"Militia Cookbook" Emergency Food Preparation part 2

Beans
There is an old saying, "Beans, beans, good for the heart, the more you eat beans the more your
health will improve." All varieties of dried beans except split peas and lentils need to be soaked
before cooking. Beans tend to retain their shape better with a long soak.
Cooking Dried Beans.
To prepare dried beans (1 pound of dried beans = about 2 cups raw or 5 to 6 cups cooked), place
washed beans in a pot with 2 to 3 times their volume of water (1 pound of beans needs 4 to 6
cups). Let stand 8 to 12 hours. To quick soak, bring water and beans to a boil and allow to boil 2
minutes. Cover pot and let stand 1 hour. The time required for cooking beans is generally 1-1/2
to 2 hours, but this depends upon the variety of bean and the length of time they have been stored.
Check beans often as they begin to get tender so they don't get mushy. Cook at a gentle simmer
with the lid tilted to retain shape. If beans foam up during cooking, add a tablespoon of oil or fat
to the water or cook with a small amount of fat pork or bacon. If a recipe calls for tomatoes,
lemon juice or vinegar, add when beans are almost tender or acid will slow the softening process.
Beans can also be prepared for quick-cooking in camp like minute rice. Cook them normally until
tender, drain and dry them in a food dryer or spread them on a flat pan and dry in a warm oven or
in the sun. Store in airtight canisters. They can then be reconstituted in water by boiling about 20
minutes.
Trench Beans
1 lb. dry pinto beans, cooked
1 tbsp. seasoned salt
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp. A-1 Steak Sauce
1/8 tsp. Tabasco
1 tsp. lemon pepper
1 tsp. onion powder
Soak and cook beans. When tender, add seasonings and simmer an additional 30 minutes.
Battalion Baked Beans
1 large can pork and beans
1/2 cup tomato catsup
6 small onions (or 1 jar small onions)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vinegar
2 tbsp. molasses
1 tsp. dry prepared mustard
bacon strips
Combine all ingredients except bacon and spoon into a casserole dish. Cover with strips of bacon.
Bake at 300 degrees to 350 degrees for 1 hour or until the bacon is done and the beans are bubbly.
Secession Baked Beans
2 cans pork and beans (or 3 cups cooked dry beans)
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup tomato sauce (3/4 cup if more liquid is needed)
1 medium onion, sliced into rings
1/2 tsp. dry prepared mustard
1/4 tsp. salt (or more to taste)
dash of pepper
3 strips of bacon, cut in half (optional)
Combine everything except bacon. Pour into 1-1/2 quart casserole dish. If you use bacon, arrange
on top of the bean mixture. Bake at 325 degrees for 2 hours or 375 degrees for 1 hour.
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Baked Beans
6 cups cooked dry beans (2 cups raw)
1 small chopped onion
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp. molasses
1 tbsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dry prepared mustard
2 slices fat pork or bacon
Place half the cooked beans in a bean pot place chopped onion on top. Add remaining beans. Mix
brown sugar, molasses, salt and mustard and pour on top of beans. Lay fat pork or bacon on top
and cover beans with hot water. Cover bean pot and bake in a slow oven (250 degrees) for 6
hours. Uncover last hour to brown.
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Rice and Beans
Like the cornbread and beans diet of the Confederacy or the fish and rice staple diet of the Orient,
rice and beans combine incomplete proteins from two different foods to form complete proteins.
The combination of rice and beans is a staple diet for much of the world's population. You can top
the Carolina Red Rice recipe with cooked dried beans (seasoned to taste). Use the recipes for
Hopping John (a colonial dish served on New Year's Day to insure good luck) as guidelines and
substitute whatever type of beans you have available. Try adding canned chili and tomato sauce
or salsa to cooked rice (or make your own chili with meat, tomato sauce and chili seasonings) and
add it to any rice and bean mix (seasoned to taste with hot sauce).
Cooking Rice
Instant or minute rice, while good for cooking in the field, won't store for long periods (without
vacuum or nitrogen packing) since it has already been cooked and then dried. To prepare regular
long grain white rice (1 cup uncooked rice = about 3 cups cooked rice), rinse lightly and drain the
water. Add one cup of water and 1/2 to 1 tsp. salt (or meat stock or bouillon) for each cup of rice.
Optionally, add one teaspoon of butter or oil for each cup of uncooked rice. Bring to a boil over
high heat and allow to boil one minute. Cover pot, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes more. Don't open lid while cooking.
Bean-Rice Casserole
3 cups water
1 cup uncooked rice
1/2 cup quick-cooking black beans (see previous section for instructions on preparing quickcooking
beans or substitute cooked dried beans or a can of cooked beans)
1 tbsp. instant beef bouillon
3 tbsp. margarine
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup chopped dried pineapple
Put all ingredients in a frying pan and mix. Cover and cook over medium heat for about 20
minutes. Don't stir while it's cooking because that will make the rice gummy. When the water has
been absorbed, test rice for doneness. If it's still a little chewy, add a little more water and cook a
few minutes more.
Carolina Red Rice
1/4 lb. bacon
3/4 cup chopped onions
2 cups cooked rice
2 cups canned tomatoes (or reconstituted dried tomatoes)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce
Cook bacon, remove from pan and crumble. Cook onions in bacon fat until tender. Add rice,
tomatoes, seasonings and crumbled bacon. Cook on low heat about 35 minutes, stirring well. Stir
with fork several times while cooking. Check after 15 minutes and add water if needed.
Hopping John
2 cups cooked black-eyed peas
2 cups cooked rice
1 chopped onion (optional)
2 tbsp. butter
dash salt, pepper and hot sauce
Blend and heat slowly about 30 minutes.
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Hopping John Soup
1 cup dry black-eyed peas ("southern caviar")
8 cups water
6 slices bacon
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup regular rice
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Rinse black-eyed peas. In a large saucepan add the peas and water, bring to a boil 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and let stand 1 hour. Drain, setting aside 6 cups of the cooking liquid. In
heavy saucepan, cook the bacon, onion and garlic until the bacon is crisp and the onion is tender
but not brown. Remove the bacon, drain on paper towels: crumble and set aside. Stir the blackeyed
peas, raw rice, salt, pepper and reserved cooking liquid into mixture in saucepan. Bring to a
boil, cover and reduce heat. Simmer 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Stir in crumbled bacon and it's
ready to serve eight regular folks or two good ol' boys.
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Bread and Biscuits
In case of a power outage, bread bakes just as well in a dutch oven with hot coals or charcoal
briquets (cooking time should be roughly the same as in your home oven). If you don't do a lot of
baking, you might want to invest in a set of no-stick air-bake insulated baking pans and cookie
sheets, which will lessen the chance of burning your baked goods. Bread can be prepared from
stockpiled staples and can be served with any meal. However, note that due to their oil content,
items like wheat germ and whole wheat flour or other unprocessed flours will turn rancid without
refrigeration (or freezing). It's best to store whole grains, get a hand cranked mill and grind your
own flour. In the face of an expected long-term power outage, you will want to preserve or use up
the perishables in your refrigerator. Baking bread is a good way to use your milk, eggs and butter
(substitute melted butter in recipes that call for vegetable oil) before they spoil and will give you
something to put your peanut butter and jelly on or sop up some gravy. To ease this task, you may
want to keep a stock of Jiffy Muffin Mix on hand (rotate periodically by using and replacing).
These mixes are easy to use and are very versatile. For example, the corn muffin mix package has
instructions for preparing as muffins, cornbread, corn sticks and corn pancakes or waffles. Any
Jiffy Muffin Mix can be extended using the following recipe:
Jiffy Muffin Mix Mini-Loaves
1 package Jiffy Muffin Mix (corn muffin, blueberry, apple-cinnamon, etc.)
In addition to the ingredients listed in package recipe (e.g. corn muffins call for 1 egg and 1/3 cup
milk), also use:
1/3 cup wheat germ, bran or uncooked multigrain cereal
1 tbsp. brown sugar or molasses
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup raisins or chopped dried fruit (or 1/4 cup each dried fruit & chopped nuts)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. melted butter or vegetable oil
1 tbsp. milk
For corn muffin mix, preheat oven to 400 degrees (or temperature called for by other type muffin
mix). Mix dry ingredients together. Beat remaining ingredients together in a separate bowl, then
blend with dry mix. For maximum rise, let batter rest 3 or 4 minutes and then pour into two
greased 3x5-1/2 inch mini-loaf pans (which will fit in a 10-inch dutch oven, by the way; set the
pans on top of home-canning jar rings or pebbles placed in the bottom of the oven to let hot air
circulate under the pans). Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until brown.
The following quick breads (no active dry yeast required) can also be prepared to use up your
milk, eggs and butter before they spoil:
Logan Bread
6 eggs
3 cups flour (any mixture of whole wheat and rye)
3/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup powdered milk
1 cup oil
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup sorghum syrup or maple syrup
(any combination of these four sweeteners totaling one cup works fine)
1/2 cup shelled walnuts or pecans
1 cup dried fruit (raisins, dates, apricots, peaches, etc.)
Beat all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Pat down into two greased 9x5-inch loaf pans.
Bake at 275 degrees for two hours, or until a tester comes out clean. The bread will be very
heavy, dense and chewy; each loaf weighs 24 ounces. Logan bread tastes good on the trail, is high
in calories and is almost impervious to spoilage.
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Pioneer Bread
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup honey
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (or sour milk: 1 tbsp. vinegar, 1/3 cup powdered milk, water to make 1 cup, let
set 5 minutes)
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup raisins
2 tbsp. caraway seeds
Combine butter, honey, and eggs in a bowl and add buttermilk. Separately, combine flours and
baking soda and add salt, raisins, and caraway seeds. Combine both bowls. Place in a greased
9x5-inch loaf pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Molasses Graham Bread
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1-3/4 cups graham flour (or whole wheat flour)
1/3 cup butter
2 eggs, beaten
1-3/4 cups sour milk or buttermilk
3/4 cup molasses
Mix together dry ingredients, then cut in the butter. Work with fingertips until mixture resembles
coarse cornmeal. Blend eggs, milk and molasses. Pour into dry mixture and stir just enough to
blend. Pour into two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.
Irish Soda Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 cups dried currants or raisins
1-3/4 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
3 tbsp. melted butter or margarine
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and currants in a large bowl. In a small bowl, beat
buttermilk, eggs, 2 tablespoons of the butter and vanilla until blended. Add egg mixture to flour
mixture and stir until evenly moistened. Spread batter in a greased 10-inch oven-proof frying pan.
Drizzle with remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Bake at 350 degrees until bread is browned and pulls
away from sides of pan (about 45 minutes). Let cool in pan on a rack for 10 minutes.
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Nut Bread
3 tbsp. butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2-1/2 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1 cup chopped nuts
1 tsp. vanilla
Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and beat real good. Sift together dry ingredients and
add to butter mixture alternately with the milk. Mix in nuts and vanilla. Pour batter into greased
loaf pan and let rise for 30 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
Date Nut Bread
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. shortening
1 cup boiling water
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup chopped nuts
1 egg
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put dates, sugar and shortening into a bowl. Pour boiling water over
mixture and cool. Sift flour with soda, salt and baking powder. Mix with dates. Add nuts and
mix real good. Add egg last, mix thoroughly and pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake 1 hour.
Whole Wheat Beer Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tbsp. sugar
4-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 cup (1/4 lb. plus 1/4 cup) cold butter or margarine, cut into pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup beer
Mix all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cream of tartar in a large
bowl. With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add
egg and beer. Stir with a fork just until dough holds together. Turn dough out onto a well floured
board and knead briefly until smooth (2 or 3 turns). Pat dough 1-inch thick. Using a floured 2-1/2
to 2-3/4 inch round cookie cutter, cut out biscuits. Gently pat scraps together and cut out
remaining biscuits. Arrange biscuits slightly apart on a large greased baking sheet. Bake at 425
degrees until browned (18 to 20 minutes). Transfer biscuits to a rack. Makes 8 or 9 biscuits.