7 Fantastic Colonial Food Recipes You May Love (2024)

7 Fantastic Colonial Food Recipes You May Love (1)

Can you imagine the cuisine of our ancestorsfrom the Thirteen Colonies? For years, I believed that I couldn’t imagine eating only a few dishes every single day, including corns, sunflowers, or meat. It sounds so boring, doesn’t it?

But, was the nutrition of early colonists really so monotonous? It looks like I was wrong. Some of these recipes are pretty attractive, and meals I have chosen for you are actually fantastic. Let’s try to eat like first Americans! It can be fun and yummy.

Table of Contents

1. Cream of Chicken Soup

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This is an old recipe on how to make soup for Christmas. You will need just about twenty minutes to prepare it.

Ingredients

6 cups of chicken stock
Cooked chicken
1 cup cooked rice
Two eggs (beaten)
2 tbsp parsley
Pepper and salt to taste

Instructions

Let your chicken stock boils in a soup pan. Add meat, rice, and spices. If it is necessary, correct to taste. After bringing your soup under a boil, you should reduce the heat to medium-low.

After a few minutes, the soup will stop bubbling. It is the perfect moment to add the beaten eggs in it. Do it slowly while stirring the soup non-stop for the next three minutes. Add the parsley on the top once the soup is in a plate, just before serving.

Let me know if you like it! Enjoy!

2. Yankee Pot Roast

7 Fantastic Colonial Food Recipes You May Love (3)

Ingredients

4 pounds (1.8 kg) chuck roast (boneless, trimmed)
25 pounds (0.57 kg) red potatoes
1 pound (0.45 kg) carrots (peeled, cut into pieces)
2 cups of beef broth (low-salt)
25 cup of ketchup
1 cup plum tomato (chopped)
2 cups onion (coarsely chopped)
1 tbs salt
1 tbs black pepper (cracked)
2 tsp olive oil
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 tbs lemon juice
Parsley (chopped) to taste

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat, add your chuck roast, seasoned with salt and pepper, in it, and cook the meat up to ten minutes ( it should be golden-brownish from all sides).

After removing the meat from pan, add onion to it and cook for a few minutes until it becomes brown. Return chuck roast to the pan, combine broth, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, and tomato, and keep boiling over low heat.

Cover the pan and put the meat in the preheat oven to 300F (150C). Bake it for approximately two and a half hours. Then add potatoes and carrots, cover the pan, and keep baking everything for an additional half an hour.

3. No Knead French Bread (Martha Washington’s recipe)

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For me, this bread is something special. Try the former first lady’s recipe and impress your friends.

Ingredients

1 cup of beer
2 cups of warm milk
25 tsp yeast (dried)
5 cup flour
2 tsp salt

Instructions

It is always unusual for me to mix the yeast with the beer, but it surprisingly works well. OK, combine them and expect yeast becomes foamy after approximately ten minutes.

Meanwhile, put the flour and other dry ingredients into a bowl. Add yeast when it is ready, and start stirring. Fortunately, we have a stand mixer nowadays, and the procedure is more comfortable than in the time when Martha Washingtonused this recipe.

Well, slowly add the milk into the flour (it is possible that you won’t need all two cups, but that directly depends on the dough texture).

Take the dough out, divide it into two approximately equal halves, and put both of them in a greased loaf pan. Cover your future bread with saran wrap to prevent the dough of sticking to the pan while rising.

After the dough doubles in size (keep it in a warm place to speed up the process), put it in the previously heated oven to 450 F (230C). It is needed about fifteen minutes for loaves to bake and get golden-brownish color.

Let me know if you like it! Enjoy!

4. Nice Indian Pudding

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Indians were making this pudding with cornmeal. When the early colonists came to the New World, they transformed the original recipe by replacing corn with wheat. The first recipe of this dish was published in 1796 (in Amelia Simmons American Cookery).

Ingredients

2 cups of milk
25 cup cornmeal
5 cup sugar
6 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp of melted butter
2 tbsp heavy cream
25 tsp of cinnamon
25 tsp of nutmeg
25 tsp of cloves
3 eggs

Instructions

After heating milk (slightly over medium heat), remove it from heat. Add the cornmeal as slowly as possible and continuously stir the mixture. When it becomes smooth, put a pot back on the burner.

Cook your pudding (don’t stop to whisk it) over low heat until it becomes entirely thick. After removing the pot from heat, add sugar, butter, and other ingredients into the mixture and blend them.

5. Shepherd’s Pie

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Basically, this pie is a comforting casserole made with ground lamb (beef or turkey), various veggies, and cheese.

Ingredients

2 pounds (0.9 kg) of lean boneless lamb’s meat (preferably leg) cut into cubes
2 pounds (0.9 kg) of boiled potatoes (peeled, cut into cubes)
5 pound (0.23 kg) of turnips (peeled, diced)
5 pound (0.23 kg) of carrots (peeled, diced)
1 medium onion (peeled, diced)
25 pound of butter (unsalted)
2 cups of beef stock (or water)
3 cup of tomato paste
5 cup flour
One yolk
One egg
1 tsp thyme leaves (fresh)
4 tbs butter (unsalted)
5 tsp ground white pepper
3 celery stalks (trimmed, sliced)
Ground black pepper and salt to taste

Instructions

At the very beginning, you should make the stew. It is not so complicated if you follow the instructions carefully. Put a larger saucepan over medium heat and start with melting butter.

Add your lamb over the butter and let it become brownish on all sides. Then, move it to the bowl and put onions, celery, carrots, and turnips in the same saucepan for about three minutes. Stir veggies frequently until become soft.

Turn your lamb back, add herbs and flour over meat, and cook it for an extra three minutes. Pour the meat with beef stock, increase the heat, and let it boil. After adding tomato paste, cover saucepan and cook your lamb for another 40-55 minutes over low heat.

Meanwhile, you will have time to start making the mashed potatoes. Peel the potatoes and boil them in salted cold water. Drain and mash it. In the end, add eggs, salt, pepper, and butter in it.

Put the baked lamb into a large baking dish and pipe the mashed potatoes over the top. Expect your pie to be perfect.

Let me know if you like it! Enjoy!

6. Gingerbread

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It is a very old recipe for a Twelfth Night Celebration.

Ingredients

1 cup of sugar
1 cup margarine (melted)
1 cup molasses
4 cups flour
5 cup of milk
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
5 tsp baking soda
5 tsp salt
75 tsp vanilla extract
75 tsp lemon extract

Instructions

Put the sugar, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt in a bowl and mix them well. Add molasses, milk, melted margarine, and both extracts. Slowly add the flour while stirring this mix constantly.

You should knead the dough until it becomes smooth and stiff. To avoid sticking, you can add some additional flour if necessary.

Roll the dough out 0.25 inch (6 mm) thick and cut it to rectangles or choose another shape as desired. Put cookies on the greased sheet, place the baking tray in a preheated oven, and bake your cookies in 375 F (190C) for approximately ten minutes.

Let me know if you like it! Enjoy!

7. Apple Pie

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I will give you here an original recipe for a big family. Of course, you can always adjust itwith your current needs or make a pie with the given measures when you invite the dearest guests.

Ingredients

24 green apples
2-3 cups sugar
2 tbs flour
8 tbs butter
1 tsp nutmeg
4-5 tsp cinnamon
2 pastry crusts
4 lemons
Pinch of salt

Instructions

Yes, I hate the beginning of this recipe either. I really don’t like peeling the apples, but this pie is worth that effort. Don’t forget to sprinkle apples with lemon juice after peeling, to avoid darkening.

Put flour, sugar, nutmeg, salt, and cinnamon into a big bowl and place the peeled apple slices in it. Toss until fruit is coated, and set them into the pie crust. Add some butter, put the other crust over your pie and connect the edges.

Preheat the oven at 425 F (220C) and bake the pie for approximately half an hour.

Let me know if you like it! Enjoy!

Summary

Nearly half of the first Pilgrims died of starvation, hardship, or disease. Finding food was a challenge, and they depended on the help of the Indians. Later, colonists adapted European cuisine to newly discovered vegetables. That is particularly noticeable after 1776 when they started to be self-sufficient.

Books about colonial dietand the most popular recipesfrom that time showed us how interesting it would be to make and serve dishes on the way that was common to colonists, but slightly exotic and unusual for us.

Let’s get back to our own roots and enjoy the ‘new’ old tastes.

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7 Fantastic Colonial Food Recipes You May Love (2024)

FAQs

What were 5 of the most common foods of the colonists? ›

They sowed corn, caught fish, hunted wild game and raised farm animals for meat, as well as milk to make their own butter and cheese. They planted vegetables in their kitchen gardens, brewed their own beer and pressed their own cider.

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What did people in colonial times eat for dinner? ›

For lunch many colonists would have had bread, meat or cheese along with water, beer or cider. Most cheese making was done at home, and was very hard work. At dinnertime the colonial people might have had a meat stew, meat pies, or more of that porridge, and again beer, water or coder to drink.

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What did people in the New England colonies eat? ›

Now colonists ate a remarkably rich and varied diet of European and American grains and vegetables. They had livestock, poultry and wild game, as well as exotic foods like chocolate, rum, spices and sugar from the West Indies and tea and spices from East Asia.

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What foods were popular in the 1700s? ›

During the 1700s, meals typically included pork, beef, lamb, fish, shellfish, chicken, corn, beans and vegetables, fruits, and numerous baked goods. Corn, pork, and beef were staples in most lower and middle class households.

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What were 3 foods given to the Americas? ›

Introduced staple food crops, such as wheat, rice, rye, and barley, also prospered in the Americas. Some of these grains—rye, for example—grew well in climates too cold for corn, so the new crops helped to expand the spatial footprint of farming in both North and South America.

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What fruit did colonists eat? ›

Europeans transplanted old favorites — quinces, apples and peaches — to the New World. They enjoyed new varieties of fruits — strawberries, cherries, and grapes — in America that had closely related cousins in England and Europe. Then, they added to their diet fruits naturally indigenous to the Americas.

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What did poor people eat in colonial times? ›

Salted or smoked pork often supplemented the vegetable diet. Those on the "rice coast" ate ample amounts of rice, while the southern poor and slaves used cornmeal in breads and porridges. Wheat was not an option for most poorer residents in the southern colonies.

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What did colonists eat for breakfast? ›

Corn porridge was popular among the Native Americans, who called it “sofkee” or “sofgee” and eventually became popular with the colonists. As you might wonder, hoecakes and johnny cakes – otherwise known as corn bread – were also breakfast staples.

What did farmers eat in colonial times? ›

The harvests gathered by colonial farmers included an expansive number of crops: beans, squash, peas, okra, pumpkins, peppers, tomatoes, and peanuts. Maize (corn), and later rice and potatoes were grown in place of wheat and barley which were common European crops that did not take readily to eastern American soil.

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What did rich people eat in the 1700s? ›

For the wealthy upper class, who were also known as the gentry, this midday meal was quite lavish and could offer many food items such as a roast or meat pie, porridge or pudding, salad, bread, ale or cider, and a fruit tart or other dessert. The evening meal, called supper, was eaten after the day's work was done.

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What did they eat for dessert in the 1700s? ›

There were baked goods too, large cakes and small cakes—called cookies today—and a variety of sweetmeats, a term that encompassed jellies, candied fruits and nuts, marzipan, and other sugary delicacies.

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What did 1500 people eat? ›

Barley, oats, and rye were eaten by the poor while wheat was generally more expensive. These were consumed as bread, porridge, gruel, and pasta by people of all classes. Cheese, fruits, and vegetables were important supplements for the lower orders while meat was more expensive and generally more prestigious.

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What did 1600 people eat? ›

A 16th-century CE cookbook gives the following summary of a fairly typical meal for the wealthy: The First Course: Pottage or stewed broth; boiled meat or stewed meat, chickens and bacon, powdered [salted] beef, pies, goose, pig, roasted beef, roasted veal, custard.

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What was the most popular food in colonial times? ›

Typical dishes among the upper classes were fricassees of various meats with herbs, and sometimes a good amount of claret. Common food among the lower classes was corn porridge or mush, hominy with greens and salt-cured meat, and later the traditional southern fried chicken and chitlins.

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What were the 5 main crops grown in colonial times? ›

The vast majority of slave labor imported to the Americas was used to work on cash crop farms also called plantations. The largest slave grown cash crop was sugar cane, other cash crops included coffee, coco, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and rice. Others too, but those were the main ones.

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What were the most common foods? ›

Rice. Rice is the staple food of more than half the world's population, and it's been that way for centuries. It's cheap, it's filling, and it can be easily grown in a variety of climates. Rice is so important to so many people that it's no surprise that it's the world's most-eaten food.

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What food did the early settlers eat? ›

The diet of the earliest settlers was monotonous and inadequate, with numerous crises of both local and imported supply. The stores issued at Sullivan's Cove were initially limited to beef or pork (later supplemented by locally caught fish, kangaroo, emu and seafood), flour or wheat and sugar.

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