ARMY RECEIPTS

SOYER’S FIELD AND BARRACK COOKERY FOR THE ARMY.

N.B.--These receipts are also applicable for barracks, in camp, or while on the march, by the use of Soyer’s New Field Stove, now adopted by the military authorities. These receipts answer equally as well for the navy.

Each stove will consume not more than from 12 to 15lbs. of fuel, and allowing 20 stoves to a regiment, the consumption would be 300lbs. per thousand men.

The allowance per man is, I believe, 3½lbs. each, which gives a total of 3500lbs. per thousand men.

The economy of fuel would consequently be 3200 lbs. per regiment daily. Coal will burn with the same advantage.

Salt beef, pork, Irish stew, stewed beef, tea, coffee, cocoa, &c., can be prepared in these stoves, and with the same economy.

They can also be fitted with an apparatus for baking, roasting, and steaming.

NO. 1.--SOYER’S RECEIPT TO COOK SALT MEAT FOR FIFTY MEN.

_Head-Quarters, Crimea, 12th May, 1856._

1. Put 50 lbs. of meat in the boiler.

2. Fill with water, and let soak all night.

3. Next morning wash the meat well.

4. Fill with fresh water, and boil gently three hours, and serve. Skim off the fat, which, when cold, is an excellent substitute for butter.

For salt pork proceed as above, or boil half beef and half pork--the pieces of beef may be smaller than the pork, requiring a little longer time doing.

Dumplings, No. 21, may be added to either pork or beef in proportion; and when pork is properly soaked, the liquor will make a very good soup. The large yellow peas as used by the navy, may be introduced; it is important to have them, as they are a great improvement. When properly soaked, French haricot beans and lentils may also be used to advantage. By the addition of 5 pounds of split peas, half a pound of brown sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls of pepper, 10 onions; simmer gently till in pulp, remove the fat and serve; broken biscuit may be introduced. This will make an excellent mess.

NO. 1A.--HOW TO SOAK AND PLAIN-BOIL THE RATIONS OF SALT BEEF AND PORK, ON LAND OR AT SEA.

To each pound of meat allow about a pint of water. Do not have the pieces above 3 or 4 lbs. in weight. Let it soak for 7 or 8 hours, or all night if possible. Wash each piece well with your hand in order to extract as much salt as possible. It is then ready for cooking. If less time be allowed, cut the pieces smaller and proceed the same, or parboil the meat for 20 minutes in the above quantity of water, which throw off and add fresh. Meat may be soaked in sea water, but by all means boiled in fresh when possible.

I should advise, at sea, to have a perforated iron box made, large enough to contain half a ton or more of meat, which box will ascend and descend by pulleys; have also a frame made on which the box might rest when lowered overboard, the meat being placed outside the ship on a level with the water, the night before using; the water beating against the meat through the perforations will extract all the salt. Meat may be soaked in sea water, but by all means washed.

NO. 2.--SOYER’S ARMY SOUP FOR FIFTY MEN.

_Head-Quarters, 12th May, 1856._

1. Put in the boiler 60 pints, 7½ gallons, or 5½ camp kettles of water.

2. Add to it 50lbs. of meat, either beef or mutton.

3. The rations of preserved or fresh vegetables.

4. Ten small tablespoonfuls of salt.

5. Simmer three hours, and serve.

P.S.--When rice is issued put it in when boiling.

Three pounds will be sufficient.

About eight pounds of fresh vegetables.

Or four squares from a cake of preserved ditto.

A tablespoonful of pepper, if handy.

Skim off the fat, which, when cold, is an excellent substitute for butter.

NO. 2A.--SALT PORK WITH MASHED PEAS, FOR ONE HUNDRED MEN.

Put in two stoves 50lbs. of pork each, divide 24lbs. in four pudding-cloths, rather loosely tied; putting to boil at the same time as your pork, let all boil gently till done, say about two hours; take out the pudding and peas, put all meat in one caldron, remove the liquor from the other pan, turning back the peas in it, add two teaspoonfuls of pepper, a pound of the fat, and with the wooden spatula smash the peas, and serve both. The addition of about half a pound of flour and two quarts of liquor, boiled ten minutes, makes a great improvement. Six sliced onions, fried and added to it, makes it very delicate.

NO. 3.--STEWED SALT BEEF AND PORK.

For a Company of One Hundred Men, or a Regiment of One Thousand Men.

_Head-Quarters, 12th June, 1855._

Put in a boiler, of well-soaked beef 30lbs., cut in pieces of a quarter of a pound each.

20lbs. of pork. 1½lb. of sugar. 8lbs. of onions, sliced, 25 quarts of water. 4lbs. of rice.

Simmer gently for three hours, skim the fat off the top, and serve.

_Note._--How to soak the meat for the above mess.--Put 50lbs. of meat in each boiler, having filled them with water, and let soak all night; and prior to using it, wash it and squeeze with your hands, to extract the salt.

In case the meat is still too salt, boil it for twenty minutes, throw away the water, and put fresh to your stew.

By closely following the above receipt you will have an excellent dish.

NO. 4.--SOYER’S FOOD FOR ONE HUNDRED MEN, USING TWO STOVES.

_Head-Quarters, Crimea._

Cut or chop 50lbs. of fresh beef in pieces of about a ¼lb. each; put in the boiler, with 10 tablespoonfuls of salt, two ditto of pepper, four ditto of sugar, onions 7lbs. cut in slices: light the fire now, and then stir the meat with a spatula, let it stew from 20 to 30 minutes, or till it forms a thick gravy, then add a pound and a half of flour; mix well together, put in the boiler 18 quarts of water, stir well for a minute or two, regulate the stove to a moderate heat, and let simmer for about two hours. Mutton, pork, or veal, can be stewed in a similar manner, but will take half an hour less cooking.

_Note._--A pound of rice may be added with great advantage, ditto plain dumplings, ditto potatoes, as well as mixed vegetables.

For a regiment of 1000 men use 20 stoves.

NO. 5.--PLAIN IRISH STEW FOR FIFTY MEN.

Cut 50lbs. of mutton into pieces of a quarter of a pound each, put them in the pan, add 8lbs. of large onions, 12lbs. of whole potatoes, 8 tablespoonfuls of salt, 3 tablespoonfuls of pepper; cover all with water, giving about half a pint to each pound; then light the fire; one hour and a half of gentle ebullition will make a most excellent stew; mash some of the potatoes to thicken the gravy, and serve. Fresh beef, veal, or pork, will also make a good stew. Beef takes two hours doing. Dumplings may be added half an hour before done.

NO. 6.--TO COOK FOR A REGIMENT OF A THOUSAND MEN.

_Head-Quarters, Crimea, 20th June, 1855._

Place twenty stoves in a row, in the open air or under cover.

Put 30 quarts of water in each boiler, 50lbs. of ration meat, 4 squares from a cake of dried vegetables--or, if fresh mixed vegetables are issued, 12lbs. weight--10 small tablespoonfuls of salt, 1 ditto of pepper, light the fire, simmer gently from two hours to two hours and a half, skim the fat from the top, and serve.

It will require only four cooks per regiment, the provision and water being carried to the kitchen by fatigue-parties; the kitchen being central, instead of the kitchen going to each company, each company sends two men to the kitchen with a pole to carry the meat.

NO. 7.--SALT PORK AND PUDDINGS WITH CABBAGE AND POTATOES.

Put 25lbs. of salt pork in each boiler, with the other 50lbs. from which you have extracted the large bones, cut in dice, and made into puddings; when on the boil, put five puddings in each, boil rather fast for two hours. You have peeled 12lbs. of potatoes and put in a net in each caldron; put also 2 winter cabbages in nets, three-quarters of an hour before your pudding is done; divide the pork, pudding, and cabbage in proportion, or let fifty of the men have pudding that day and meat the other; remove the fat, and serve. The liquor will make very good soup by adding peas or rice, as No. 1a.

For the pudding-paste put one quarter of a pound of dripping, or beef or mutton suet, to every pound of flour you use; roll your paste for each half an inch thick, put a pudding-cloth in a basin, flour round, lay in your paste, add your meat in proportion; season with pepper and a minced onion; close your pudding in a cloth, and boil.

This receipt is more applicable to barrack and public institutions than a camp. Fresh meat of any kind may be done the same, and boiled with either salt pork or beef.

NO. 8.--TURKISH PILAFF FOR ONE HUNDRED MEN.

Put in the caldron 2lbs. of fat, which you have saved from salt pork, add to it 4lbs. of peeled and sliced onions; let them fry in the fat for about ten minutes; add in then 12lbs. of rice, cover the rice over with water, the rice being submerged two inches, add to it 7 tablespoonfuls of salt, and 1 of pepper; let simmer gently for about an hour, stirring it with a spatula occasionally to prevent it burning, but when commencing to boil, a very little fire ought to be kept under. Each grain ought to be swollen to the full size of rice, and separate. In the other stove put fat and onions the same quantity with the same seasoning; cut the flesh of the mutton, veal, pork, or beef from the bone, cut in dice of about 2oz. each, put in the pan with the fat and onions, set it going with a very sharp fire, having put in 2 quarts of water: steam gently, stirring occasionally for about half an hour, till forming rather a rich thick gravy. When both the rice and meat are done, take half the rice and mix with the meat, and then the remainder of the meat and rice, and serve. Save the bones for soup for the following day. Salt pork or beef, well soaked, may be used--omitting the salt. Any kind of vegetables may be frizzled with the onions.

NO. 9.--BAKING AND ROASTING WITH THE FIELD STOVE.

By the removal of the caldron, and the application of a false bottom put over the fire, bread bakes extremely well in the oven, as well as meat, potatoes, puddings, &c. Bread might be baked in oven at every available opportunity, at a trifling cost of fuel. The last experiment I made with one was a piece of beef weighing about 25lbs., a large Yorkshire pudding, and about 10lbs. of potatoes, the whole doing at considerably under one pennyworth of fuel, being a mixture of coal and coke; the whole was done to perfection, and of a nice brown colour. Any kind of meat would, of course, roast the same.

_Baking in fixed Oven._--In barracks, or large institutions, where an oven is handy, I would recommend that a long iron trough be made, four feet in length, with a two-story movable grating in it, the meat on the top of the upper one giving a nice elevation to get the heat from the roof, and the potatoes on the grating under, and a Yorkshire pudding, at the bottom. Four or five pieces of meat may be done on one trough. If no pudding is made, add a quart more water.

NO. 10.--FRENCH BEEF SOUP, OR POT-AU-FEU, CAMP FASHION. FOR THE ORDINARY CANTEEN-PAN.

Put in the canteen saucepan 6lbs. of beef, cut in two or three pieces, bones included, ¾lb. of plain mixed vegetables, as onions, carrots, turnips, celery, leeks, or such of these as can be obtained, or 3oz. of preserved in cakes, as now given to the troops; 3 teaspoonfuls of salt, 1 ditto of pepper, 1 ditto of sugar, if handy; 8 pints of water, let it boil gently three hours, remove some of the fat, and serve.

The addition of 1½lb. of bread cut into slices or 1lb. of broken biscuits, well soaked, in the broth, will make a very nutritious soup; skimming is not required.

NO. 11.--SEMI-FRYING, CAMP FASHION, CHOPS, STEAKS, AND ALL KINDS MEAT OF.

If it is difficult to broil to perfection, it is considerably more so to cook meat of any kind in a frying-pan. Place your pan on the fire for a minute or so, wipe it very clean; when the pan is very hot, add in it either fat or butter, but the fat from salt and ration meat is preferable; the fat will immediately get very hot; then add the meat you are going to cook, turn it several times to have it equally done; season to each pound a small teaspoonful of salt, quarter that of pepper, and serve. Any sauce or maître d’hôtel butter may be added. A few fried onions in the remaining fat, with the addition of a little flour to the onion, a quarter of a pint of water, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, a few chopped pickles or piccalilly, will be very relishing.

NO. 11A.--TEA FOR EIGHTY MEN,

Which often constitutes a whole Company.

One boiler will, with ease, make tea for eighty men, allowing a pint each man. Put forty quarts of water to boil, place the rations of tea in a fine net, very loose, or in a large perforated ball; give one minute to boil, take out the fire, if too much, shut down the cover; in ten minutes it is ready to serve.

NO. 12.--COFFEE A LA ZOUAVE FOR A MESS OF TEN SOLDIERS,

As I have taught many how to make it in the camp, the canteen saucepan holding 10 pints.

Put 9 pints of water into a canteen saucepan on the fire; when boiling add 7½ oz. of coffee, which forms the ration, mix them well together with a spoon or a piece of wood, leave on the fire for a few minutes longer, or until just beginning to boil. Take it off and pour in 1 pint of cold water, let the whole remain for ten minutes or a little longer. The dregs of the coffee will fall to the bottom, and your coffee will be clear.

Pour it from one vessel to the other, leaving the dregs at the bottom, add your ration sugar or 2 teaspoonfuls to the pint; if any milk is to be had make 2 pints of coffee less; add that quantity of milk to your coffee, the former may be boiled previously, and serve.

This is a very good way for making coffee even in any family, especially a numerous one, using 1 oz. to the quart if required stronger. For a company of eighty men use the field-stove and four times the quantity of ingredients.

NO. 13.--COFFEE, TURKISH FASHION.

When the water is just on the boil add the coffee and sugar, mix well as above, give just a boil and serve. The grouts of coffee will in a few seconds fall to the bottom of the cups. The Turks wisely leave it there, I would advise every one in camp to do the same.

NO. 14.--COCOA FOR EIGHTY MEN.

Break eighty portions of ration cocoa in rather small pieces, put them in the boiler, with five or six pints of water, light the fire, stir the cocoa round till melted, and forming a pulp not too thick, preventing any lumps forming, add to it the remaining water, hot or cold; add the ration sugar, and when just boiling, it is ready for serving. If short of cocoa in campaigning, put about sixty rations, and when in pulp, add half a pound of flour or arrowroot.