Frontier Recipes

Frontier Recipes

Arbuckles Coffee and Canned Cow

Won the West!

-- Unknown

Campfire Cook

Seasonings were basically bacon or salt fat, salt and pepper, and fresh herbs the settlers grew themselves.

2 lbs salt pork
Assorted vegetables as available, chopped:
    Onions
    Potatoes
    Cabbage
    Carrots
    Turnips
Salt and pepper
Water

Freshen salt pork by soaking in a kettle of water at least 2 hours. If very salty, repeat soaking.
Cut salt pork into chunks and brown in the bottom of a Dutch oven. Add water to cover and bring to a
slow boil. Add vegetables and cook until tender. Season with salt and pepper.

Rabbit Stew

1 rabbit dressed and cut into serving pieces

¼ c flour

Salt and pepper

4 T Butter

2 onions chopped

¼ c chopped carrots

1 c potatoes chopped

Mixed Herbs

Mix flour and seasonings together. Coat the rabbit pieces with the mixture. Melt the butter and fry the rabbit pieces until browned. Put the pieces in a large pan and add the onion, carrot and potatoes. Cover with water and season with salt, pepper and herbs. Cover and cook for three hours.

Raccoon Fricassee

1 Raccoon
1 onion, sliced into rings
1/2 C vinegar
1 1/2 C water
2-3 T lard or other fat
1 bay leaf

Skin the raccoon, remove the musk glands and dress out the carcass. Soak in salt water overnight to draw out the blood. Baking soda can be added to the water to remove any gamey smell. Cut raccoon into serving pieces and dredge in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Brown in hot fat. Add remaining ingredients. cover and simmer 2 hours or until tender. Thicken the juice with flour and water mixture for gravy. Serve hot with cornbread.

Beef Jerky

Several pounds of flank steak

Salt and seasoning salt

Pepper

Trim fat and slice steak with the grain into l/4- to l/2-inch (1 cm) strips. Lightly salt strips or soak them overnight in a solution of water and 2 table-spoons salt. Arrange strips on skewers, season with seasoning salt and pepper and hang in a smoker or lay them on oven racks in an oven set to its lowest temperature (175 to 200F), with door slightly ajar to permit moisture to escape. (If you are using an oven, place a shallow pan under the meat to catch drippings.) Drying time varies. In an oven, 8 to 10 hours is usually sufficient. Dried meat should be tough and leathery, not quite brittle. Store in plastic or cloth bags in a cool, dry place.

Pemmican

Equal quantities jerky and animal fat

Dried berries (optional)

Pound jerky to break up fibers. In a skillet, melt fat, making sure it does not boil or smoke. Stir pounded jerky into fat, along with dried berries, if desired. Let fat cool and cut pemmican into candy-bar-sized chunks. Store in plastic, cloth or rawhide bags in cool, dry place.

Planked Whitefish

1 whitefish
4-5 strips bacon
2-3 T cooking oil
salt and pepper
Coarse salt
Oak plank

Season whitefish with salt and pepper. Heat oak plank near the fire. Oil the fish and put it in the center of the board. Cover the exposed part of the board with coarse salt to keep it from burning. Spread bacon on top of the fish. then prop the board in front of the fire and bake about 45.
minutes.

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