An Army Wife's Cookbook........

[bisley45]

.....by Alice Clark Grierson, Wife of Col. Benjamin H. Grierson, 10th Cavalry (1972, Southwest Parks and Monuments Assn)

This book gives great insight into how much a determined woman can do with not a lot of raw materials. The recipes here reflect the difficulty of keeping some variety in a diet that consisted of "beef, beef, and beef."

The museum staff that edited Mrs. Grierson's original tome have added some excellent footnotes and hints, and have adjusted the recipes for differences in how ingredients were measured. Only recipes that tested well were included, and some recipes were left out; there were originally thirten recipes for lemon pie, and over half of the recipes were for some kind of dessert.

I tried two items this past week, Fried Tomatoes and Rice and Spiced Beef, for a frind's anniversary party. I had to quadruple the amounts, and I cooked everything in Dutch ovens. No failures. No leftovers.

B45

[Pat Holscher]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by bisley45</i>
<br />.....by Alice Clark Grierson, Wife of Col. Benjamin H. Grierson, 10th Cavalry (1972, Southwest Parks and Monuments Assn)

This book gives great insight into how much a determined woman can do with not a lot of raw materials. The recipes here reflect the difficulty of keeping some variety in a diet that consisted of "beef, beef, and beef."

The museum staff that edited Mrs. Grierson's original tome have added some excellent footnotes and hints, and have adjusted the recipes for differences in how ingredients were measured. Only recipes that tested well were included, and some recipes were left out; there were originally thirten recipes for lemon pie, and over half of the recipes were for some kind of dessert.

I tried two items this past week, Fried Tomatoes and Rice and Spiced Beef, for a frind's anniversary party. I had to quadruple the amounts, and I cooked everything in Dutch ovens. No failures. No leftovers.

B45
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Sounds interesting. It probably gives a glimpse of contemporary cooking methods also, I'd guess. Is that correct?

On beef, "Montana" dedicated this years calendar to items from old cookbooks. The photos show people in vaguely related activities. Of interest, the book noted that they'd found a recipie for chocolate beef cake. Now that's indicating an overabundance of an item to be sure.

Pat

[Bob Rea]

As a side note, I was in the Grierson quarters at Fort Gibson, I.T. last Saturday. The COQ was built in 1867 and she was the first to live in it. It is an impressive, 2 story stone building in relatively good shape. Must have been the best in the I.T. at that time. The current owners live in it and open it occasionally for visitors. I don't remember seeing a kitchen but then I did not go in the basement.
The barracks for the 10th in residence was just across the parade ground. Cavalry stables were just down the hill in the rear.

Bob Rea

[bisley45]

The book rather assumes a knowlege on the reader's part of "period" cooking skills, but also explains some of the more esoteric ones. Of great help was a conversion for old-time measurements vs. newfangled ones.

B45