Frontier House is a six-part history series that takes three modern-day families back in time to live like 1880s homesteading pioneers in Montana. The series explores the hardships and new ways of life faced by pioneer families, such as Eliot and Sue Coleman, who gave up modern conveniences to establish a homesteading lifestyle. The documentary O Pioneer reckons with and redefines the American pioneer, following three West Virginians — a blacksmith, a seamstress, and a hospital chaplain — as they band together after a devastating flood.
The Lifestyle Pioneers is about more than just the characters; it helps discover, explore, and inspire adventure in one’s own life. The series explores five lessons from pioneer culture and Laura Ingalls Wilder, including the importance of self-reliance, Flintlock hunting, and survival.
O Pioneer Quest follows two couples as they assume the lives of early settlers to the West and spend one year living as 1870s pioneers on the Canadian prairie. Chronicles a multi-faceted, 15-year span of pre-and post-Civil War expansion and settlement of the American west. This documentary produced by Dutch television is an ideal film to get a complete picture of the phenomenon of living off grid in North America.
📹 What Early Pioneers Ate To Survive The Old West
Those who trekked across the country to begin new lives in the Wild West were known for their resourcefulness, and it shows in …
Who are the lifestyle pioneers?
The Lifestyle Pioneers, Simon and Liz Bailey, and their two young boys, originally from New South Wales, have embarked on an inspiring journey across Australia in their off-grid caravan. They share practical advice on living off-grid, off-road caravanning, and life on the road as a working family through their weekly YouTube videos. Their mission is to inspire, educate, and equip others to explore and embrace adventure in their own lives. They aim to live the dream as a young family, not settling into the ordinary suburban lifestyle.
How to live like a pioneer?
The author shares eight tips to live like the pioneers, including faith, fire-starting skills, knives, axes, tool care, cured fuel, hunting, fishing, and foraging. They mention Pa Ingalls and The Little House books as inspiration for their desire to live like the pioneers. Pa Ingalls was known for his care for his family and adventurous spirit, and The Little House on the Prairie® is likely responsible for many modern homesteaders.
The idea of living off the land, being self-sufficient, and returning to simpler ways holds a certain nostalgia for many. The author also mentions affiliate links, which may earn a commission if a purchase is made.
What are the 4 types of pioneers?
The four types of pioneer spirit include Born Pioneer, Missionary Pioneer, Circumstantial Pioneer, and Professional Pioneer. Innovation consultant Warren Mosler has been exploring the idea that pioneers could unlock a better future by transforming the outlooks of leaders. Two years ago, the author surveyed and interviewed pioneering leaders and C-suite individuals in legacy businesses across various industries. Many leaders felt trapped, fearing doing anything different from their rivals.
The CEO of a UK bank and an executive in the fast-moving consumer goods industry expressed a fear of trading cycles, highlighting the importance of reclaiming the pioneer spirit in today’s stultifying business culture.
Who invented the Modern Family?
Modern Family, a mock documentary, aims to expose the growing pains of a culture confronting the fluid meaning of the mainstream family unit. Sitcom veterans Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan struggled to capture the fluid meaning of the family unit in developing the series, knowing that audiences might find it difficult to follow three separate families each half-hour. They eventually came up with the idea that everyone in this peek into modern American family life was related.
The mini-melting pot resonated with viewers and earned Modern Family an Emmy for best comedy for its debut season. The series also earned writing honors for Lloyd, a longtime Frasier writer, and Levitan, creator of Just Shoot Me.
How did pioneer people live everyday life?
The initial settlers constructed dwellings from sod, logs, and mud, with dirt floors, a fireplace, and a chimney. As the population increased, settlements began to take shape, leading to the formation of towns. Prior to this, families were compelled to undertake all tasks independently, including the cultivation of crops, the rearing of livestock, hunting, and the consumption of preserved foods. Additionally, they crafted their own garments from wool, flax, repurposed textiles, and leather.
What is the documentary generation like about?
The film offers an insightful analysis of the intricate relationship between adolescents and the corporations that seek to influence them.
What example of documentary?
The documentary film genre has seen a surge in success in theatrical release, with films like Fahrenheit 9/11, Super Size Me, Food, Inc., Earth, March of the Penguins, and An Inconvenient Truth being prominent examples. Compared to dramatic narrative films, documentaries typically have lower budgets, making them attractive to film companies. The nature of documentary films has evolved over the past 30 years, blurring the line between documentary and narrative, with some works being very personal and focusing on subjectivities rather than historical materials.
Historical documentaries, such as Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 4 Little Girls, The Civil War, and UNESCO-awarded independent film on slavery 500 Years Later, express a distinctive voice and perspective. Some films, like The Thin Blue Line, incorporate stylized re-enactments, while others, like Roger and Me, place more interpretive control with the director. Critics question whether these films can truly be called documentaries, but directorial manipulation of documentary subjects has been noted since the work of Flaherty and may be endemic to the form due to problematic ontological foundations.
What is the main theme of the story?
The theme of a literary work is the central idea that unifies the narrative and provides a controlling insight into the story. It is not a summary of the characters or events that occur within the work.
What is the main idea of the documentary?
A documentary film presents factual information about the world outside the film, often avoiding traditional narrative structures. It is a creative treatment of actuality. Participants are asked to list as many documentary films as possible and share film titles with volunteers. They are then asked to imagine a person who has never seen or heard of a documentary film and describe it. They are then asked to free-write descriptions of documentary films and organize into small groups to discuss their responses. They should collaborate on a working definition for documentary film, which they will share with the other participants. This activity can be done on chart paper or on a whiteboard/blackboard.
What is the modern family documentary?
The series, directed by an unseen documentary filmmaker, provides an honest and often-hilarious view of family life. Parents Phil and Claire desire an open relationship with their three children, but face challenges due to a daughter growing up too fast, another being too smart, and a rambunctious son. Claire’s father, Jay, and his Latina wife Gloria raise two sons, but people sometimes mistake Jay for Gloria’s father. Jay’s gay son, Mitchell, and his partner Cameron adopt an Asian girl, completing a traditional happy family.
📹 Finding Freedom in a Frontier Life | National Geographic
Meet the American Mountain Men, an invitation-only group of reenactors who are inspired by the fur trade, which flourished in …
Cooking cow (or pig) feet is how you get gelatine, which is also what Jell-O is made of, egg whites were used to filter out impurities. So really the dessert is just regular lemon jello, nothing strange about it. In fact it’s more strange that nowadays many people have no idea which animal/plant the food they buy at the store even comes from.
I was raised in the 60’s & my mother had to prepare most of these wild game when my father came home from hunting. Being poor put us at a disadvantage as most people we knew. She prepared most of these cowboy foods; Minus the Skunk & Rocky Mountain Orsters; Thank God. Of course as children; we hadn’t a clue as to what we were eating or i would have chosen to Starve. I know one day; seeing where my dad had caged a Possum. I went to school & upon my return; saw that the Possum was no longer there, but Mom was having dinner cooking earlier than usual🙃 I remember helping my Mom making Head Cheese from the boiled head of a Pig & her adding lots of Sage to the recipe.🤕 I can say though that we never went hungry.
I’m in the UK and we were quite poor when I was little. My mum used to cook using really vile cuts of meat that were all gristly and fatty because they were cheap. I marvel at her ingenuity even though I refused to eat the meat and just ate the veg and gravy. perusal this article has made me marvel again at the ingenuity of those early pioneers even though I’m awfully glad I wasn’t on of them.
I grew up on a farm in Wisconsin, the farm was self supporting, beside a large garden, we had pear trees, apple trees, plum trees, hickory tree, asparagus bed, butchered a pig in fall along with chickens, ducks and geese, the only thing bought in town from the feed mill was sugar and flour in 100 pound bags. I didn’t know what a grocery store was until I was in grade school, I remember well because they laughed when I asked what it was! I forgot to mention that Ma made ketchup and we else had horseradish plants! — I prefer the grocery store— Fred
The use of hunt for small varmints for food stuff wasn’t uncommon when I was growing up in the ’50’s . Coming from poor farming family of 10 post depression parents and post war kids. We needed to be resourceful. I learned how to skin woodchuck and squirrel by age 9, My Aunt Katherine, A Cherokee tribesmen, taught me how to cook woodchuck in canned tomato stew. I thank her for the lessons she taught me on surviving on nothing.
Y’all forgot “Cold Flour”, this was a simple mix of finely milled corn meal, with sugar & cinnamon added, it was usually sold in 1-3lb. tins at general stores & mercantiles of the day, and was ridiculously simple, filling, and nutritious. You could just eat it out of the tin, or you could add hot water to it, which of course, caused the corn flour to expand, making a very simple & tasty meal. And of course, if you had any kind of dried fruit, (a real staple of travelers in the early west), you could add the dried fruit to make it even better, (sort of a corn flour porridge). My great grandmother used to give it to us kids as a snack whenever we visited her or vice-versa. She taught me how to make it properly very early on, and I still keep mason jars of cold flour in my refrigerator, and still feed it to my relative’s kids whenever they visit, they love it as much as I still do. I still have a good many of her cooking utensils, including her mayonnaise mixing jar, a tall 2 quart mason jar that has the ingredients & their amounts embossed on the jar, plus a lid with a stainless-steel crank & paddle for mixing the ingredients built into the lid. The mayonnaise never seems to go bad, even if left out to get a bit warm, (perhaps it’s because there aren’t all of the added chemicals that are used nowadays). But I still make my own mustard, catsup, and other homemade condiments that she gave me the recipes to, she always thought that it was a little amusing & kind of special that I was so interested in having her teach me to cook, even more than my female relatives.
This was very good. I got the gist of pioneer food from Laura Ingalls since she was born in 1867. Her parents were part of those settlers who traveled west but they only got so far as Kansas. She tells of hardtack, griddlecakes, beans and game. I think they really depended on that cow they took along w/ them. You also get the sense that the menu didn’t vary much but they were grateful for any food and considered good.
A lot of these sound like what my dad grew up eating in rural Georgia back in the 50s. You’ll eat just about anything that has calories when you’re flat broke. The funny thing is…I grew up eating S.O.S. because my dad fell in LOVE with the dish when he joined the military. (and yeah…it’s pretty bad when you go into the service and the food is better than what you ate at home)
We grew up real poor in the N. PA mountains. Always had a big garden, hunted rabbits, squirrels, possum, woodchucks, deer ( No matter what season it happened to be) Trick is with wild game is to soak it at least overnight in a salty seasoned brine. Then boil or broast or deep fry it in lard or beef fat. Gramma and mom canned everything to put up for winter. All the men, uncles, cousins & Grampa were loggers, fellers, horsemen and worked the log trains. Real tough people back then
I grew up with a lot of these! The rabbit, squirrel, the frizzle beef, head cheese( though not bear), plus some other oddities like liver, blood pudding, pig feet, sassafrass tea, toungue, jowls, etc. We ate turtle,deer, wild berries, and grapes. Coffee soup. Welsh rarebits.My parents were depression era raised so this is from an older generation.
When I was a wee boy of 10-11 I went to stay with aunt and uncle on their hog farm. One night a supper I said this meat is really good what is it? She simply replied that they were mountain oysters and I said is that hog balls, her reply was yep. She said I turned every shade of blue there was and then asked for more please.
A mexican coworker once gave me some homemade tacos, they were unbelievable. Then he told me it was beef tongue. at first i was a little shocked but I got over it, that was some of the best damned beef I ever had. Of course I think it helps that Hispanic folks know how to cook. The only downside was that I was at work and a cold beer would have gone well with it.
We were driving through Oklahoma several years ago. Signs for a steakhouse kept saying to try the lamb fries. It said not to ask what they were just try them. We stopped there and my wife decided to try the lamb fries. I stuck with the steak. The lamb fries were deep fried and sort of looked liked popcorn chicken. She said they were good but a little fatty. When she had eaten about half of them the waiter came by and ask how everything was. She said they the lamb fries were good but wanted to know what they really were. He looked as her like he was talking to a child and said “They are lamb testicles ma’am” and turned and walked away. My wife turned white and decided she was done eating for the evening. The rest of the evening she complained the her stomach hurt.
acorns have to be watered three times and a whole day long in order to get rid of most of its tannin acids. in fact all parts of the oak tree are so rich on tannin acid, they used the leafs and acorn shells to turn skins into leather. so, in case you like to try it yourself, peel the acrons accurately and then water them for a day long, change the water three times. then chopp them and roast the bits gently, then dry them and then grind them to flour (which needs to be over turned and dried as they still contain some moist)
Salmon soup is on our menu this week. One gifted can of Alaska salmon from a friend’s commodities box, mirepoix, chickpeas, chopped Broccoli stems, lots of wild greens, and a bit of cooked rice makes a very nutritious and inexpensive meal that lasts for days. I like to challenge myself to cook like my grandparents did, wasting nothing.
i was born at Ft. Campbell, KY 1953. my father was a trapper on base while a paratrooper. He used to take racoon carcases to a black man who would barbque a racoon for every one given to the cook. When he brought them home for supper, all us kids would say what is that and he would say “its turkey! eat it!”. We ate it regularly and it was good. One Thanksgiving the whole family went to the messhall for turkey dinner and us kids asked what is that? referring to the turkey and the cook said its turkey! my brothers and sisters said no its not! True story! Anybody who knew Sgt.Major Robert D. “Booger” Clark would know its true.
Well, i am 72 and while not from the Old West I have eaten a lot of the food you mentioned here and a few that even the pioneers might not eat. I have eaten head cheese, buffalo steaks, deer, reindeer, rabbit, squirrel, mountain oysters, as well as alligator, rattlesnake, dove, quail, duck, grasshoppers, snails, mussels, crawfish, sassafras tea, postum (coffee made from grain), dandelion, hickory nuts, morel mushrooms, and hen of the wood mushrooms.
I actually made vinegar pie from a recipe out of the Time-Life ‘The Old West’ series of books. (They’re great!) It’s basically custard pie, but the vinegar gives it a nice tangy zip that borders on fruity tasting. Vinegar was a staple of pioneers for a million and one ailments and it’s cleaning properties.
I had Italian-style “head cheese” (pork) once in a deli sandwich, and since I didn’t have to look too closely at the, uh, different textural bits, I found it delicious. Beef tongue “lengua” tacos or burritos are also just wonderful. I’d be willing to try most of these dishes. If I absolutely had to. A couple of warnings though: If you decide you want to try sorrel, go easy on it. Lots of oxalic acid. Apparently that can contribute to kidney stones. I’m not sure if all acorns are a problem, but at least in California, the acorns have to be soaked and leached of tannins before roasting and grinding, or they’ll make you sick as a dog. The Native Americans figured out a method, and we’d be well advised not to ignore people who did it for centuries.
Both of my parents grew up on a farm and they were born in 1920 and you just brought back memories of some of the crazy food my dad would sit on the table in front of us and when I was growing up you didn’t say I don’t want that you ate what was put in front of you or you went to be at hungry thanks for this wonderful memory
Thanks for this article! 😊👍 Loved learning more about how Pioneers made due with what they had. I also appreciated learning the basic recipes for each dish! As weird as some of these sound, they are known to be a lot healthier, with dense nutrition than we have these days. 😋👍 I have ancestors who traveled the Mormon Trail in the Martin Handcart Company. 🤠
Wow. What’s the chance that one same food is prepared in two totally different countries and sides of the world, with the same name? This p’cha is made also in my country Bulgaria, East Europe (Balkan peninsula). It is also old style food, almost forgotten nowadays, only grannies still can make it and it is called pacha. The pronunciation is the same as american. World can always surprise you.
I come from a family of American pioneers who moved west with each generation and the opening up of new territory beginning in the mid 1700s. They didn’t eat this stuff as far as I know. They had preserved food that could survive long wagon hauls, such as dried meat, beans, dried fruit, coffee, sugar, flour and lard. They supplemented it with fresh game and whatever nuts or berries they could get along the way. And whenever and wherever they settled, they immediately planted vegetable gardens and fruit trees.
I grew up on the northern plains and some of these dishes still exist today. Some are still regularly prepared either by friends or family. Bear head cheese is like any other head cheese, just has a slightly “gamier” taste. I’ve also had elk and moose head cheese. The boiled calf’s foot gelatin I’ve had the privilege of eating within the last 20 years. Best with a peas and carrots in it. I’ve heard of poverty coffee, but was never served it. I also have acorn flour and will mix with flour to make a nutty risen bread. Rocky Mountain oysters? Meh, best with ranch or hot sauce. Calf nuts were a staple while branding. I still eat rabbit today, as a stew, along side a heavy bread. Just weird to me knowing my family, a lot traversing west during the pioneer times, made food that some seem so out of the ordinary today.
i’m going to be honest here… i’ve had most of the stuff you mentioned here and in the article about the Depression era food. minus the skunk. they were often too much trouble when you could just get some fish or turtle with out the stink. i’ve even eaten blue jay pie… imagine a chicken pot pie only with blue jays instead of chicken. some of the dishes weren’t half bad. some were More than half bad and would barely get eaten by the dogs. i can sum the whole experience up with a line from Crocodile Dundee where he was talking about eating an iguana… “A man can live on’em but they taste like shit.” i made it to nearly fifty thanks to poor people’s dietary ingenuity. but i’d never lie to you n say that it was always fine dining.
Squirrel and rabbit are delicious. I could definitely survive on them if I had too. Down here in the south we still have designated hunting seasons for both. Rabbit is very lean due to their diet and active lifestyle. Squirrels are also lean for the same reason but there is a slight sweetness to the meat. My grandmother still makes squirrel gumbo and squirrel gravy during hunting season. I love that stuff. The acorn bread intrigued me. I have so many oaks around my place, I might give it a shot just to see how it tastes.
Calves foot jelly, or Aspic has been around since 1375, around the middle ages and has been served in both in Europe and America for a very long time. If you were out on the trail, it could become hard to find towns with mercantile’s who could sell you the supplies that you would need to continue on the trail with. Due to vast open spaces, that stretch for hundreds of miles with no settlements around, which made it difficult to procure supplies. Citrus was very expensive to purchase in the 18th and early 19th century, due to the scarcity and difficult shipping, including growing methods.
OMG! I grew up eating half of everything here!! That should tell you how old I am!! When I was first married, back in the 70’s, my husband and I use to go out hunting jack rabbits by the car lights! We would get a few to last us through the month and they are damn good eating! I grew up eating domestic rabbits and they are pretty damn good too! The hoof jelly, frying pan bread, s-o-s and many others were on the dinner table often!! Aww, good times!
I know very little about the old West diets/foods, found this article of profound historical value. One point I thought missed… The humble Rattlesnake….! The scarcity of lemons in California, very surprising given the merchant ships in and out of Oregon, Los Angeles, San Diego and mid century San Francisco, in relation to Scurvy. Or were Oranges used, or indeed grown in California at that time…? Thankyou Weird History, excellent article 👍
My boss in the shop where I worked would occasionally invite a worker or two to lunch at his house nearby. He was a big time hunter, so you never knew what you were gonna get. I’ve eaten possum, squirrel, rabbit, buffalo, elk, Pronghorn antelope, deer and bear at his house. His wife was a great cook and believed that every kind of meat required a good gravy to make it more edible! It helped a lot with the bear and possum!
A guy I once knew told me that some guys that he once knew went out hunting, and promised each other that they would eat whatever animal they caught no matter what kind it was. They ended up shooting a skunk. He told me that they cooked and ate the skunk and that the meat was very greasy, and it gave them really awful gas, which they experienced when they went to church the next day. He might have been making the story up, but maybe they should have added carrots.
For us Mexicans we still eat head cheese, some mornings we find the earliest opening grocery store and look for big bag of head cheese, bread loads, pickled jalapeños, Mexican fresh cheese, beans and Mayo and that’s what we’ll turn into a sandwich for lunch. My dad told me head cheese was the only meat they could afford growing up unless a fly fell into the beans
Most anyone in any real area on the US still eat these foods. I have never been to a branding without a big plate of oysters at the end. Rabits, squirls, woodchuck, head cheese, all of these are everyday fare to most folks. In the rural areas we don’t have fancy restaurants down the street or grocery stores our closest walmart is 150 miles away and after working cows or building fence for 16 to 18 hours a day who wants to drive that far? You city folks don’t realize how life truly is outside of your neighborhoods
My ex’s family were original settlers in Eastern Nevada. Their family makes a dish, passed down from the mid 1800’s, of bite sized potato chunks, boiled with wide egg noodles. After that’s cooked and drained, they put a half stick of butter on it and tossed it with mozzarella cheese. At first I hated it but within a year, I started craving the carbs. We’re divorced now but it’s still one of my favorite quick dinners to make.👍
“Beef tea” We actually still do this in the Netherlands. When you got a cold or a flu and you can’t be arsed to make some chickensoup you make “een kopje boullion” A cup of stock essentially. You use dried weak stock. similar to portable soup and the stuff in powdered soups like cup a soup. There’s even brands that sell the powdered form with a small amount of paracetamol specifically for when yer under the weather. It’s a standard component of dutch army rations; satchets of beef tea powder. Delicious, quickening, and also valuable as “currency” to trade with soldiers from other nations on UN missions.
To be honest, we have similar versions of these recipes in Romania. First jelly recipe is made here with pork, chicken or beef and with a lot of garlic and it is called piftie. The one with all the pig parts and some jelly to keep it together is called tobă. We even have the stew with all those organs, made with pig or sheep and it is called tochitură.
That was amazing tripping back into that time! Found out not very long ago that my great grandfather was a wagon master in the Oklahoma territory. He probably went further but I only know of his time in Oklahoma. I think if I was on the trail I just do a lot of berry picking LOL nothing sounded appetizing. Just a 21st century girl I guess
My mom, born in 1935 was eating dinner with the family one night when my grandmother, (her mother), told the kids to “eat up the good rabbit meat”. She looked at my Grandmother and said in tears, “Is this the one with the big brown eyes?” Needless to say their were children crying about killing the soft little bunnies and my Grandmother never served it again!!
It’s seeing history like this or imagining an apocalypse-type future that makes me realize how woefully unprepared I would be.😂 I’d die once the berries, nuts and leafy things were gone bc frankly, I’m not about that skunk😂 and I am clueless what to do to prepare a squirrel as a meal… Old days kinda sucked -a lot!😂
Ohhh😱WHAT THE.. 😰SHIT✊!? a little warning maybe ? My 8 and 6 yr old Daughters are now crying hysterically and smothering our 3 rescue/pet skunks for dear life 😂 they make incredible pets and additions to your family ! ..and now thanks to YOU ! you sick sadist. They will forever hold a extra place in my consciousness as a back-up plan in case the deli is out of Turkey 😋nuhm num ??
Could you do a article on Braccio di Bartolo the dwarf of Cosimo Medici. In fact a article about dwarfs in royal/prestigious courts and what their lives were like. I think it’s a lesser known subject and it would be a great article. I love your website and always look forward to new articles, thank you for being a great website!
I’ve had so far: Elk Bear( usually very good!) Bighorn sheep Deer of course Liver and heart from all those. Beaver meat( very good!) Showeshoe hare Cottontail rabbit Various grouse( ruffed are the best,awesome food) Ducks and geese Bobcat( white, pork looking meat, tastes fine but very lean) Mountain lion, it’s ok, like bobcat, maybe more tender. Rocky mountain oysters. Sliced and deep fried on bread for a simple sandwich was very tasty! Nice and fatty.
This is horrible Old West history. That first recipe was written by someone in Chicago and it’s a book of recipes, some from Europe even. Sweet potato coffee and other coffee substitutes were big during the Civil War in the South because they didn’t have a steady supply of coffee and that was back EAST. I’ve not read of any lack of coffee on the frontier. This article is just foods they ate in the 19th Century it has nothing to do with Frontier life. They mostly ate really well out West off of Buffalo, deer and water fowl. Then when trains were reaching towns (as early as 1870’s) they were living off many of the same foods as the civilized word back East.
Just some trivia from an austrian chef. What you call sob stew is a delicacy called “Beuschel” here. Its mostly made from calf intestines (lung & heart) and it’s served in many classic austrian restaurants. A calfs brain or liver are also delicacies the first is a dish mostly served in classic vienna restaurants together with stired eggs
I have an SOS story. I was cooking dinner after work one day I had 1 lb hamburger and so I decided to make some SOS on toast, my ex-father-in-law have been drinking and coming to see how dinner was going. He asked me what I was making and I turned to him with the straightest face possible and said,”S#*t!” He looks at me for a second and started cracking up so hard he was crying. And then proceeded to eat like three full plates of SOS
When a cowboy noticed a totally bare redskin man lying on his back in the sun with a full on totem pole he stopped and inquired as to what he was doing. The native American replied “Me tellum time”. Realizing this must be a primitive form of a sundial he rode on. Soon he came upon another Indian lying in the same position and in the same state of undress but this man was pulling his totem pole in a vigorous and rapid manner. The cowboy interrupted him by saying “It looks like you’re telling time”. Not missing a stroke the man simply looked up and announced “No. Me winding watch”.
Here in South Africa, my ancestors made “Biltong” to preserve meat when they traveled across South Africa. They are now known as the Voortrekkers. The meat would be salted and spiced (mostly with Coriander) and then dried. It is still a traditional treat today and resembles Beef Jerky except it doesn’t get smoked and traditionally, we South Africans bleed out our meat completely before butchering and packing. Other foods the Voortrekkers traveled with was “Boere Beskuit” which is essentially white rusks made with potato yeast and aniseed.
My grandma named the stew in the article everything kitchen sink stew. She added carrots, celery, tomatoes onion, garlic and hundreds of spices. Also there were eyeballs,hooves and ears and guts. My grandma also use to force me to drink meat tea mentioned in this article as a kid because she said I was too skinny for her to look at. My grandma couldn’t handle the fact that I was a vegan child and couldn’t handle eating the meat stuff. The rest of the stuff on this article my entire family still eats today except for me.
That old pioneer recipe book you refer to for boiled skunk is not that old. I have that same cookbook which was put together by the local American Legion in the 70’s as a fund raiser. Matter of fact your page looks just like the one I have shared on facebook, even down to the number of spirals in the binding.
I hunted and processed deer for myself years ago, my favorite in Michigan was always button buck, which was legal during season. I couldn’t tell you how many compliments I got on the flavor & tenderness of the meat. In S.W. Michigan these deer forage on alfalfa, soybeans, corn and of course other grasses. Let me also add that the first thing I ate from any deer kill, was the heart, it’s the soul of the animal.
Watching these articles ab americans dedication to survival and how tough and adpative they were to travel across the rough country or surivive during the great depression really puts the covid pandemic in perspective. All we have to do is put on masks!! Our great grandfathers and such wrre eating peanut butter onions and skunks!
I am quite certain there is a little more to the acorn bread. First thing you have to do is water-leech out all of the tannic acid, because simply roasting the kernels will not remove it and will make people sick. But acorns are the ultimate survival food if prepared correctly, they contain protein, carbohydrates and fat in addition to various micronutrients. And a single oak tree can produce 2,000 pounds, so nobody is likely to starve to death where oak trees are common.
As a poor New England country kid raised in the 50s-60s I ate practically everything, frogs, racoon, beaver, muskrat, skunk (once*), fish of every kind, squirrels, crawfish, rabbits, woodchuck, turtles, mussels, and various birds as to me they were all edible if big enough to be worth the trouble. * so wretched looking when dead I had a hard time skinning one. Now I live in Asia where they really eat everything insects, intestines, chicken feet, can’t stand the thought of it. LOL
Mountain Oysters also were served in the extended edition of The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug where there is a scene The Master of Laketown (played Stephen Fry, most known as narrating the UK versions of the Harry Potter audio books) eats those (though the bollocks were ram and goat instead of bull) along with mushroom gravy (though in reality those were a type of minced meat in sauage skins).
Unless we were very unlucky, the British Army food we got in the 1970s wasn’t much better than the recipes in the article, believe it or not. Maybe we even had it worse than those pioneers. The cooks got the equivalent of four dollars to feed each man three meals per day. Lunch was usually potatoes and beans, or cheese on toast, or kidneys on toast with piped potatoes. Jam, and other cheapskate delicacies. Out in the field we got canned food, with bread and margarine if we were lucky. We got all the tea and coffee we could drink, but also orange and lemon powdered “juice” that we accurately called “screech” – and the b*st*rds would put salt in it on hot days.
Most of these recipes I’m very familiar with. Calfskin feet the outer shell of the hoof is removed and you split it with a saw down its length to get a better extraction. Just like in headcheese mira poix a bouquet garni low gentle simmer and a lot skimming. Now the egg whites in the recipe is used as a clarifier. A matter of fact in France egg whites are used to clarify wine by wine makers.
Frizzled beef (11:44) sounds identical to what in the U.S. Navy we called (SOS) ‘shit on a shingle’. Civilians not exposed to grizzled veterans, typically call this ‘cream chipped beef on toast’. My creole granny would😢whomp😮you with a bodacious, wooden spoon, veteran or not, if you talk like that during family dinner.
As a “Cajun”, we were disposed to “eat ANYthing that didn’t eat you first!” If anyone cares–i HATE the taste & texture of alligator–jus sayin…… Did you knoow that the “blackened” foods Cajuns are so famous for REALLY came about because the food would burn while the women called the men in from the fields–or swamp–to come eat. Mom & I used to laugh & laugh about that!!! The whole country went nuts over BURNT FOOD!!!—-LOL!!!–no more like ROFLMAO!!!
My Wyoming cowboy dad married my Eaterner city girl mom. Her first experience with Rocky Mountain oysters was at branding, when my dad brought in a bucket of.. things. When she asked what she was supposed to do with the bloody mess, Daddy said “skin ’em and clean ’em and fry them up”. “But what are they?” she asked. “Mountain oysters”……then explain what they were. Mom said she gave him a look of disgust and said “YOU skin them and clean them and fry them up. I’M NOT TOUCHING THEM!”.
I remember enjoying the taste of “sweet bread”, brains. The taste was excellent, prepared with butter garlic and other seasonings, it was the texture that I had difficulty getting over. The texture was what it looked like, kinda like very soft lumpy jelly bean jello. I don’t think that I have ordered it in the last 40 years..
My parents, born in 1926 and1928 in the Missouri Ozarks, ate a lot of beans and cornbread for dinner and biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Of course there were eggs and vegetables out of the garden (canned in August), and wild onions and mushrooms in the spring, and whatever game could be hunted, as well as pork from fall ’til spring. They didn’t have cattle because they couldn’t afford them. And all the deer and larger game were hunted out of Missouri by fur traders, so the small game such as squirrel or rabbit were eaten.
This article was really disappointing at the beginning. The original people in North America did not have pigs, cows, sheep, wheat, so the foods you talked about were post-conquest. It improved after you got into authentic foods and methods of preparation. Still, if they used lard, that was post conquest. Back to the drawing board!
As a kid growing up on a ranch I’ve eaten mountain oysters many times. About mid may we would work the calves. This was when we gathered the cattle and vaccinated the calves and castrated the male calves. When this was finished we had a party where the main course on the menu was fryed calf testicals. Ive also had hog, sheep and goat balls and they are delicious. Now on the subject of jackrabbit I found it tough, stringy, and gamey in flavor. Cottontail and swamp rabbit are far better eating. As for skunk I’d have to be dammed near dead from starvation to eat one but I’ll never say I wouldn’t eat one if survival was at stake.
My grandmother used to make vinegar pie. She made it in a mixing bowl lined with stale, leftover homemade biscuits. Pour the vinegar pie mixture over the biscuits, add another layer of biscuits and add more vinegarpiemixture. Then let it stand all day until dinner. When I say biscuits, think Cracker Barrel biscuits, not cookies.
My grandparents and parents loved head cheese as a Christmas treat. I think to keep us kids from eating it or wanting to try it Mom said it was made from the pig brains. So we never wanted any pigs brains in jelly. Yuck. But I see many of these recipes progressed as part of a city diet in a cash strapped family in the 50s/ 60s. Jellied fruits for dessert, Jellied meats for meals, organ meats evry 2 weeks your choice of beef liver, or pork kidneys, canned corned beef on toast, gravy covered many sins of tastelessness. Big garden my Dad maintained kept us in vegetables year round. Growung up in the depression had taught my parents how to survive.
We are going back to these meals. Can’t afford groceries right now. I’m good at killing and scaling and skinning game. Times are tough. Don’t turn on lights in the house right now. We love vinegar pie anytime. Hang in there guys by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ things will improve 🙏. Get your shotgun out and fishing poles and have it. Hope you all have supper tonight and a restful sleep
Watching the SOB stew…. Using up animal parts that spoil quickly and can’t be preserved…. It’s interesting that while eating liver, brains, or “sweet bread”, isn’t very common these days, it would have been in the older days when your poor. In fact it’s the first things you eat from an animal. I’ve heard that these parts are considered a delicacy many places and highly delicious and nutritious. It would make sense that humans evolved to liking the taste of these things but I’ve never tried them lol.
I’m not going to make fun or mock people who lived way before my time. They survived the best the could. Nothing went to waste unlike today when it seems everything is disposable. I have ate rabbit, squirrel, mud turtle stew, deer, bear and yes mountain oysters. Nothing wrong with any of it IF it is clean and cooked properly like any other food.
The people of the old pioneer days were so radically different then contemporary people. I think about the “feminists” of today and how they really think women of those days were abused and oppressed. From what I’m seeing and learning from these historical perspectives, I think the women were absolutely important to survival—no question about it. You had to have two people, one that made and cared for the household, raised the children (women) and the other to bring in the food, make the money (farmer who also ran a business ). They survived because of the importance of the family, the roles each played, their fortitude, faith and values. Where did contemporary people go wrong ?
“Longarm” or Larry as some know him is astoundingly the real deal Mountain man. I have been gifted to have known him for quite a number of years. He is most knowledgeable and he has on occasion shared his knowledge with me. it brings me the kind of joy that one can only get through history books or even better! Thank you for being a friend Longarm!