Appalachian Food: Frontier Period

From the beginning of the nineteenth century and until the coming of railroads and industry about eighty years later, European settlers were often isolated and independent, receiving some help from Indians in Appalachia. To survive in the Appalachian frontier, they cleared fields, built cabins, and cooked with cast-iron cookware. In early mountain cabins, the fireplace and open hearth provided heat for both the house and the cooking.

A grand dinner during this period might include elk backstrap steaks, venison stew, greens fried in bear grease, and ashcakes. Ashcakes are made from a thick cornbread batter rolled in ashes and baked, not in a pan but near the coals on the hearth. Corn on the cob, Irish potatoes, and sweet potatoes were cooked in the same fashion. After a dessert of fruit pie or sweet cake, frontiersmen often served a shot of whiskey. Appalachian settlers prided themselves on quality foods, and occasionally the table was set in high fashion and the meal served with hot biscuits, fresh butter, honey, strawberry preserves, mixed pickles, rich milk, cream, tea, and coffee.