Hard Tack, or Ship's Biscuit Recipe. (2024)

FAQs

Is it hardtack or ship's biscuit? ›

'Hard tack' was, however, the most well-known term for the ship's biscuit. The ingredients were stone ground flour, water and salt, which were mixed into a stiff dough, baked in a hot oven for 30 minutes and then left to harden and dry.

Hardtack is made from flour, water, and salt. It could last a long time- there is even hard tack from the Civil War in the museum at Manassas National Battlefield Park today! Soldiers really didn't like eating hardtack. It was known as “sheet iron crackers” or “tooth duller” because it was so hard.

History Note. Ship's biscuit was a hard piece of bread that Constitution's sailors ate at nearly every meal. The biscuit was baked on land, stored on board the ship, and then sent out to sea with the sailors. Sailors soaked the rock-hard biscuit in their stew to soften it before taking a bite.

Before refrigeration and canning there was hardtack: the original MRE (meals ready to eat). Hardtack was a flat, hard cracker made of flour, water, and salt. Holes were poked in the dough to make sure it stayed flat, and it was baked several times in order to remove the water.

Saltines have been compared to hardtack, a simple unleavened cracker or biscuit made from flour, water, and sometimes salt. However, unlike hardtack, saltines include yeast as a leavening agent, which causes the bread to rise.

Hardtack is a food that lasts 25 years or more if stored properly, making it the perfect emergency survival food. Historically Soldiers were known to survive for months on end, almost entirely on Hardtack.

A ship biscuit, purportedly the oldest in the world, is displayed prominently at the maritime museum in Kronborg castle, Elsinore, Denmark. The label tells that this biscuit dates from as early as 1852. Photo by Paul Cziko.

Hardtack often arrived at a Union camp riddled with worms if it had been carelessly stored. Davis said it was often left out in the open in huge piles, where flies and other insects would lay eggs. By the time a soldier got his allotment, chances were good that it was wormy.

Because it was baked hard, it would stay intact for years if kept dry. For long voyages, hardtack was baked four times, rather than the more common two, and prepared six months before sailing.

While hardtack can be eaten as it is (and that is how both soldiers and cowboys often ate it), the “hard” in the name is certainly true, with the cracker earning nicknames such as flour tile and tooth breaker.

How did people eat hard tack? ›

Hardtack, as its name suggests, isn't fun to eat. It can break or chip teeth when eaten dry. Sailors and soldiers would soak their hardtack in grog, coffee, or water before eating. Creative cooks would use them to thicken soups or grind them up for cereal or flour.

Vest Since shirts and pants often did not have pockets, cowboys wore vests with pockets for extra storage space for tobacco and money. Vests, which were often made of wool, provided an extra layer of clothing that helped keep the cowboy warm in cold weather.

It is known by other names including brewis (possibly a cognate with "brose"), cabin bread, pilot bread, sea biscuit, soda crackers, sea bread (as rations for sailors), ship's biscuit, and pejoratively as dog biscuits, molar breakers, sheet iron, tooth dullers, armor plates (Germany) and worm castles.

Pirate snacks were called hardtack!

During the Age of Exploration, sailors, like pirates and explorers, would sometimes not see a dock for months. Without a refrigerator, they needed something to eat that would last for longer periods of time, so they made hard tack or ship's biscuits.

A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. It is sometimes used as a teether for babies. In some cultures, rusk is made of cake, rather than bread: this is sometimes referred to as cake rusk.

Anzac biscuits are called Anzac biscuits because the acronym ANZAC stands for "Australian and New Zealand Army Corps." The biscuits were named after the soldiers who fought in World War I and are still popular today as a symbol of remembrance.