A Civil War Recipe..... Oatmeal Pie (2024)

FAQs

What biscuit like food did soldiers eat in the Civil War? ›

During the Civil War one of the most common meals for soldiers was a cracker-like food called hardtack. Hardtack is made from flour, water, and salt.

The filling includes sugar, eggs, corn syrup and vanilla. Quick oats are stirred into the filling, then put into a pie shell. It bakes up with a flavor and texture like a traditional pecan pie. In fact, it sometimes goes by the name of “mock pecan pie.”

These rations allotted just over a pound of meat, likely beef or pork, just under a pound of "hard bread," and a small collection of dried vegetables. The most common form of hard bread, was called hard tack, a basic wheat biscuit that did not easily decay and could survive a rough march.

On the battlefield, most soldiers ate rations of bacon, Jonny cakes, imitation coffee, and molasses. Bacon was plentiful and boiled for almost every meal and alongside it was Jonny cakes. Jonny cakes are the confederate version of hardtack made of cornmeal and milk.

The oatmeal creme pie was created by Oather "O.D." McKee in 1935 during the middle of the Great Depression. At the time, McKee was working at Jack's Cookies, a local bakery in Chattanooga, Tennessee that made oatmeal, raisin, and vanilla cookies which sold for one cent each.

DEGERMINATED YELLOW CORN MEAL, WHOLE GRAIN OAT FLOUR, SUGAR, CREME COATING (SUGAR, SOYBEAN AND PALM OIL, NONFAT MILK, WHEY, SOY LECITHIN, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR), FRUCTOSE, MOLASSES, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF SALT, CARAMEL COLOR, CINNAMON, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, BAKING SODA, NUTMEG, YELLOW 5, RED 40, YELLOW 6, BLUE 1, ...

The difference between baked oatmeal and baked oats is all in the texture. "And getting that cake-like texture comes from adding the egg, but also blending the ingredients well," Jawad explains. You can double (or triple) the recipe.

The majority of rolled oats biscuits were in fact sold and consumed at fetes, galas, parades and other public events at home, to raise funds for the war effort. This connection to the troops serving overseas led to them being referred to as “soldier's biscuits”.

At Gallipoli, where the supply of fresh food and water was difficult to maintain, hardtack biscuits became notorious with the Gallipoli experience and are sometimes referred to as Anzac tiles or Anzac wafer biscuits.

Breakfast was usually a large and hearty meal. Even in town, Americans maintained the farm practice of fortifying oneself for a hard day of work. Middle-class Americans ate beefsteak or pork, eggs, fried potatoes, fruit pie, hotcakes and coffee. In cold weather, porridge became popular.