Canned Cheese

**Rick** · 03-15-2008, 08:35 PM

http://www.internet-grocer.net/cheese.htm

**crashdive123** · 03-15-2008, 08:55 PM

And let's not forget.....

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**BraggSurvivor** · 03-15-2008, 08:56 PM

Wouldn't that be like Cheeze Whiz except in a can?

**BraggSurvivor** · 03-15-2008, 09:01 PM

Sorry, finished reading it......its real cheese.

**nell67** · 03-15-2008, 09:02 PM

haven't tried the canned cheese,but cheese whiz is nasty

**BraggSurvivor** · 03-15-2008, 09:04 PM

I agree nell, terrible stuff. I showed the wife this post and she is gonna see if the local wholesale purchaser can order us in a couple cases.

**Sourdough** · 03-15-2008, 09:32 PM

Bragg, You get "Sailor Boy" Pilot Bread around them parts???

**BraggSurvivor** · 03-15-2008, 09:37 PM

Never heard of it. Only bread I know is Westins.

**warman87** · 03-25-2008, 12:04 PM

isnt Pilot Bread like hard tack?

**trax** · 03-25-2008, 03:02 PM

Yes it is warman

**dilligaf2u2** · 03-26-2008, 03:19 AM

Make hard tack!

· Preheat oven to 400° F
· For each cup of flour add 1 tsp. of salt
· Mix salt and flour with just enough water to bind.
· Bake 20-25 minutes.
· The longer you bake the hardtack, the more authentic it will appear.

· 2 cups of flour
· 1 cup water
· 1 tbl spoon of Crisco or vegetable fat (lard)
· 6 pinches of salt
· Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees.
· Remove from oven, cut dough into 3-inch squares, and punch four rows of holes into the dough.
· Turn dough over, return to the oven and bake another 30 minutes.

A Sailor's Diet!
Hardtack was cooked on shore and loaded on board by the barrel. This was the basic food of the sailor.
· 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned or quick oats.
· 3 cups unbleached flour.
· 1 1/2 teaspoons salt.
· 1 teaspoon baking soda.
· In a separate container, mix:
· 1 1/2 cups buttermilk.
· 3 tablespoons honey.
· 1/2 cup melted bacon drippings or shortening.
· Combine the two sets of ingredients.
· When the dough is thoroughly mixed, roll it out on a floured board to a thickness of about a quarter inch.
· Cut out circles of dough with a large drinking glass dipped in flour and put them on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
· Bake for about 5 1/2 minutes at 450 degrees.
· Let the hardtack cool on a wire rack before serving with jam or jelly.
Courtesy of the Texas Historical Commission

Or try a Southern johnnie cake...
· 2 cups of cornmeal
· 2/3 cup of milk
· 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (lard)
· 2 teaspoon baking soda
· 1/2 teaspoon of salt
· Mix ingredients into a stiff batter and form eight biscuit-sized "dodgers".
· Bake on a lightly greased sheet at 350 degrees for twenty to twenty five minutes or until brown.
· Or spoon the batter into hot cooking oil in a frying pan over a low flame.
· Optional: spread with a little butter or molasses, and you have a real southern treat!

I picked up a couple cans of Butter to try and i have rendered butter in the past for camping. I have looked at the canned cheese and in time will try that. TDW picked up a #10 can of Margarine Powder. We have a can of Cheese Powder here, I have been using with great success.

Don

**Rick** · 03-26-2008, 11:22 AM

Here's the hard tack recipe I use. It's really simple. This is a Civil War recipe.

Ingredients:
4 cups flour (perferably whole wheat) (see note at bottom)
4 teaspoons salt
Water (about 2 cups)
Pre-heat oven to 375° F
Makes about 10 pieces

Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl. Add just enough water (less than two cups) so that the mixture will stick together, producing a dough that won’t stick to hands, rolling pin or pan. Mix the dough by hand. Roll the dough out, shaping it roughly into a rectangle. Cut into the dough into squares about 3 x 3 inches and ½ inch thick.
After cutting the squares, press a pattern of four rows of four holes into each square, using a nail or other such object. Do not punch through the dough. The appearance you want is similar to that of a modern saltine cracker. Turn each square over and do the same thing to the other side.

Place the squares on an ungreased cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Turn each piece over and bake for another 30 minutes. The crackers should be slightly brown on both sides.

The fresh crackers are easily broken but as they dry, they harden and assume the consistency of fired brick.

NOTE: I've made both all purpose flour and whole wheat flour hard tack and I prefer the all purpose flour variety. The wheat isn't bad it just doesn't taste as good as the all purpose flour to me. I store it in a light cotton cloth (about like a bandanna) in my pantry and it does get hard!

**crashdive123** · 03-26-2008, 12:54 PM

How long will the hard tack keep, or is it just a function of how long you want to soak it or how strong your teeth are?

**Rick** · 03-26-2008, 02:24 PM

Not very long at my house. I go through it pretty quickly.

Actually, as long as it stays dry it should keep indefinitely. There is no moisture so it shouldn't rot. I suppose it could get buggy but that's just protein.

It gets as hard as concrete. I can twist or pry a piece off with my teeth but soaking it is a good way to soften it up.

**GVan** · 03-29-2008, 07:28 PM

"Canned Cheese",..... Isn't that the sh&t in C-Rations? Nasty stuff. Keeps you constipated for weeks.

**Tony uk** · 03-30-2008, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by GVan

"Canned Cheese",..... Isn't that the sh&t in C-Rations? Nasty stuff. Keeps you constipated for weeks.

Its still in rations now, Ive seen a soldier but some of this stuff on a biscuit brown so it must not be that bad

The way i eat hard tac, When your frying bacon but some in, it'll absorb the fat which softens it and gives flavour

**WildGoth** · 03-30-2008, 05:50 PM

hard tack often was infested with bugs or roachs when out at sea which for some made it tasteier and the c-rat cheese is like a spread almost like the nacho cheese dispensers in 7-11

**Kelticfox** · 05-01-2008, 11:16 AM

We had cheese in a can in the 10 man ration packs whilst I was in the British Army.

And to say there were fight over who would eat it is an understatement!
It was basically a 10 man punch up and last one standing (Often the best fighter) got to eat the can.

...............And there was no way in hell I was sharing!

*damn that was good cheese*