Rhode Island & South Carolina Colonial Food History

Rhode Island
Rhode Island is a New England state. Many of the traditional foods of this region (chowder, johnnycakes, cranberry muffins) are popular here. Portuguese immigrants who settled early whaling ports (Providence) certainly made an impact of this state's food. In the 19th century both grand Victorian-era resort foods and simple factory menus (diners) are also well known. Johnson and Wales University, one of the premier culinary schools in our country, is headquartered in Providence.

"Tillable land was scarce in Rhode Island, and agricultural products were highly valued...Most early Rhode Island farmers produced only for their family's needs...One of the oldest farms in America is still owned by the same family...The Fry Farm, near the town of East Greenwich...is much the same as when it was settled in 1677 by Thomas Fry...Account books dating form 1719 to 1830 tell about life on the Fry farm. The farm was primarily a dairy farm, although fall crops were also grown...The Frys frequently bartered for items they could not produce. Entries in the books showed that butter, cheese, wood, and meat were sold to buy tea, coffee, and spices. Potatoes were once grown, and an apple orchard once produced enough fruit to pay two college tuitions...The first apple orchard was established in Rhode Island by William Blackstone in 1635...Rhode Islanders faced the same food-preparation challenges encountered by other New England colonists. White flour was scarce and expensive, so Rhode Islanders mainly used cornmeal for their breads and cakes. Fried corn bread, given the name "Jonnycake" (and its spelling) by Rhode Islanders, was first made by Pilgrim women and dates back to 1621. It was made from a batter composed of cornmeal, hot water, and salt and poured onto a hot stone or iron griddle for cooking...Having limited amount of land for agriculture, Rhode Islanders turned to the sea for food and trade...Rhode Island's prime harvests from the sea were quahog and cherrystone clams...In the 1850s Rhode Island began developing oyster beds in the Narragansett Bay."
---Taste of the States: A Food History of America, Hilde Gabriel Lee [Howell Press:Charlottesville VA] 1992 (p. 28-30)

Official state foods
Edible state symbols: Striped bass, Rhode Island Greening Apple, and Quahog (type of clam)

Notable Rhode Island food contributions

• Johnnycakes (Colonial era)
• Coffee milk
• Chicken family style
• Diners (1872): 1 & 2

Need to make something for class?

Scalded-Meal Jonny Cakes (South County)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon molasses
1 1/2 cups Rhode Island cornmeal
1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature
Boiling water
Milk
Butter
Place the first 4 ingredients in a bowl in the order given and pour over these enough boiling water to make a stiff dough. Beat thoroughly and let stand a few minutes while the mixture thickens. Thin down with milk to a consistency that will readily drop off the end of a spoon. Drop on a well-greased hot griddle from a tablespoon. Cook over a low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, turning once to brown both sides lightly. Split the hot jonny cake in half and place a large piece of butter between the halves. When the butter has melted, serve--and watch the smile of satisfaction go around the table. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen small cakes. Note: Some use sugar instead of molasses, whereas others use no sweetening at all. Some thin down the mixture with milk that is scalding hot. An old South County recipe, instead of directing that the mixture be dropped from a spoon says: 'Dip the hands in water and mould each spoonful in balls to be flattened to a half-inch thickness on a hot greased griddle; bake nearly half an hour with occasional turning.'

Milk Johnny Cakes (Newport County)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup Rhode Island cornmeal
1 3/4 cups milk (more as needed)
Bacon fat
Put the salt, sugar, and cornmeal in a bowl. Add the milk and mix thoroughly. Bake on a hot griddle greased with bacon fat, as you would bake griddle cakes, Since the meal keeps swelling for some time, add more milk to keep the mixture to the proper thin consistency. Makes 12 to 14 small cakes. Note: Some prefer to omit the sugar."
---Newport Cookbook, Ceil Dyer [Foremost Publishers:Little Compton RI] 1972 (p. 48-49)
[NOTE: This is the BEST source for historic RI food notes & modernized recipes from colonial days to the early 20th century.]

Cobblestones (spice cookies) are also easy to make and bring to class:
"Cobblestones
Colonial seaports received plentiful supplies of raisins,which were used in cooking and as treats for the children.
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup raisins
Cream together butter and sugar; add beaten egg and vanilla. Sift four, soda, salt together; stir this, bit by bit, into creamed mixture and beat well. Fold in raisins. Form a heaping tablespoon and drop 3 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes in preheated oven at 375 degrees F. Makes 3 dozen."
---Foods from the Founding Fathers: Recipes from Five Colonial Seaports, Helen Newbury Burke [Exposition Press:Hicksville NY] 1978 (p. 134)

Recommended cook books with historic RI recipes (your librarian can get them for you or we can send one of the recipes listed below).

1. Foods From the Founding Fathers, Helen Newbury Burke
---contains recipes for: Rags and Tatters (cheese biscuits), Pumpkin Soup of Rhode Island (served hot), New England Scallop Chowder, Steamed Clams, Rhode Island Clam Fritters, Rhode Island Clam Pie, Fried Scallops, Portuguese Style, Scrod Broiled in Lemon Butter, Kedgeree (breakfast dish of rice, codfish, eggs & heavy cream, served with fried tomatoes), Salt Codfish in Sauce, Lobster Stew, New England Boiled Dinner, Beefsteak Pie, Jerky (not just a cowboy food!), Roast Goose, Fried Salt Pork with Cream Gravy, Squash, Corn Fritters, Mashed Turnips, Rhode Island Baked Beans, Salmagundi (chopped salad with meat, like Cobb Salad), Creamed Oysters, Summer Succotash, Rhode Island Johhnycake, Fried Cornmeal Mush, Rhode island "Spat-Outs" (round cornmeal cakes, deep fried like doughnuts), Toads & Rye Toads (more doughnuts), Hoecake (white corn meal cooked in open griddle), Rhode Island Corn Pone, Rhode Isalnd Squantum (brown bread), Pumpkin Bread, Cracklin' Bread (cornmeal with pork drippings), Tea Rusk, Spider Corncake (spiders were a type of frying pan with a long handle and three legs), Squash Rolls, Rhode Island sally Lunn, Blueberry Muffins, Apple Pan Dowdy (like cobbler), Berry Grunts (also like cobbler), Rhode Island Apple Slump (more cobbler), Rhodes Island Cob Pie, Mince meat, Blueberry Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Squash Pie, Trifle or Tipsy Parson (layered sponge cake, cream and fruit preserves), Indian Pudding ("Indian" meant maize or corn in colonial American recipes), Indian Apple Pudding, Steamed Spicy Suet Pudding (like plum pudding), Pound cake, Cobblestones (spice cookies), Bean Pot Applesauce, Apple Chutney, Quince Jelly, Apple Jelly, Blackberry Jam, Spiced Crab Apple, Candied Cranberries (candied means cooked with sugar), Watermelon Rind Preserves, Rhode Island Tomato Relish, Dilled Green Bean Pickles, Hoarhound Candy (hoarhound is a type of herb), Molasses Candy, Rum Punch, Brandy Shrub, Artillery Punch (wine, brandy, bourbon, lemons etc.),

---

South Carolina
Which foods are South Carolina famous for? All sorts of delicious things from plain white rice to complicated stew to West African-inspired benne cookies. Some notes South Carolina's culinary heritage:

"The territory of Carolina...was a land 1663 land grant from King Charles II of Great Britain to eight proprietors. The English explored the area and found fertile soil and a warm climate. Settlers soon followed who brought seeds and root cuttings, which they envisioned would become fields of grain, English vegetable gardens, and orchards. England hoped that the Carolina colony would supply it with citrus, wines, and other Mediterranean-type produce. Unfortunately, the hope was never realized...Charles Town was the first significant city in the South and for many years remained the principal seaport and trading center for the Deep South. Being a seaport, Charles Town enjoyed a variety of exotic food ingredients from its early days. Sea captains brought spices from the Far East and the Caribbean Islands. Bananas picked only days before in the Caribbean were commonplace in produce markets. Chocolate from Central America became a favorite dessert ingredient used in ice creams, pies, souffles, and cakes. Pickles became popular in colonial days when Charles Town sea captains brought back mango pickles from India and Madagascar...Charles Town quickly developed a French style of cuisine when a shipload of French Huguenots came in 1680...The brought with the years of experience in producing wine...and growing olives...Many of these new colonists started rice plantations along the marshy lowlands of the coast...Rice, the staple crop of the area, was almost always included in the meals...In 1755 Henry Laurens succeeded in growing olives, capers, limes, ginger, pears, strawberries, and grapes...The plantations had so many peaches that they were often often fed to the hogs. ...South Carolina cuisine was primarily based on that of her English and French settlers. Since many settlers had business connections with the West Indies, island cuisine also influenced Charleston cooking. Rice and bean dishes...have noticeable flavors obtained from the cooking of the Caribbean Islands and Africa. Sesame seeds, which originally came from Africa, are still used in sweets and breads."
---Taste of the States: A Food History of America, Hilde Gabriel Lee [Howell Press:Charlottesville VA] 1992 (p. 133-6)

Colonial cookery
The two most notable primary sources for this place and time are Harriott Pinckney Horry's Receipt Book [c. 1770] and Sarah Rutledge's Carolina Housewife [c. 1847]. Both books have been reprinted recently by the University of South Carolina Press. Need to make something for class?

"From her plantation or in her Charleston home, Harriott would not have lacked for good food and drinks. At Hampton she had gardens, poultry, and livestock together with game and seafood from nearby fields and rivers. In Charleston there were certainly a kitchen garden, a poultry yard, very likely a cow or two, the daily market, and a wealth of imported delicacies from the West Indies and Europe...Milk and cheese were generally lacking except to the well-to-do. The pork and barnyard fowls, fed on corn and rice, were rated good, but the beef, veal and mutton were but 'middling' or inferior because...the cattle and sheep were not fattened but rather slaughtered direct from the thin pastures. From nearby fields and waters.,...there was a plentiful supply of venison, wild turkeys, geese, ducks, and other wild fowl. Terrapin were found in all ponds, and at times ships arrived from the West Indies with huge sea turtles. Fish were often scarce and expensive, but oysters, crabs, and shrimp could be bought cheaply. Vegetables were available and were preserved for winter months. Travelers noticed that the 'long' (sweet) potatoes were a great favorite and there were also white potatoes, pumpkins, various peas and beans, squashes, cucumbers, radishes, turnips, carrots, and parsnips among other vegetables. Rice was the colony's great staple and it was served with meats and shellfish and used to make breads, biscuits, flour, puddings, and cakes...Corn served all classes to make Journey cakes and the great and small hominy. Wheat was grown by some of the Germans in the interior, but better grades were imported from Pennsylvania and New York. Lowcountry dwellers grew and enjoyed a profusion of fruits: oranges, peaches, citrons, pomegranates, lemons, pears, apples, figs, melons, nectarines, and apricots, as well as a variety of berries...Wealthy planters and merchants were not limited to locally produced foods. From northern colonies came apples, white potatoes, and wheat...as well as butter, cheeses, cabbages, onions, and corned beef. The West Indies, the Spanish and Portuguese islands, and Europe sent cheeses, salad oils, almonds, chocolate, olives, pimentos, raisins, sugar, limes, lemons, currants, spices, anchovies and salt. Boats arrived in Charles Town frequently from the West Indies with many kinds of tropical fruits.As for beverages, only the slaves, the poorest whites, and hard-pressed frontiersmen drank water. The average South Carolinian more likely drank a mixture of rum and water, spruce beer, or cider, and in the frontier areas peach brandy and...whiskey..."
---A Colonial Plantation Cookbook: The Receipt Book of Harriott Pinckney Horry 1770, edited with an Introduction by Richard J. Hooker [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia SC] 1984 (p. 14-17)

About Rice in Georgetown, SC.

Low Country
South Carolina's low country cuisine is a creole mix of English, French, Caribbean and West African flavors. The Gullah/Geechee people were of West African descent. There does not seem to be much information about Geechee foodways on the Internet. But! According to the Library of Congress (http://catalog.loc.gov) there are two books on the topic:

1. Bittle en' t'ing' : Gullah cooking with Maum Chrish' / Virginia Mixson Geraty.
2. Gullah cooking : creative recipes from an historic past from the low country of South Carolina / by Oscar Vick.

Upcountry cuisine
Popular traditional examples are Pine Bark Stew & Carolina Muddle. What are these dishes?
"Pine-bark stew. A fish stew. [1872 Atlantic Mth. 29, 748. In these packages were strips of white pine bark, which in its dried state gives out the flavor of nutmegs--slightly bitter and fragrant.] 1940. Brown Amer. Cooks 49 SC, From Up Country comes the famous Pine Bark Stew that has as many variations as has the Brunswick Stew and the Kentucky Burgoo. 1941 Writers' Program Guide SC 369 neSC, Bream and mollies are made into 'pine bark stew,' and tall tales recounted around the bonfire. 1951 Brown Southern Cook Book 159, Pine Bark Stew, a fish stew with a dark brown color and pungent flavor, is a South Carolina Pee Dee River dish...Some sources state that the stew derives its name from the chocolate-like color similar to pine bark; others, from the pine park used to kindle the open fire over which the stew is cooked. From The Pee Dee Pepper Pot, Darlington, South Carolina, is a third explanation, "Since seasonings were unobtainable during the Revolutionary War Days, the tender small roots of the Pine Tree...were used for flavoring (the stew). With homemade ketchup as a base, the only other seasoning was red pepper."
---Dictionary of American Regional English, Joan Houston Hall chief editor, Volume IV P-Sk [Belknap Press:Cambridge MA] 2002 (p. 160)

"Carolina Muddle
"WHAT? Carolina bouillabaisse. A thick, satisfying fish stew, Carolina muddle can be found in eastern Virginia and North Carolina, particularly on the Outer Banks. "Muddle is the traditional feast of the region," Bill Neal wrote in Bill Neal's Southern Cooking. "The simple vegetables potatoes, onions, tomatoes in perfect proportion with the freshest fish achieve the satisfaction sought in all good peasant cooking." The soup also contains bacon, tomatoes, and eggs, which poach on the surface of the simmering liquid; the name "muddle" refers to the fact that many ingredients are jumbled together. Cook a muddle in an iron pot over a pine-bark fire and what have you got? Pine bark stew, of course."
--- Source. [NOTE: page does not connect 11 April 2009]

Colonial-era recipes from South Carolina [modernized for today's kitchens]

"Okra Pilau
The Oxford Dictionary says that a pilau is an Orienta dish of rice with meat and spices. Yet few foods seem to be so home in South Carolina as pilaus. Doubtless the early traders brought the idea of pilaus from India in the days when Charleston was a great seaport, before the Revolutionary War. And southern cooks shifted the emphasis from the second to the first syllable, and the ingredient from oil to tomatoes. In Charleston, they pronounce it pelos, and they cook it so that the dish comes out dry and greaseless.
4 slices bacon
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon green pepper, minced
2 sups stewed tomatoes
2 cups okra, sliced thin
Salt and black pepper
2 quarts water
2 cups rice
1 teaspoon salt
Dice the bacon and cook in a deep frying pan until golden brown. Lift out the bacon and fry the onion and green pepper in the bacon fat until brown. Then add the tomatoes and okra and let them cook down, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Season well with salt and pepper. Meanwhile, cook the rice in the water, to which the salt has been added. After the rice has boiled for 12 minutes, drain, mix with tomato mixture, and turn into the top of a double boiler. Let it steam for 15-20 minutes, at the end of which time the rice should be tender and thoroughly flavored with the tomato. Add the bacon just before serving: if it is added too far ahead of time, it will lose its crispness. Makes 6 servings."
---Foods from the Founding Fathers: Recipes from Five Colonial Seaports, Helen Newbury Burke [Exposition Press:New York] 1978 (p. 231-232)
[NOTES: (1) Use regular (not quick or minute) rice; Carolina brand perfect (2)Okra history notes.]

Charleston Sweet Potato Pie
Sweet potato pie is to the South what pumpkin pie is to New England...
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
3 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
3 large sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
1 cup light cream
1/2 recipe for 9-inch pastry
Line pie pan with pastry; flute edges. Cream butter until soft. Add salt and gradually beat in sugar until mixture is fluffy. Add lemon juice, orange rind, well-beaten egg yolks, nutmeg, and potatoes which have been beaten with cream. Blend well. Fold in egg whites beaten until stiff, but not dry. Pour into pie pan. Bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 10 minutes. Lower heat to moderate (350 degrees F.), and bake for 40-45 minutes longer, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean." Makes 8 servings."
---(p. 240)
[NOTES: (1) It's okay to use pre-made pie shell (2) Sweet potato pie history.]

"Plantation Muffins
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cold cooked rice
1 cup milk
2 eggs, well-beaten
3 tablespoons melted butter
Mix and sift dry ingredients. Add the rice, stirring well, then combine with the milk and eggs, which have been mixed together. Lastly, stir in the melted butter. Turn into well-greased muffin tins and bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees F. for 25 minutes. Makes 12 muffins."
---ibid (p. 237)
[NOTE: Rice played a key role in Colonial-era SC foodways and economy. This versatile grain was employed in many dishes, from savory to sweet. Rice was also ground into flour. About Rice in Georgetown, SC.]

Benne seed wafers.

Recommended reading (foodways information & recipes, both historic and modernized)

• The Carolina Housewife, Sarah Rutledge [1847], introduction by Anna Wells Rutledge provides authentic South Carolina recipes and foodways notes.
• The Carolina Rice Kitchen: The African Connection, Karen Hess (includes authentic historic recipes)
  
• A Colonial Plantation Cookbook: The Receipt Book of Harriott Pinckney Horry, 1770, edited with an introduction by Richard J. Hooker...historic food notes and recipes
• Foods from the Founding Fathers, Helen Newbury Burke
• The Savannah Cook Book, Harriet Ross Colquit, interesting recipe notes
• The Beaufort Cookbook: A Treasury of Carolina Recipes, collected by Dee Hryharrow and Isabel M. Hoogenboom.
• Hoppin' John's Lowcountry Cooking, John Martin Taylor...In fact? All books by Mr. Taylor are heartily recommended. Bon appetit!
• 200 Years of Charleston Cooking, Blanche S. Rhett... recipes with a dollop of history