Civil War Recipes and Receipts

This is the cornerstone of the cookbook section! Hundreds of authentic Civil War-era recipes in every imaginable category.  From breakfast, wild game, desserts, main dishes and more. Plus now all recipes include modern-day notes to help you make sense of the sometimes confusing nature of 19th-century recipes.

98 Ways To Catch A Buzz the Civil War Way:
98 Civil War Booze Recipes

Perhaps you think think the love of spirits is a modern development. Think again! Civil War-era soldiers and civilians were much more original than us when it came to liquid indulgences. But be warned: if you're going to indulge, leave the horseless carriage at home. Click here for recipes.

Civil War Cooking Tutorials

We know that occasionally those 19th century recipes can be tough to read and even tougher to convert to the modern kitchen. So we've taken select recipes and prepared them here in our 21st century kitchen. We show you how step-by-step!

 Sweet Herbs for Hearth and for Health:
The Civil War Kitchen Garden

"A bundle of sweet herbs" is a frequent ingredient found in recipes from the 19th century, and is the occasion for many inquiries. What exactly is a "sweet herb" anyway, how do I get them, and is this going to cause the local drug authorities to take an unhealthy interest in me if I go to the store and ask around?

More articles below. Cooking Civil War recipes? CWi recommends:

Land of the Lost Ketchups:
The Civil War Condiment of Choice

Not only was the French fry not on the menu, it not having been invented yet, but a request for ketchup would have resulted in the question of "what sort?" And asking for "tomato ketchup, please" would have gotten you marked down as something of an oddball if not an outright troublemaker. For most people, a ketchup was a sauce made out of mushrooms

Tuber Time: The Potato and the Civil War

They call it the Columbian Exchange, the great migration of products, principally foods, which began to go back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean after the first European contacts with what they called the New World. While other products from tobacco to wheat have had dramatic impacts on both sides, few can match the record of the humble potato.

Cooking For a Civil War Wedding

The most asked question of us here in the CWi cookbook concerns the subject of Civil War weddings. We've created this section to answer many of those questions. Includes complete recipes and receipts for wedding cakes as well as other courses. With the Civil War Era Dinner Menu list.

From Pig To Porkchop:
How Our Ancestors Brought Home the Bacon

The lowly pig has been a staple on the American table since the founding of the country, and that includes the Civil War years. In this article we tell you the history of the much-maligned hog, what it meant to the Civil War, and give you some great recipes on top of it!

Plasters, Poultices and Paregoric:
The Civil War Medicinal Cookbook

Just like today, our ancestors got sick, burned, stung and just plain under the weather. The ailments may have been the same, but the treatments sure weren't! Here we show you what they went through, and why you wouldn't want to, on a trip through 19th century remedies.

Preparing An Authentic Civil War Christmas Meal

Everybody knows the great scene at the end of "A Christmas Carol": Ebenezer Scrooge, reformed of his miserly nature, wishes to give the best, fastest gift he can imagine to the family of his downtrodden clerk Bob Cratchit, preferably one which will keep his crippled son Tiny Tim alive for awhile longer. What does he send them? A Christmas goose, of course.

Cooking a Civil War Thanksgiving Meal

Let's face it, Thanksgiving is a food holiday. It's all about the turkey and fixins'. It wasn't all that different during the war years. Learn how to make an authentic Civil War-era Thanksgiving feast in this special article.