The Civil War was a horrible time in American history, brought on by enormous debate surrounding multiple issues between the northern and southern regions of the country, but primarily slavery and the issues caused by slavery. Brother fought brother, cousins retreated to opposite sides of the borders, and, as with all wars, it did not have to happen.

However, people back then certainly had to find ways to feed a bunch of people and on a shoestring budget. That is, assuming they even had that. Today, we’ll take a look at many recipes from this era that we think should be showing up in kitchens once again. Let’s get started.

Hash and Hashbrowns

Hash, hashbrowns, and home fries are all a wide variety of different types of any-time-of-the-day potatoes. For the simplicity of this article, we’re going to call them all hashbrowns, but do keep in mind that many of them wildly differ.

Our favorite recipe is taking a pound of ground venison sausage (loose, not in the casing) and frying it down with a knob of butter. We then toss in our potatoes, whether they’re cubed, sliced, or shredded, and fry it all in a cast iron pan until everything is well cooked and seasoned.

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Feel free to add a little homemade goat cheese to this, or tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, or greens. It’s a hearty dish that will feed the family at a very low cost. Better yet, even first-time cooks can manage to make this. Kids love to shred and chop potatoes in the kitchen with their parents, so let them help, too!

Green Tomato Pie

Green tomato pie encourages a sweet, bitey pie that somewhat reminds me of using Granny Smith apples in an apple pie. This may not fit everyone’s preferences, but we strongly recommend giving it a try. Why? It’s such a different sort of treat and we believe everyone should see if they love it. We certainly do.

Use your favorite pie crust recipe and, again, prepare as if you’re going to make an apple pie (or any other fruit-filled pie). Slice your green tomatoes into tiny cubes or slices. In a bowl, add together 1.5 cups of sugar, 5 tablespoons of flour, 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 1.5 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (plain is fine if you don’t have apple cider vinegar), a pinch of salt, and a dash of cinnamon.

A little more. No no, go on. A real dash.

That’s the spirit.

Now, toss your tomatoes in the sauce you’ve just made and add it all to the pie crust. Do not scrape the bowl and try not to let a lot of extra moisture get in there. Do what you can. The pie will understand.

Criss-cross the top with a second pie crust as you would, again, apple pie or berry pie. Bake at 350F for about an hour or until the tomatoes are tender. Serve with herbed butter or goat cheese.

Pickled Hard-Boiled Eggs and Beets

Use your favorite recipe for pickled eggs and add beets to the mix! Simple, easy, and, if your recipe states so, shelf-safe. Simply make your pickled eggs as you would any other time, then add sliced beets to the jar. Allow the pickling process to happen as you would when making your eggs and enjoy both a crunchy, power-packed vegetable pickle as well as bright pink or red eggs from the beets dyeing them.

It’s a fun project for kids as well as being a nice snack straight out of your fridge or, again if your recipe states it, right off your shelf.

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Personally, we like to pickle quail eggs with baby beets. They’re almost the same size and are visually attractive as well as absolutely delicious. Given how many thousands of quail eggs we receive from our birds every year, we always have plenty of them ready to go. Our ground gives us a ton of beets, too.

Can you do this with other root vegetables? Here and there, yes. I’ve done it with radishes and carrots, though the carrot taste with the eggs was a little bit odd for me. I’ve done it with garlic and onions, too, but that completely overpowered the eggs. I do not suggest doing this with cucumber or zucchini as the “green” taste from these vegetables make the eggs absolutely disgusting. It does work and you’re welcome to try it: this may be more to your taste than mine! But for me? It’s a huge no.

Molasses Sugar Cookies

Molasses sugar cookies are a delicious treat that only the most well-to-do could afford during the Civil War. Let’s make your next festivities a fancy one with this recipe:

1-1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup dark molasses (if you do not like the flavor of dark molasses, use light, but we prefer the blackstrap stuff)
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves (I omit this as I do not like cloves in this)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup coarse baking sugar (the sort you would find on top of muffins from a bakery)

Cream your butter and the first two cups of sugar together. Add the eggs, molasses, salt, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves and stir until fully incorporated. If at all possible, use a stand mixer to add the flour and pecans. This is a very stiff dough. Roll into 2-inch balls and roll in the coarse sugar. Place on a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350F for 15-ish minutes. The exact type of molasses you use may make the cookies done a minute or two early, or a minute or two late. They do scorch easily, so keep an eye on them.

Have you tried any of these recipes? What did you think? We’d love to hear about it in the comments section down below.

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