Navy Recipes
By Patrick McSherry
Please Visit our Home Page to learn more about the Spanish
American War
The berth deck slushers," or mess cooks, of the Battleship MAINE
General:
Bonified recipes used in the U.S. Navy during the Spanish American
War are difficult to find. The Navy had no official cookbook. Some of
the types of dishes prepared are known by name and were made in other
periods also. However, as the recipes were not documented, they could
have changed over time. Below are some recipes we believe to be correct
to the period.
The Recipes:
Burgoo
Burgoo has been a source of some confusion in recent years because
there are two distinctly different foods which are called "burgoo." In
portions of the United States - generally Kentucky and Tennessee -
burgoo is the term applied to a type of stew. However, the burgoo of
the Spanish American War era U.S. Navy referred to a different
concoction. Going back to the British navy, burgoo was a boiled
oatmeal, as was noted by William Spavens. Apparently this recipe carried over to the U.S. Navy, with
references to the oatmeal concoction as late as 1907. It can be assumed
that the following recipe, which appeared in the U.S. Navy's first
cookbook in 1902 was the burgoo of which the sailors of the Spanish American War U.S. Navy
were partaking:
"Into
pots of boiling water to which 1 pound of butter and 2 pounds of sugar
have been added stir 40 pounds of oatmeeal and boil two hours, stirring
occasionally. (NOTE. - When the oats are crushed or cracked boil for
twenty minutes only.)"
Plum Duff
Plum duff is referred to by navymen of differnt time periods and
different countries. The "duff" part of the name is claimed to be from
a mispronounciation of the word "dough." Dough had to rhyme with
"rough," and was therefore pronouced "duff."
We have a tongue-in-cheek recipe for plum duff from 1898 as recorded by a soldier of the 2nd Oregon Volunteer Infantry who wrote:
"Will
send you a recipe for making pudding. If you will try it, no doubt you
will like it:Take a few hard tack, or, if you haven’t them, a few stale
biscuits will serve the purpose; take an axe and pound them up as fine
as possible; pour in a cupful of vinegar and a half- teacup of brown
sugar, thoroughly dissolved in bacon grease, and drop in a few prunes;
if you haven’t the prunes, a little rice will do. Then make a sauce out
of milk made from cocoa nut and prepared chalk, with the yolk of an
egg, and a little cinnamon or pepper will do; put it on the fire by
five in the morning and by six in the evening it will be ready to
serve. Eat while it’s hot. The name of this is plum duff..."
The recipe above is not
intended for a full recipe, but does give a good idea of how the recipe
was prepared. The recipe is quite similar to that found in the 1902
Navy cookbook. Given the similarities, we believe that the 1902 recipe
reflects the version of this dish prepapred during the war. The 1902
recipe is as follows:
"Soak
25 pounds of stale bread in cold water and drain dry. Add 25 pounds of
sifted flour, 5 pounds of suet chopped fine, 3 pounds of raisins, 5
pounds of sugar, 4 pounds of currants, 2 pounds of prunes, 3
tablespoonfuls of salt, 1 teaspoonful of ground cloves, 1 tablespoonful
of ground cinnamon, and 1 wineglassful of vinegar, and mix all
thoroughly with cold water. Turn the bags inside out, drop them into
boiling water, render out slightly, and drop into dry flour, dredging
them thoroughly. Turn the bags flour side in and fill them with the
pudding. securing the opening firmly, drop into the copper in which
water is boiling and cook for at least two hours. If there is
sufficient time, the pudding will be improved by boiling three or four
hours."
Sea Pie
The following recipe was provided in the New York Sun newspaper, and
lists Sea Pie as being "one of Uncle Sam's naval delicacies." The
recipe provided, said to serve 22 men, is as follows:
Cut up
16 1/2 pounds of meat, two pounds carrots or other vegetables, one
pound onions, all of which place in boiler with enough water to cover;
add some jelly from the meat, season with pepper and salt and stew
gently. Make a paste with five pounds of flour and 1 1/2 pounds
of suet or drippings. Place this dough over the stewed meat and boil or
steam for 20 minutes."
Slumgullion
The same soldier from the 2nd Oregon Volunteer Infantry
who provided the recipe for "Plum Duff" provides a period
tongue-in-cheek recipe for Slumgullion, which was a Navy staple, as
follows:
"...Another
mixture we call slum gullion is made this way: Get a kettle of water,
put it on the fire until it comes to a boil, then take several cans of
horse meat, and stir it in with hardtack and if you have a can of
tomatoes that you don’t need and are in your way, just drop it in with
plenty of salt and pepper, and you will have the nicest dish you ever
saw..."
Bibliography:
Berth Deck Slusher Photo - Library of Congress
Feeding the Pacific Squadron," The Asheville Weekly Citizen. (Asheville, NC), November 12, 1907, 3
"From the Philippines," Springfield Leader and Press. (Springfield, Missouri), December 31, 1898, 5.
General Mess Manual and Cookbook
for Use on Board Vessels of The United States Navy. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1902) 29, 31.
Spavens, William, The Narrative of William Spavens: A Chatam Pensioner .(Chatham Publishing, 1998) 69.
Uncle Sams' Cook Book," Boston Globe. Juky 7, 1898. 7 (the article was quoted in the Boston Globe from the New York Sun).
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