl of some sort, placed into a Dutch Oven with water about half-way up the sides of the bowl, covered with a lid, and swung over the fire to steam for anywhere from one to three hours, depending on the size of the bowl.

Wash 3 soup cans (roughly 15 oz size) grease well, prepare your steamer, get the water boiling.

Mix together:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup rye flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp. cooking oil (lard or bacon grease would be more authentic)
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup milk
1 teas. salt
1 teas. baking soda

Divide into the 3 greased cans (cans will be just over 1/2 full to allow the bread to rise). Top each can with a square of aluminium foil. Secure with a rubber band or string. Set cans into the steamer. Steam for 1 hour. Remove to a rack to cool. Immediately remove foil. Cool 10 minutes. Remove bread from cans. The texture is like a moist cornbread, but the flavor is unique. Wonderful served warm with butter and jam, or for the “Boston” variety, smothered with some rich and tasty baked beans.

Colonial Steamed Brown Bread smothered in beans and sausage

~ Pegg Thomas

Interview with Shannon McNear by Carrie Fancett Pagels

Shannon McNear

What got you interested in the colonial time period?

Well, if a decade or two of breathing the air of Charleston, South Carolina, won’t do it ... :-) Seriously, what really fired my imagination was attending my first Revolutionary War reenactment in 2006, the 230^th anniversary of the Siege of Charleston. From that day, I was seriously hooked—and this in an area probably best known for Civil War history.

What inspired your latest colonial work?

Story after story of the conflict between Americans who fought for independence and those who chose loyalty to the king.

Do you have a favorite colonial place you like to visit and why?

Old Fort Dorchester State Park, now known as Colonial Dorchester. It’s one of the few local sites that hasn’t been built over, which means there’s a wealth of archaeological finds just twelve inches or so down. Also, since it’s one of the lesser-known area attractions, it tends to be quiet and peaceful—a great place I can let my family run and play. And I love the fort and church ruins, and the cemetery.

If you care to say, you can tell readers where you live and what colonial places you have in your state or your home state if different.

We live on the outskirts of Charleston, South Carolina, and there are too many places to list! Seriously, Charleston was the busiest seaport on the southern coast during colonial times, possibly the richest. We have plantations, town homes, forts, churches (some ruined and some not), buildings of commerce, and old jails. Inland and upstate are battlefield sites in various states of upkeep (one is half under water now). Kings Mountain, which I wrote about in Defending Truth, is right up on the state line.

Do you have a favorite colonial recipe you enjoy and would like to share with readers?

Just one?? I suppose johnnycakes would be the obvious choice since they figure so prominently in Defending Truth.

Johnnycakes—or journeycakes—are essentially cornmeal pancakes. I can’t find serious provenance for the use of baking soda or powder before the early 1800’s, so the main leavening agent would have been eggs. Here’s the basic recipe as I recently tested it:

 Johnnycakes

2 cups cornmeal (stoneground is best, I grind my own with a Nutrimill, which makes the meal more “thirsty” than commercial, aged cornmeal)

½ tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ c. milk, more or less

Stir dry ingredients together, beat in eggs, then add milk to make a pourable batter. Fry like pancakes—best on a hot, oiled cast iron griddle—and drench in butter. :-) Or butter and syrup, or butter and jam.

This is a very flexible recipe. You can substitute flour for half the cornmeal, or change up the sugar for honey or molasses. Definitely don’t hesitate to adjust the amount of milk to make your batter the desired consistency—a thicker batter makes for a thicker cake. Also, make them a little smaller than you think you should, since they tend to be very filling.

Story overview/blurb

On the frontier of western North Carolina, which will someday become east Tennessee, Truth Bledsoe keeps her family fed while her father is away fighting the British. When she discovers a half-starved, fugitive Tory, she’s not above feeding him, but to go past simple Christian charity to forgiveness seems impossible. To love would be unthinkable.

Micah Elliot has fled capture after the massacre at King’s Mountain, heartsick, battle weary, and ashamed of the cowardice that sent him westward over the mountains instead of eastward to home. Groping his way through a crisis of faith, he must discover and embrace what might finally be worth laying down his life for.

Author bio

Shannon McNear has been writing one thing or another since third grade and finished her first novel at age fifteen—but it would be more than thirty years before she’d receive her first book contract. In the meantime, she graduated from high school, attended college, met and married her husband, birthed nine children, lost one, taught five to drive, revised that first story innumerable times, and completed six others.

Her writing experience includes former interview coordinator and review editor for Christian Fandom, founding contributor of Speculative Faith, and founding member of the Christian Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog Tour. She has also served as area coordinator, southeast zone director, and local chapter founder and president for American Christian Fiction Writers. She's an active member of ACFW, RWA, and My Book Therapy.

At the 2012 ACFW conference, to her shock and delight, she was awarded a first-time author contract from Barbour Publishing for her historical romance novella Defending Truth. It released September 2013 as part of A Pioneer Christmas Collection.

A Midwestern farm girl transplanted more than 20 years ago to Charleston, South Carolina, she loves losing herself in local history, especially the colonial era. When not homeschooling, sewing, researching, or leaking story from her fingertips, she finds joy in worship, women’s ministry, and encouraging whoever God brings across her path.

Thanksgiving Recipes from Melody Durant

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE
Yield: 8
 

3 c. sweet potatoes, mashed	TOPPING
2 eggs, beaten	1 c. brown sugar
¼ c. sour milk (add ¼ t. vinegar)	1/3 c. flour
1 c. sugar	1 c. pecans, chopped
1 t. vanilla	1/3 c. margarine, melted
½ c. margarine, melted

1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.

2.  In a large bowl combine the potatoes, eggs, milk, sugar, vanilla and margarine.

3.  Pour into a greased 9x13 pan.

4. In a medium bowl combine the sugar, flour and pecans.

5.  Drop in clumps over the potatoes.

6.  Drizzle margarine over the top.

7.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Now some say this is a vegetable to be eaten with the meal while others say you need to save it for dessert BUT everyone agrees that IT’S OH SO GOOD!  Years ago when my hubby preached a revival in Alabama one of the church ladies served him this.  He brought the recipe home and it’s been a part of our family ever since.

OLD FASHIONED SUGAR CREAM PIE
Yield: 2 Pies

1 ½ c. sugar	½ c. milk
2 heaping T flour (use serving spoon heaping)	1 unbaked (real) pie crust
1/8 t. salt	1 T. butter
1 c. whipping cream	¼ t. nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2.  In a large bowl combine sugar, flour and salt.

3.  Stir in cream and milk.

4.  Blend with electric mixer until thick.

5.  Pour into pie crust.

6.  Dot with the butter and sprinkle with nutmeg.

7. Bake for 15 minutes.  Reduce heat to 350° and bake 40-45 minutes or until center does not jiggle.

This is soooo rich, creamy and rich.  It has a crusty top that makes you go  OHHHHH  MY!  This is my sister in law Susan’s recipe.

(Note from CFP: This looks like it could have been made during colonial times as well, given the ingredients.)

AUNT DELORIS’ CRANBERRIES

 

1# fresh cranberries	2 c. sugar
1 c. water, boiling	Dash of salt

1.  In a medium pan cover cranberries with the boiling water.

2.  Cover and place over heat and gently boil 10 minutes. 

3.  Remove and puree in a blender.

4.  Move puree back to pan and stir in sugar and salt. 

5.  Cook and stir continuously for 4 minutes.

6.  Place in a pretty bowl and refrigerate!

So simple to make this.

NOT ANOTHER PUMPKIN PIE

Yield: 2 pies

4 eggs, beaten	1 t. cinnamon
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin	½ t. ginger
1 ¾ c. sugar	¼ t. cloves
½ t. salt	4 c. half & half (secret ingredient)

1. Preheat oven to 425°.

2. Have two unbaked pie crust ready.  Don’t you dare use a FAKE crust!

3. In a large bowl combine all ingredients.  Using a whisk – BEAT IT!

4.  Right before you pour into pie crusts, stir again…it’s gonna be jiggly. 

5. Bake for 15 minutes.

6.  Reduce temperature to 350° and bake for 45 minutes longer or until knife

comes out clean.

You’re thinking…another Pumpkin Pie recipe, but IT’S NOT just another.  It’s not a strong pumpkin flavor.  This one uses 4 cups of half & half.   This recipe makes 2 pies rather than one.

My husband and I traveled with our pastor and wife across Oklahoma to preach a revival.  We arrived early at her mother’s house and these two beautiful pies were sitting on the table.  Who knew they were for later?  They were soooo good we devoured them! 

 *CFP: While these recipes may not technically be Colonial, they do look yummy!  Thanks to Melody Durant who has contributed these recipes for CQ.

America's Oldest Brands and Businesses

Making muffins with KA Flour. Recipe below.

By Lori Benton

If you've ever used King Arthur Flour to bake a cake or a loaf of bread, then you've purchased flour from one of the oldest companies in the United States.

Founded in 1790 in Boston, Massachusetts, by Henry Wood, the company first imported its flour from England. As the business grew it changed hands and names. From Henry Wood & Company, it became Sands, Taylor & Wood Company in the 1890s. It was during this time a new brand of premium flour was introduced. One of the owners had recently attended a musical of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and left the performance inspired. The Boston Food Fair, September 10, 1896, saw the introduction of King Arthur Flour, and customers have been enjoying the flour ever since, along with other retail food products bearing the King Arthur name.

The company has since relocated to Norwich, Vermont, where its main store, The Baker's Store, is located, and changed its name to The King Arthur Flour Co., Inc., to reflect its principal brand. In addition to The Baker's Catalogue, the company has published four cookbooks, including King Arthur 200th Anniversary Cookbook and the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion.

Visit King Arthur Flour on line: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/ and don't miss the recipe for Peachy-Almond muffins at the end of the post, the ingredients for which are pictured in the photo above. 

More early American companies, businesses, and brands still in use or operation (with links for further exploring):

~ Oldest plantation: Shirley Plantation, Charles City, Virginia. Original land grant given in 1613. Eleven generations of the same family have lived and worked this plantation, still in operation today.
~ 1667 Seaside Inn & Cottages Kennebunk Beach, Maine
~ 1673 White Horse Tavern Newport, Rhode Island
~ 1742 (or earlier) Towle Silversmiths
~ 1780 Baker's Chocolate
~ 1784  D. Landreth Seed Co of Pennsylvania
~ 1787 Hayes Coffee
~ The Old Farmer's Almanac, the longest continuously published periodical in the US, was first published 1792, during George Washington's first term as President.
~ Crane & Co. making fine paper since 1801
~ 1806 Colgate: soap, starch, and candles first. Then came the toothpaste!
~ 1818 Remington America's oldest gun maker 

Just Peachy-Almond Muffins 

(muffins pictured were made with King Arthur Flour)

Just Peachy-Almond Muffins, by Lori Benton

1 16 oz can sliced peaches, drained
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Chop peaches; drain, and set aside. Combine flour, salt, soda, and sugar in a mixing bowl; make a well in center of dry ingredients. Add eggs and oil; stir until dry ingredients are moistened. Add peaches and remaining ingredients; stir until blended.

Spoon batter evenly into greased or paper-lined muffin pans, filling two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes for 6 jumbo muffins, 20-25 minutes for 12 regular-sized muffins, or 18 minutes for 36 miniature muffins.

Enjoy these muffins with a nice cup of tea! Make it historical and try some of these blends.

Muster Day Gingerbread

Muster Day Gingerbread

 (A traditional recipe enjoyed on colonial Muster Day,
as seen in Colonial Courtships by Carla Olson Gade)

The following recipe is taken from The Art of Cookery made plain and easy by A Lady, 1747 (Hannah Glasse was discovered to be the authoress in the 19^th century).

To make Ginger-Bread. TAKE three quarts of fine flour, two ounces of beaten ginger, a quarter of an ounce of nutmeg, cloves, and mace beat fine, but most of the last; mix all together, three quarters of a pound of fine sugar, two pounds of treacle, set it over the fire, but do not let it boil; three quarters of a pound of butter melted in the treacle, and some candied lemon and orange peel cut fine; mix all these together well. An hour will bake it in a quick oven.

Muster Gingerbread
(A modern version for you to try.)

1/3 c  Shortening 1/2 c  Brown sugar 1/2 c  Molasses 1  Egg 2 c  Flour (all-purpose) 1 t  Baking soda

3/4 t  Ground ginger 3/4 t  Ground cinnamon 1/4 t  Ground cloves 1/4 t  Salt 1/2 c  Water; boiling

Cream the shortening and sugar until very light. Add the molasses and egg, beating well. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, soda, spices and salt. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the boiling water, beating after each addition. Bake in a greased 8x4x2 inch loaf pan at 350øF for about 50 minutes. Cool a few minutes before removing from the pan, and wrap. This cake mellows and tastes best the next day.

Authors note: The treacle mentioned in the first receipt, as recipes were then called, is Molasses. Muster Day Gingerbread, sometimes called Training Day Gingerbread or simply Muster Gingerbread, was usually prepared as a loaf cake. I discovered a variation of this recipe that was rolled out and baked as a cookie. Muster Gingerbread was traditionally washed down with rum after militia training, though I recommend a nice glass of apple cider or fresh milk.