Florence Nightingale

I have been away being Florence Nightingale! I wore that exact bonnet...

Seriously, while we do not own a copy of Directions For Cooking By Troops, In Camp And Hospital, Prepared For The Army Of Virginia, And Published By Order Of The Surgeon General, as the 1861 pamphlet is quite rare, reprints do abound.

The very first recipe is as follows:

No. 1. COFFEE FOR ONE HUNDRED MEN, ONE PINT EACH.

Put 12 gallons water into a suitable vessel (or divide if necessary), on the fire; when boiling, add 3 lbs. ground coffee. Mix well with a spoon; leave on the fire a few  minutes longer; take it off, and pour in a gallon cold water; let it stand till the dregs subside, say from 5 to 10 minutes: then pour off, and add 6 lbs. sugar. If milk is used, put in 12 pints, and diminish the water by that amount.

Let me say that that there were many days as I carried out my nursing duties that I needed coffee for 100 men!


More cookbooks to come!