Hard Tack recipes

[I_Like_Pie]

If you want something that lasts a long time....wouldn't it be wiser just to keep the ingredients separate (water, salt and flour) in the first place and make the stuff whenever you needed it. Would allow the ingredients to be available if one were to have a hankering for real food.

I was of the opinion that hard tack was made for soldiers so that they could carry more ammo than food.

[Guest Silverondo]

I'm new to TGO and do enjoy the forum, but haven't until now, been motivated to post. I'm a big experimenter and one of my last projects was making treats my 6 mo old puppy could eat since, in my experience, it's hard to find quality edibles for dogs not yet full-grown. My first batch turned out better than I expected, and my puppy loved them. So, I knew what was in them, and you probably know where I'm going with this..They tasted not bad at all. Main ingredients are WW flour, Course ground corn meal, NFDM, wheat germ, margarine, brown sugar, salt, the liquid from 2 cans of tuna in water. I used 2 eggs as a binder, so that limits the shelf life, but I know there has to be other things you could use. Finally, I have to say I think I might be able to survive on the dog chow I buy. Canidae Dry, All Life Cycles. Been using it for 7 years now and my 7 yr old pup is healthy as all getout. (In case you're interested - wwwdotCanidaedomcom) Plan to look into natural preservatives for my next experiment.

[Timestepper]

If you want something that lasts a long time....wouldn't it be wiser just to keep the ingredients separate (water, salt and flour) in the first place and make the stuff whenever you needed it. Would allow the ingredients to be available if one were to have a hankering for real food.

I was of the opinion that hard tack was made for soldiers so that they could carry more ammo than food.

Problem with carrying the ingredients separately (which I also do, and precisely because of the versatility you mention) is that, sometimes, stuff gets wet no matter how much you try to avoid it and getting flour wet tends to more or less ruin it for just about anything but making paperweights. And you are also more or less correct on the original usage for hardtack.

[JAB]

Dunno nothin about hardtack but mom would cook a recipe around christmas time. She didn't invent the recipe but am not certain if I can lay hands on the exact recipe. Maybe wife has it somewhere. Sounds kinda like a variety of hardtack.

They were greasy and salty little red pepper cheese crackers about a quarter inch thick and the size of a silver dollar. They were hot enough to set you on fire and seriously addictive. Can't eat just one.

It was unleavened dough with lots of red pepper and cheeze. Dunno where the grease came from whiether it was lard mixed into the recipe or grease baked out of the cheese or whatever. Pretty sure they were baked rather than fried. Depending on how each batch came out they might be crumbly or crunchy, but unleavened and dense.

Dunno if a greasy unleavened bread like that might be more likely to spoil if the intention is to make something with a long shelf life.

In mentioning hard crackers and Christmas, you made me think of springerle.

http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Springerle

I used to work with a lady who made springerle around Christmas time every year in memory of her German mother. One of my German instructors at UT (who was from Germany) joked once or twice about how hard they are. When I tried the ones my then coworker made, I understood what my German instructor was talking about. Those things were like slightly sweet hard tack, with a bit of anise flavor. I am not the world's biggest fan of anise (very similar to black licorice - I sometimes jokingly call it anus) but the taste wasn't bad. I don't know that they would 'keep' as long as hard tack but I do know that they are traditionally 'put away' for two or three weeks after baking before they are considered ready to eat.

Hmmm...that also makes me think of biscotti - the little, Italian sliced cookies that people usually dunk in coffee, etc. I have made those a time or two. You basically make them as a loaf, bake them then slice them and bake them some more. I have read that they can have a long shelf life, maybe even a few months, depending on what you put in them. Those are actually pretty good.

Edited June 7, 2012 by JAB