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Voyageurs Breakfast Banquet

(French fur traders trail recipe from early 18th century)
 

"The tin kettle in which they cooked their food would hold eight or ten gallons.

It was hung over the fire, nearly full of water, then nine quarts of peas - one quart per man, the daily allowance - were put in; and when they were well bursted, two or three pounds of pork, cut into strips, for seasoning, were added, and all allowed to boil or simmer till daylight, when the cook added four biscuits, broken up, to the mess, and invited all hands to breakfast.

The swelling of the peas and biscuit had now filled the kettle to the brim, so thick that a stick would stand upright in it.....The men now squatted in a circle, the kettle in their midst, and each one plying his wooden spoon or ladle from the kettle to mouth, with almost eletric speed, soon filled every cavity."