Jump to content
SASS Wire Forum

Coffee


Subdeacon Joe

Recommended Posts

A coffee recipe for a Civil War military hospital from the “The Hospital Steward’s Manual,” by Joseph Janvier Woodward, published in 1862: 

“No.1. Coffee for ten men. 

"Put 9 pints of water into a canteen, saucepan (or other vessel) on the fire; when boiling, add 7 1/2 oz. of coffee; mix them well together with a spoon or piece of wood; leave on the fire 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 ten minutes, or a little longer; the dregs will fall to the bottom, and the coffee will be clear.  Pour it from one vessel into another, leaving the dregs at the bottom; add 2 teaspoonfuls of sugar to the pint.  If milk is to be had, make 2 pints less of coffee, and add that much milk; boiled milk is preferable.

"REMARKS. - This receipt, properly carried out, would give 10 pints of coffee, or 1 pint per man.” 

Source: 
Woodward, Joseph Janvier, M.D., "The Hospital Steward's Manual," Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1862.

Image credit: 
Detail from "City Point, Cooking, West Point, Virginia," Library of Congress.

 

 

FB_IMG_1660697397526.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

So, what this is telling me is that real men before “The Old West” drank their coffee with cream and sugar? ;)

 

Yep.  Or at least with sugar.  

From Hardtack and Coffee:

 

The manner in which each man disposed of his coffee and sugar ration after receiving it is worth noting. Every soldier of a month's experience in campaigning was provided with some sort of bag into which he spooned his coffee; but the kind of bag he used indicated pretty accurately, in a general way, the length of time he had been in the service. For example, a raw recruit just arrived would take it up in a paper, and stow it away in that well known receptacle for all eatables, the soldier's haversack, only to find it a part of a general mixture of hardtack, salt pork, pepper, salt, knife, fork, spoon, sugar, and. coffee by the time the next halt was made. [124] A recruit of longer standing, who had been through this experience and had begun to feel his wisdom-teeth coming, would take his up in a bag made of a scrap of rubber blanket or a poncho; but after a few days carrying the rubber would peel off or the paint of the poncho would rub off from contact with the greasy pork or boiled meat rational which was its travelling companion, and make a black, dirty mess, besides leaving the coffee-bag unfit for further use. Now and then some young soldier, a little starchier than his fellows, would bring out an oil-silk bag lined with cloth, which his mother had made and sent him; but even oil-silk couldn't stand everything, certainly not the peculiar inside furnishings of the average soldier's haversack, so it too was not long in yielding. But your plain, straightforward old veteran, who had shed all his poetry and romance, if he had ever possessed any, who had roughed it up and down “Old Virginny,” man and boy, for many months, and who had tried all plans under all circumstances, took out an oblong plain cloth bag, which looked as immaculate as the every-day shirt of a coal-heaver, and into it scooped without ceremony both his sugar and coffee, and stirred them thoroughly together.

There was method in this plan. He had learned from a hard experience that his sugar was a better investment thus disposed of than in any other way; for on several occasions he had eaten it with his hardtack a little at a time, had got it wet and melted in a rain, or, what happened fully as often, had sweetened his coffee to his taste when the sugar was kept separate, and in consequence had several messes of coffee to drink without sweetening, which was not to his taste. There was now and then a man who could keep the two separate, sometimes in different ends of the same bag, and serve them up proportionally. The reader already knows that milk was a luxury in the army. It was a new experience for all soldiers to drink coffee without milk. But they soon learned to make a virtue of a necessity, and [125] I doubt whether one man in ten, before the war closed, would have used the lactic fluid in his coffee from choice. Condensed milk of two brands, the Lewis and Borden, was to be had at the sutler's when sutlers were handy, and occasionally milk was brought in from the udders of stray cows, the men milking them into their canteens; but this was early in the war. Later, war-swept Virginia afforded very few of these brutes, for they were regarded by the armies as more valuable for beef than for milking purposes, and only those survived that were kept apart from lines of march.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

So, what this is telling me is that real men before “The Old West” drank their coffee with cream and sugar? ;)

Yup. Sugar has been a beloved condiment in many cultures for centuries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

The possibility of adding milk is why using nine pints of water makes ten pints of coffee.

 

did they bother to strain the coffee grounds?

 

It says to make 2 pints less if milk is to be had.  Then, after the addition of 1 pint of cold water to settle the grounds, and then decanting, add your 2 pints of milk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 If milk is to be had, make 2 pints less of coffee, and add that much milk; boiled milk is preferable.

I presume the boiling was to kill the germs in the fresh milk, but as I said, I'm not had good luck with trying to boil milk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

48 minutes ago, Alpo said:

I presume the boiling was to kill the germs in the fresh milk, but as I said, I'm not had good luck with trying to boil milk.

 

 

DUH!  (smacks self in head) I was thinking you were reading it as boiling the coffee in milk.  
Boiling milk to kill germs is done in a huge pot only about 1/3 full and you watch it like a hawk watches a mouse.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So if you wanted to heat up a cup of milk, to make cocoa, you would probably be best to do it in a 1 quart saucepan? And snatch it off the burner when you see the first bubble?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

 

DUH!  (smacks self in head) I was thinking you were reading it as boiling the coffee in milk.  
Boiling milk to kill germs is done in a huge pot only about 1/3 full and you watch it like a hawk watches a mouse.  

And you have to do it in the pasture. So it’s Pasturized. :lol::lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I looked up the boiling point of milk. It's real close to 212. The same article said that they don't boil milk when they pasteurize it. They heat it to about 160.

 

So it seems the best way to do it would be to use a double boiler. Since your pan is sitting in a pan of boiling water, it does not matter how hot your fire is, your milk cannot get hotter than the 212 of boiling water. Lot less chance of the bubble eruption.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984 said:

The possibility of adding milk is why using nine pints of water makes ten pints of coffee.

 

did they bother to strain the coffee grounds?

No they settle and you don't drink  the last swallow.

 

This is how I make camp coffee when I solo camp. Quart tin cup, boil water and drop in the coffee.

 

When I was stuffing a haversack my coffee was carried in a bag made from the sleave of a cotton work shirt, so that journal entry rings true to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.