Suet or Field Pudding
From Manual for army cooks, 1896
Ensure the pudding has room to swell in the bag.
Presented as published in 1896. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation below, not the original instructions.
A modern interpretation · AI-generated from the original record
Ingredients
Method
As published
This recipe was extracted from Manual for army cooks (1896) by United States. War Dept. Subsistence Dept., page 117. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.
To six quarts of flour add eight tablespoonfuls of baking powder, two spoonfuls salt, and stir thor- oughly together ; then add about eight tablesj^oon- fuls of clear cold bacon fat; stir again, and add sufficient cold water (never warm water) quickly, and stir to a smooth but not stiff batter. Mix or stir it as little as possible — never knead it — or you will lose the strength (gases) of the j)Owder. Roll or break into equal-sized biscuits; or, best, drop from a large spoon into well-greased pans. Put into a good hot oven, esj)ecially hot on toj), and bake until done — usually from 15 to 20 minutes, if oven is good. Never knead the dough, as kneading kills the leavening properties of baking-powder bread. Yeast, or baker's bread, on the other hand, requires much kneading and a good stiff' dough. 272 MANUAL FOR ARMY COOKS. If in a linrry, or inex]3eriencecl, Ijisciiits are tlie most easily made; the great fault in prejiaring either is not so mncli inexperience as lack of careful attention to tlie above details. BREAD. In making baking-powder bread observe tlie same rules as mentioned above; mix into a fairly stiff batter, using a large sjDOon, not the hands; have your greased pan and hot oven ready ; droj) or pour the batter into it until about half full, and set into the oven. Get a good even heat below and plenty on top (so as to fill the oven with hot air). When done the loaves will rise to the top of the pan. Bake from 30 to 45 minutes, or until a sliver will X^ass through the bread and on withdrawal be found dry ; if sticky dough adheres to the sliver the bread is not yet done. Regular heat and quick mixing insure most excellent bread in large quantities in an easy way. FIELD BREAD. Take five quarts of flour and one and two-thirds tablespoonfuls of yeast powder; mix thoroughly while dry, adding a little salt to suit the taste ; then mix in well one tablespoonf ul of drij)ping or lard ; then add water, and in small quantities at a time, until a biscuit dough is made; knead slightly. Take a Government mess pan and cut off about one inch and a half of the rim, leaving a rough edge. Into this mess pan 'put dough enough to fill it two- thirds full ; cover with another mess pan. A hole should previously have been dug in the ground eighteen or twenty inches in diameter and depth, and a fire burned in it five or six hours. Then take out all the cinders except a bed two or three inches deep ; upon this i)lace the mess pans and surround and cover them with hot cinders ; over all spread a covering of earth, and leave for five or six hours. MANUAL FOR ARMY COOKS. 278 The bread will not burn, as in rising it will not reach the bottom of the iij^per mess i)an. The r(jugh-cut edges of the lower mess j^an afford egress to any gases that may be disengaged. FIELD BREAD, BAKED IN FRYING PAN* Prepare the dough as above described ; grease the frying pan and set it over hot embers until the grease begins to melt ; put the dough, rolled to a thickness of half an inch, in the pan and set it on the fire ; shake the pan every few moments to pre- vent the dough from adhering ; after the crust has formed on the bottom take the bread out of the pan and set it up on edge, close to the fire, turning it occasionally to insure its being baked through. PIE CRUST. To four quarts of flour sift three spoonfuls of bak- ing powder, and a spoonful of salt ; add one to two (piarts of good bacon fat ; cold water enough to make a good stiff dough without kneading. Roll with a bottle to a thin even sheet ; line inside of pan — leave sufficient for a covering; cut hole in center of upi^er crust and bake in hot oven one hour. As a good filling for meat pies, observe the general rules seen in meat stewed, etc., using game and cooked meats if j)ossible. SUET. OR FIELD PUDDING. Cut up fine about two quarts of bacon, or salt fat pork, or suet in small dice-sliaj)ed pieces. To six (piarts of fiour add six sj^oonfuls of baking powder, two quarts of molasses, or one and one-half quarts of sugar, two quarts of currants, raisins, or choi)ped fruits, one quarter j)int of mixed sjoic
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Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.