Time to Fry Up (or Shoot Up) Corn Dodgers

 

  by Cindy Regnier

Hardtack (in a musem!)

I started this post by thinking I would research an awful thing called “hardtack”
that was familiar to sailors and soldiers. I eventually discovered there wasn’t much good to say about the stuff often referred to with such delicious sounding names as “shipbiscuit”, "tooth dullers," "sheet iron" or "molar breakers" digestible leather," or "ammo reserves.". In case you’re interested though, you can make hardtack with three simple ingredients, flour, salt and water. Roll it into squares and bake it until every trace of moisture is gone, then let it dry some more until it gets even harder. Sounds yummy, huh? None for me, thanks.

So I left the hardtack post behind for now. The rabbit trail I went down from there took me to a thing called a corn dodger, which I found much more interesting (and palatable!) These are an item frequently baked and eaten by the American pioneers in their westward migration or by cowboys on cattle drives. The corn dodger was apparently a little tastier despite the fact that it didn’t last as long.

Many stories exist about corn dodgers and it’s hard to say which are true for sure. Some probably are factual like Abraham Lincoln was raised on these little oval cornmeal cakes and George Washington Carver took them to school in a lunch pail for the midday meal. One that is definitely fiction but still my favorite is that Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne) used them for target practice in the movie ‘True Grit.’ 

 

Remember the scene where Rooster offered Mattie Ross a corn dodger from his pocket as they sat on a dark hilltop? Mattie refused the corn dodger because she couldn’t see well enough to check and “some of ‘em got blood on ‘em.” Unless I missed that part, we never learn why Rooster’s corn dodgers were bloody, but I digress.

The first corn dodgers date back to the early 1800s and were made from a mixture of cornmeal, pork fat, salt and boiling water commonly referred to as “hot water cornmeal.”   Basically, these ingredients were usually available and perhaps, all the food to be had on a wagon train. What else would you make out of corn meal and pork fat over a campfire?

The coarse dough was shaped into individual size oblong loaves and baked. Corn dodgers were referred to with different names and variations to the cooking method depending on the use and area of the country. Some were pan fried in oil (corn pone),

fried on a griddle (johnnycake). Ashcakes were wrapped in cabbage leaves and cooked over campfire ashes. Hoecakes looked like miniature pancakes and cooked over the campfire on the flat side of a garden hoe or shovel.

Most 19th century recipes yielded corn dodgers that were dense, gritty and hard as a brick. This only served to make them last longer. Besides, you could use them for target practice right?

Corn dodgers are still eaten today and a staple in some parts of the country. The recipe has been improved, however. Start by replacing the appetizing ingredient of pork fat with butter or oil. (Whew, that’s a relief!) then add a little sugar to bring out the cornmeal’s sweet side. Replace some of the water with buttermilk for better flavor then add some baking soda and baking powder to lighten up the dodgers. An egg gives it a nice creamy interior instead of the old-fashioned coarse texture.

I even found a recipe for you to try if you’re interested, no campfire required.

Corn Dodgers
2 TB corn or vegetable oil, divided
2 cups yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups water
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 egg
Tap water
Heat oven to 450. Brush 1 TB of oil on a rimmed baking sheet. Whisk the cornmeal, sugar, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Combine the water, buttermilk and butter in a large saucepan. Whisk the cornmeal mixture into the liquid. Cook the mixture over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until the water is absorbed and the mixture is very thick, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat and cool until warm, about 10 minutes. Whisk the baking powder and egg in a small bowl, then stir into the cornmeal mixture. Fill a medium bowl with tap water. Scoop out a generous 2 tablespoons of the mixture and, using wet hands, form into a 4-by-11/2-inch loaf shape. Place on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the remaining mixture, spacing the dodgers about 1/2-inch apart. Brush with the remaining TB oil. Bake until deep brown on the bottom and golden brown on top, rotating the pan halfway through baking, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer the corn dodgers to a rack to cool slightly. Serve warm (Keep leftovers in the refrigerator, not your pocket!)

Have you ever eaten a corn dodger? What are they called in your area? I’d love to see your comments about them.

Scribbling in notebooks has been a habit of Cindy Regnier since she was old enough to hold a pencil. she writes stories of historical Kansas, especially the Flint Hills area Cindy is married to her husband of 39 years, has two grown sons, a son residing in heaven, and two beautiful daughters-in-law. A graduate of Kansas State University with majors in Agriculture and Business, Cindy works for her local school district as clerk of the board of education and is active in her church and community. Her experiences with the Flint Hills setting, love for history, farming and animals, along with her interest in genealogical research give her the background and passion to write heart-fluttering historical romance.

Hardtack, Alias Sea Biscuit, and a giveaway

Chew with Care

We know hardtack by other names—ship’s biscuit, pilot bread, or sea biscuit, for instance. Some of the poor sailors who had to eat it referred to it as worm castles and molar breakers. 

Hardtack is dry bread that keeps and is edible for a long, long time. Stored properly, it can last for years. Some say it’s good for fifty years or more. It’s 

Pieces of Civil War hardtack

 
baked hard, to remove all moisture. This keeps it from molding, and you can still get nourishment from it, if you’re careful in how you eat it.

Hardtack was developed many years ago, when people had no refrigeration, or even canning. To preserve foods, they had to be dried or salted.

Made of flour, water, and sometimes salt, the closest things we have regularly today are saltine crackers and matzo. However, hardtack was baked up to four times to make it drier to ensure it wouldn’t mold if kept dry, and this makes it much harder to bite and chew than our crackers. It’s also thicker.

Hardtack was used when people knew they would be without perishable foods for a long time—during sea voyages, long overland trips, or military campaigns, for example. Museums have pieces of hardtack on display that is asserted to be 150 to 200 years old.

Wrapper for Civil War hardtack

Inexpensive and lightweight, it was perhaps the first convenience food. But there are many accounts of soldiers from the Civil War and other times, as well as sailors, telling that their bread was full of weevils or grubs. This could happen easily before the hardtack was packed. It only takes a fly landing on it and laying eggs, which happened a lot in the old days. So if you plan to try this not-too-tasty treat, be sure you keep it dry and in a sealed container.

In ancient times, soldiers carried dry breads. The Egyptians had a brittle loaf made from millet. Roman soldiers carried wheat biscuits. King Richard I of England carried mixed grain biscuits when he went on the Third Crusade in 1189. They were reportedly made of barley, rye, and bean flour.

When the biscuits had been in storage a while, they weren’t always easy to bite into. They were thicker and harder than our modern crackers. Sailors and soldiers dunked them in coffee or whatever liquid they had at hand to soften them. Sometimes they would be cooked into a meal such as a stew or fried in a pan of grease.

Try it Yourself

You can make your own hardtack by combining six cups of flour and one cup of water. Mix it and knead it until it’s a consistent texture, then roll it out about a half inch thick. Cut in pieces about three inches square. Poke holes in the pieces and bake it at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, then turn it over and bake it another 30 minutes.

Hardtack cutter that pokes holes in the biscuits

Some people only bake it once, and it won’t be as hard if you do that, but baking it again is supposed to remove more moisture, thus giving it a longer shelf life. Some bakers who made hardtack for sailing ships reportedly baked it four times.

You can make the biscuits more palatable by adding salt. Some people also want to add oil or shortening, but this will make it go rancid after a while—maybe months instead of years. So don’t grease the pan or add fat unless you plan to eat it soon.

 

You can also make it taste better by adding sugar, cinnamon, or whatever you want, but beware: this will encourage mold and vermin, and it won’t last nearly as long as the plain variety.

Kept dry and sealed, your hardtack should last for years. Even if you’re not going to sea or the battlefield, you might want to try it for backpacking or other outings.

Fire up the oven and enjoy your historic meal! Just be careful not to break any teeth on it.

Susan’s book The Outlaw Takes a Bride was recently named a finalist in the 2016 Will Rogers Medallion Awards. If you’d like to enter the drawing for either

an audio disk of this book or a paperback copy, leave a comment below and be sure to include your contact information.

Susan Page Davis is the author of more than sixty published novels. She’s always interested in the unusual happenings of the past. Her newest books include River Rest, Heart of a Cowboy, and Sleight of Hand. She’s a two-time winner of the Inspirational Readers’ Choice Award, and also a winner of the Carol Award and the Will Rogers Medallion, and a finalist in the WILLA Literary Awards and the More Than Magic Contest. Visit her website at: www.susanpagedavis.com .

Some photos from Creative Common licenses.

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/7409083@N03/5860762345">Civil War hardtack pieces and wrapper</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/">(license)</a>