Typical day Cooking:

Transcription

1 Typical day Cooking: Oh we would go in in October and. and we would come home Christmas, a couple of weeks perhaps, and we would go back til about March. And then I did stay for the spring. I would cook for the men on they called, on the stream drive. And I come down the lake stream and then into the Salmon River on a scow with a tar paper shack on it. Barbara Chase Well I d get up about five or half past and the other men there would be three or four or five would go. They would have to get their horses fed. They d go out and get their horses fed while Dan that would be my husband s father he would fry pancakes. And I d have beans cooked and maybe we d cook boloney or pork or something to have with the pancakes. And they usually went out to the woods about half past seven or seven. And I d have to put up lunches, it was a big basket; bread and meat, and make molasses cake and cookies white cookies or something. And donuts or something like that. Barbara Chase Oh. There would be breakfast, or would it be about six or half past and they would have what they call first lunch; that would be at nine. And sometimes they would come in to the camp to eat. And sometimes they would have to put on a fire and boil the kettle. And that would be at noon. And they d eat again at one o clock There was four meals a day. But there was no big variety. But we always had lots. Barbara Chase They usually came in around four thirty or four o clock. And by the time they got the horses in and fed it would be it would be five or we d have supper at half past five or six. And some of the men used to always help.some of the men used to help me wash the dishes. We d have ten dishes and get cleaned up and got the lunches ready; made bread everyday. Sometimes I d have brown bread. Oh it was real interesting. Barbara Chase When there was fifty to sixty she had a, yeah, a cookee they called him and he d peel the potatoes and keep the wood in for the fire and peel the carrots and things like that for her and scrub the floors and, yeah, he d help her. And it was usually a young man that did it. And then as he got better doing things then he d move on to the camp and she d have to train somebody else. He d move up on to the lumber mill as he got older. Cheryl Dempster They always had a big meal for breakfast. They d have bacon and eggs and porridge, and sometimes boiled eggs and she always had ginger cookies and homemade bread and molasses cake. And they ate a lot of pancakes and beans and back bacon. And they kept everything in a there wasn t any fridges then of course. They kept everything there was always a spring it seemed to me wherever they were. And they d build a little house around it. And that s where they d hang their meat and things to keep. And you d go out and they d get the meat from there, whatever they hung; whether it d be a beef or whatever, cow, or pig. You d go out there and get whatever they wanted to eat and bring it back in. Cheryl Dempster I think they [the men] use to eat around six at night. Like around five thirty in the morning and then they d come in for dinner around noon and then they d eat supper around six and there was always a bedtime snack around eight thirty. They d come in for tea or mostly tea. There wasn t too much coffee then. There was mostly tea and cookies they could have. I think lights out it was ten o clock. That was it. And everybody went to bed then; not just when you wanted to. It was lights out, that was it cause you got up so early in the morning; four-thirty, five o clock. Cheryl Dempster

2 Oh yes, used to help her [mother] bake cookies and things with her. Yeah. Get the wood in and sometimes peel carrots and whatever I could do at that age. Cheryl Dempster It was neat. Mom used to have a big pillowcase and we d put the knives and forks in it and shake them because there was so many and that would dry them. That was pretty cool. And the only thing the men helped with, mom used say they used to get into the vanilla and drink it once and awhile. Some of the men that ran out of something they wanted to drink. She used to get so mad at them [laughs]. Cheryl Dempster A typical breakfast: Fried eggs, boiled eggs or scrambled; bacon or sausages; biscuits. Dinner came: pork chops, potatoes, peas, homemade bread. Supper was sometimes was fishcakes, bread, home fries, sausages. We had canned ketchup or mustard. They come in huge cans. And supper could be ham or scallop, macaroni and tomatoes, corn chowder, corn beef and cabbage was a famous one. And desserts were always the best: apple pies, pumpkin pies, blueberry pies, chocolate cake, white cake, Washington pie. Mom always made bran muffins. When she ran out of the store bran she would send me to the stable to get horse bran. She said it always made better muffins.. And it was screened in the winter too. Meals were eaten from enamelled tin plates, bowls, mugs, metal knives and forks. Cheryl Dempster Well my father worked in the woods all the time all his life he worked in the woods. So when he got a camp with seven or eight men then he needed someone in there to cook the supper and tie up the lunches. So my mother made the bread and the cakes and cookies. We did the vegetables and the meat or fish and served them their supper and breakfast and tied up their lunch for the next day. Greta Innis Marie was the cook; I was the cookee. And then when we separated and went to different camps, I was the cook and she was a cook in her camp. It was fun. You worked hard all day and you went to bed about ten o clock at night. And you were up at five; four or five in the morning cause make fresh biscuits for breakfast every morning and, you know, beans and hash or something, or rolls. My mother cooked the bread and the sweets and we just did the vegetables and got them their supper and did up a lunch for them and their breakfast and they went away all day to come back at supper time. Greta Innis Well we d get up in the morning around five o clock and we d have the biscuit things all ready and in the pan. We just put the water or milk in and make the biscuit. And we d have a big roast pan full of beans in the oven. So they heated up. We set the tables and made the tea and then we called them in for breakfast after everything was on the table. And all their lunches were all tied up so when they left they took their lunches with them. So we cleaned up all the dishes and we baked all day. You d bake all day with a bag of flour. And, you know, you had to get cod fish if it was Friday or roast of beef or roast of pork or something, you know; bags of sugar, you had to carry those things, you know, they re heavy. And by the time you cooked and then you had to get supper ready.so the men all come in, got washed and ready for supper. So you put it on the table and call them and they came and ate and went back to the bunkhouse and we had to wash up all the dishes and then tie up all the lunches before we went to bed. And that was a full day. Greta Innis If there was potatoes and meat left over you made a real nice meat hash and beans or on Sunday mornings sometimes we used to we d bake bread in week and we d cut it up and toast it on the top of the stove. We had no place else. But we put the rack out of the oven on the top of the stove and we d make toast for them. So that was a big job. You make rolls. You d give them rolls; a couple

3 of rolls for each lunch and meat or cheese and tea and some cookies. You d have to give them cake out in the woods. Greta Innis [The cookee] made the beds in the bunkhouse. And he cleaned it up and he would help with the dishes. He was supposed to help do the dishes. And he d carry the water. You needed a lot of water. And he d fill up the water for the men for washing and everything. Like, they had big tubs and the water for the men to wash, clean up for the night. They had all, like, sinks along with just wooden boxes with a drain out for the washing. The water just drained outside. Our sink just drained outside too; just a wooden sink. Greta Innis Sometimes we d have a little break if your re fast enough. But you know, one night, like, the last camps I was at there was forty four men. And one night nine scalers arrived at the camp for supper. They weren t supposed to do that; not at one camp at one time. They were supposed to spread out, you know. But nine scalers. Greta Innis Well the most I probably ever had was about six or eight, something like that all together. And they were all they worked. And they d come in like them times when you cooked in the woods they d always used to you d get up real early in the morning. The teamster would get up about four o clock and he would start the fires and go feed the horses and then he d come in and he d call me and I d get up and I d have breakfast ready by five. You had to cook bacon or it d be big slabs of meat, not bacon, like pork. You cooked that and you fried pancakes if you know what they are [laughs]. We used to fry a big bunch of those. And they d have homemade beans and sometimes apples stewed apples and prunes. That was all just breakfast [laughs]. And then at lunch time some men would come in, some would lunch out. And when they lunched out you had to pack a big basket. Your mother had probably mentioned a big baby round basket. And you had to pack that for whatever amount of men so you sliced your bread and put it all in the and the cakes and all that stuff.there was a lot of it. You d have to cook about eight to ten loads of bread everyday. Hazel Beers They d come back for supper about six, yeah, between five and six. Just when it was coming dark, they d come in. Well then they d have their supper. Well then that was after supper you had your dishes to do. And I usually set my tables for breakfast for the morning after. And then you d have to mix your pancakes. And that was nothing you d get today to mix. You had to make it right from scratch. You d take so much buckwheat, so much white flour. And a big east cake they d call it; the big square east cake. And you d soak that in water, you put that in the pancakes and then you beat them up and you let that set overnight. And they would raise up and then you d cook your pancakes in the morning and they d be nice and light. And you always left enough of that in the dish so the next day you would just add to it. And that s the way you d have it that way for about a week and then you d start a new one. And the bread you mixed the sponge at night they didn t have yeast like today. You mixed up a bread sponge at night. So after supper you had that all to do. You made your sponge and you made your pancakes. The sponge is for the bread. You just mixed that up with water, yeast, and you made so much. You made it just the bread, like; only you didn t mix it heavy. And then towards the morning or that night you made this and then in the morning you d get up and finish mixing it. Put the rest of the flour in and make it stiff and then you d have it cooked about ten o clock probably in the morning. And then of course you had to keep your camp clean and I always cleaned the men s too usually. I never had no help. Usually they had cookies for that job. But for me I just did it all. Hazel Beers Well, like at breakfast time sometimes we d have like pancakes and probably bacon or some kind of meat. And then there was always prunes on the table, always. Morning, noon, and night there was

4 prunes on the table. And we always had brown bread, white bread or rolls. And, you know, breakfast food like that. Liddy Webster I remember when I believe the camp was in Big Cove that my sister in law it would be, she had a little camp there because her husband worked in the mill and, so anyway, she was expecting her first baby, her child. So anyway, come early in the morning and the child was, well, had to go. They had to come. So they all left. They all left and that night they had brought in all this food; bags of flour and bags of sugar and all this and it was sitting all around and I had at that time I had the woods crew and the mill crew both and that would be something in the twenties and I thought well what am I going to do all by myself, there s nobody here, only me to get breakfast. So at that place we had a little place camp like. Anyway, I went in and seen all this around and I thought what am I gonna do? So anyway, some of the men, they pitched in. There was about three of them I think. They pitched in, they put everything away and then I got breakfast for them. Well then the mill of course the camp, they closed down because the boss wasn t even there cause my father in law mother in law both came and my husband all came home. So I was there by myself. So then they got another woman to come in and help me because they couldn t come back. So anyway, but we managed alright. But that was quite an ordeal to get up and get breakfast for that many people, you know. And another time we was there we went out to the there was a little shed at the back that they kept the meat in and somehow, I don t know, I guess they neglected to get the meat or something and I said to the other woman that was helping me, I said, What are we going to do? We gotta have some meat to cook for dinner. So we went out to the shed and there was a pig s head there, you know, with all the parts, the face parts there, was all just good meat, you know, so we went to work and sliced that and brought it in, had it for, you know, for the meal and that was just fine. But anyway, the boss went Where did you get that meat? Well we got it out of the little part out back and he said, Well that s the best I ever tasted. But we considered he wouldn t like. It was you make head cheese [?] out of and he never liked it, so he never knew the difference. It was just cooked up just like as if it was just fried pork. It was really good. So that s about all I can tell you about that. Liddy Webster My mother-in-law, she made all the brown bread, I made all the white bread. And the rolls we made together. And, you know, one would do one part and one would do the other part, and the pies, we done that together and all that. We worked together very good and the mornings I always fried the pancakes. I was kind of pleased. I stood by the warm stove. But, anyway, she and then she would go on and get the other things ready for breakfast. This was breakfast. So other than that I guess I can t tell you anything more about that. Liddy Webster Well we had, like, breakfast, I think I told you before there we had sometimes pancakes, not always, but they always liked them and then we d make lot s of times well there s always prunes there. And then we d make a big dish of apple sauce. They d have that for breakfast with their pancakes. And some meat and of course dessert; cake of some kind or cookies and that would be breakfast. Well dinner time, some times we changed around, sometimes we d have like roast of some meat and potatoes and carrots and peas and stuff like that for dinner. Of course we had dessert, always had dessert; either rice pudding if we had a cooked meal we had rice pudding. But if we had like stew or something like that we would have pies, like lemon, apple, pumpkin, like that. We d have that for them. And then at suppertime well we d cook maybe like beans. They always had beans at suppertime and potato scallop maybe and macaroni and tomato and stuff like that and dessert; cake of some kind and of course our prunes. You can t go without them. And that would be suppertime; tea and coffee, whatever they wanted. So, that was about the way it was I guess. Liddy Webster

5 Well of course we had a cookee that usually put built the fires on. He looked after the water and everything; carried the water. And you d get up of course you d have breakfast. You d have a hot cereal usually for them. And beans, or probably sometimes my father would carry a ham in his backpack often. And we d have ham sometimes bacon, biscuits and pancakes, bread. Made two batches of bread a day and that s when they had the old hard east cakes that you had to make a like a batch first and at night you mixed it up it would raise, you know, in the meantime and then you d mix it up that night and cook it in the morning. Well in the morning you d start another one to have it ready for the night. So it just kept you cooking all the time. Cause they re a hearty bunch, anyone that works in the woods. Marjorie Bell My dad bought those big, what they call, grindstone, big round ones of cheese, you know? So we always had cheese and stuff like that. They boil out in the woods. They d have a black like boiling can. It would be a forty-eight can juice can that usually have to boil in, you know. And, you know, tea tasted wonderful made outdoors though. Marjorie Bell One of the mill camps we worked in, my husband, he helped me with the cooking and everything. He was cookee too. He had three fires to ten with green wood too and water to carry; always was water to carry. Marjorie Bell When you set up the tables well I always had a cookee like I said. And you always had homemade bread and you had homemade doughnuts and pies and cake and cookies. And beans, you always had beans on the table, morning, noon, and night. If you had roast beef you still had beans, it always the French fellows they liked beans. You always put prunes on the tables in the morning, and porridge or eggs and homemade bread, you always had homemade, there was no one brought bread. I used up a bag of flour from one day to the next day, like over the weekend I d make three or four batches of bread. Marguerite Spinney But the worse trouble I got into was baking fish in the oven, a great big fish. And for some reason the grate fell down in the stove. And that couldn t get the oven heated up and they were getting pretty upset when we didn t have the fish ready for supper. But most of the time everything course Stanley was always there. He was boss. But he always was there and he always would make the tea and everything in the morning, so they all helped me. I didn t do it all myself. I couldn t, but anyway. Marguerite Spinney I used to be real nervous in those days because you had to prepare a meal for them [the scalers] too and not knowing what they liked or anything. And sometimes they d be strangers and other times you know them so that d be about it I guess. Marjorie Stillwell Well in the mornings they would have pancakes and beans and like, bacon; whatever they wanted, or eggs, whatever. And dinnertime was potatoes and the vegetables. Lots of times they would take their lunch out and wouldn t come in til dinner til night. You d have the dinner at night time. And you cooked your meat and your vegetables and potatoes and you d always have molasses cake and sugar cake and stuff like that for dessert. - Mary Lemon And it was nine big loaves. They put three to a pan. And the pan would be a little bit bigger than that and then there d be three of those; that would fill that big oven.everyday. And sometimes when they there was times that they took their lunch out and when they did that, I had to make it I had to make twice a day cause that d take a lot of bread for lunches. And you didn t make sandwiches. You buttered their bread and of course their bread was froze, and boloney. And they would make a

6 little fire. I never witnessed it, but anyway, they d tell me they d make a little fire. And they d put their bread on a little stick and toast it. And thaw out their bologna and that was dinner. And then I don t know how many cookies and how many pieces of cake. And I suppose they d have to thaw those. They d be frozen if the rest was. And some I remember one winter that the cookee carried the lunches just at noon time to them so it wasn t froze. Norma Tucker Ony [the cookee], when he was sick and he didn t come in on a Sunday. And so there wasn t much to do with the bulldozer, so Murray Alexander and Aulden and Murray were even cousins and Murray said to Aulden, You can help Norma in the camp for a couple days til Ony gets back. So he helped one day. He didn t like washing dishes, I can tell you that and there was quite a few from eighteen people you know. So, the next morning Aulden said to Murray, he said, Now what am I going to today. And he said, Another day in the camp And Aulden said, No. No I m not staying another day in the camp. If there s nothing here for me to do I ll go to Elgin, but I m not staying in that cook camp another day. So there was a man there by the name of John Ere [?] from Elgin and so Murrah inquired around and John said, Oh he said, I d love to go in and cook and be the cookee. And he spoke you know, he lived in Elgin the rest of his life too and he spoke to me a lot of times about it. Those were great days he said, I enjoyed that. I couldn t understand But my husband was not a kitchen man. He said I ll go to Elgin. I don t think he would ve but he was getting his point across. Norma Tucker Well, we started early. Aulden would put the fire on at about four twenty. And we d crawl out in that nice warm camp at five o clock. It was no time to worry about being cold. And you went on and got breakfast and breakfast was quarter after six. And then the bread had to be made and the pies had to be made. Had one real good calamity with pies. Some of the men suggested, Why don t some Friday Why don t you make chocolate pies? Well, I said, I don t know why I couldn t. So, anyway, I didn t get enough thickening in them. And they were quite a disaster [laughs]. But anyway, that was only once, so that wasn t too bad [laughs]. But there wasn t much I can seem them yet. Oh, the poor men, they said, What s going on? But anyway no they didn t really. And you just went on. And as I we didn t have much pork because you couldn t you about have to have the oven to cook pork, eh. Would never want to try and fry enough pork for that many men. But you could pot roast a lot of meat in a big pot, you know, and kept moving it around. Cause it took quite a lot. Those men were hungry, eh? They were hearty. Norma Tucker That old red jeep hauled a lot of them. Well, no, then they d the well we called it a company; F.E. Sayre s had a truck. And they did haul the lot. And one thing we got was a big puncheon of molasses, cause that was a staple food, you know; all that new bread. Bread was new everyday you know [laughs]. And there wasn t anything butter. And there wasn t much anything much better than good homemade bread and lots of molasses. So we went in we always took that puncheon of molasses. That s one thing that went with us. And then Murray, he would bring supplies every week in the jeep. And one trip going in we had to, I guess the big crate held thirty dozen of eggs; fifteen on that side, fifteen on that side. And we got stuck and Murray was one of those people [laughs] he didn t have a lot of patience when it come to moving a vehicle he thought it should move. And he got out and he shoveled and he d get in. Aulden and him were sitting up front and I was sitting in the back and all these eggs around me and all these crates and everything. And Murray would throw the shovel in, and they d go a little ways and they d get stuck. And he d get out with a shovel and get in and throw that shovel in. What a mess of eggs I had that week. We didn t have boiled eggs that week I ll tell you. I had to fry them and that was a big job. Oh what a mess they were. I said Murray Alexander, you ever do that again. He said, I didn t do that did I? Oh dear. Norma Tucker

7 One time when I had to make bread twice a day, and so the last lot that I took out of the oven was on in the evening. And so and of course we always had lots of flour bags because flour was in hundred pound bags with robin hood on it then, you know. And we used those for everything. And, so, I put the bread out on the bread board and there was these nine big loaves, three there and three across this way and three here. And I tucked the flour bag all in under them and..the next morning it was storming and the men couldn t go out to work so they didn t need to have their lunch put on. So we got breakfast over. I said, Well, maybe I won t have to make bread today. Or a small batch maybe. So I went over and I was uncovering it. And here was all this loose bread. And I said, What on earth is taking place? A weasel had got in. And see the loaves were like this and he had cleaned the middle one all out making himself a home. There goes my extra bread down the drain. Had to start all over again, make bread that day. Norma Tucker