Cooking in 1776

What did the signers of the Declaration of Independence have for their dinner on the day they signed that important document we still celebrate every 4th of July? Did they spend so much time discussing Tom Jefferson’s words telling old England that her thirteen American colonies wanted their independence that they only paused for a quick cold collation? Or did they file across the street to a tavern and continue their discussion over a leg or two of mutton cauldron-simmered in the fireplace that warmed the tavern in winter and overheated it in July?

Perhaps July 4, 1776 was a hot day. Perhaps they refreshed themselves with a cold—well, room temperature—Cucumber Soup. If it clouded over and turned cool, the cook could just pour the soup into his caldron and warm it. Scaled down for home cooks, here is a recipe of the period. It’s actually quite good.

CUCUMBER SOUP: cover 2 cups pared and diced cucumbers with water and parboil 10 minutes. Drain. Add 4 cups chicken stock and a slice of onion. Cook until soft. Rub through a sieve (or give it a spin in your food processor or blender). Blend ½ cup soft butter and ¼ cup flour. Add to soup, stirring constantly while cooking until slightly thickened. Season to taste and add 2 cups hot milk. Strain and serve hot or cold to 6 to 8 people.

At home, some of the signers could have had their meals cooked on one of Benjamin Franklin’s inventions, a half stove, half fireplace. Most of them would have thought it weird, though. It did conserve fuel and the women liked it because they could cook standing upright. Still, though invented in 1741 or 1742, it hadn’t really caught on by 1776.

A century after Ben’s invention, in 1844, a food writer named Miss Leslie was telling her readers they really ought to try one of the new cook stoves. It would save their backs, aching from constantly bending over at the fireplace. You could boil or simmer meat, or slice and fry on a Franklin fireplace. Disadvantage: No oven. Brick fireplaces of the period had built in ovens, usually with removable wooden doors. You built a fire in your oven. When it was hot enough to bake bread, you put your risen dough in it and then re-installed and closed the door. When the bread was done, enough heat remained to cook your baked beans overnight.

Some time in the 1700s a clever artisan invented the hinged swinging crane. While standing upright, the cook pulled it forward, hung her cauldron on it with an iron S-hook, filled the caldron with water, and pushed it back so that it dangled over a brisk fire. When the water simmered, she put in her meat and let it cook a few hours. You could do this with less danger of your skirt catching fire, or straining your back. So who needed a Franklin stove? I guess you could grill enough for a small family on a rack over its coals, leaving its doors open. But a wide fireplace and spit with several roasts upon it would cook enough for a crowd.

If they ate a meal together, the Declaration signers’ meat was more than likely boiled. Spit roasting requires constant turning of the spit and basting of the meat. Caldron cooking is much less work.

With most of the flavor and fat boiled out of the meat, a diner in 1776 relied heavily on spicy condiments like freshly grated horseradish root, or butter and caper sauce, and pickles.