1780s Venison Stew Cooked Over an Open Fire | Colonial Frontier Cooking

What did people eat during the Revolutionary War era?

Join Our Living History as we prepare a hearty venison stew using simple ingredients that would have been familiar to many Americans during the late 18th century. Cooked over an open fire in a traditional stew pot, this meal features venison, potatoes, onions, sage, salt, and pepper—creating a filling dish that could have been found on the frontier, in rural communities, or around military encampments during the 1780s.

In this video, you’ll experience a slower pace of life and see how a simple meal could be prepared without modern conveniences. While recipes varied by region and availability of ingredients, stews like this were a practical way to feed families and travelers throughout early America.

If you enjoy living history, historical cooking, colonial America, Revolutionary War history, frontier life, and traditional outdoor cooking, be sure to subscribe and join us on future adventures.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey everyone, just checking in here. We are gonna be doing a cooking demonstration on making some stew. It's gonna be relatively short because it's pretty simple. But anywho, uh right here we are actually making some stew, uh some venison stew. Uh thankfully we had some leftover uh some meat that uh Sandy K outdoors uh had given us and all that stuff, and uh we are using some of that in our little stew right here that we're making. Uh we anticipate for this to be on the fire going for about maybe three hours approximately. Uh we're just waiting a little bit longer for some coals to be made and stuff right now. Uh but anyhow, what we have in this stew is some chopped onions. We also have some uh potatoes as well. We have a little bit of salt and pepper, and we uh have some uh a little bit of sage in there, all things which were uh around during the Revolutionary War. Now, here's something interesting uh that I'd like to add is in some previous videos um I've used some venison as well, and also um I have used some beef as well, all of which is accurate to the time period and in sorts, so it's something that not many well some people might not think of, or they try to discuss that and say, Oh, they didn't use that as much, but yes, they did. They absolutely did use beef. Um, but anywho, uh we anticipate this to be cooking for about uh maybe a little over three hours, depending on uh how hot the fire gets later on, but uh we will go from there, anyways. Uh we'll keep you updated. Uh hope you all have a great rest of the day and talk to you soon. Okay, so we have some hot coals right over here that we're going to set this stew on. And uh I know we're a little early in the game, but uh we're hoping to get this somewhat get this show somewhat on the road for the time being. But anyhow, as mentioned before, we have some potatoes, uh a little bit of uh uh some some venison in there, we also have some onion, and as far as seasoning goes, we do have a little bit of sage, salt, and pepper, and from there, um other little odds and ends, but uh other than that, we're keeping it simple. So, and also some potatoes. I thought I mention potatoes, but anyways, we have some potatoes in there as well. Um so it should be on there for about three hours approximately, depending on how hot we can get the fire going and temperature-wise and stuff. May it may vary a little bit though, but other than that, we're gonna keep it simple and keep you updated and hope you enjoy it. Moving it a little bit hopefully get a little get the temperature up a little bit and kind of get it heated up. And uh we're gonna check this probably about every 20 to 30 minutes, maybe. Uh this is not its final resting spot at this break, but we're gonna let it uh okay, so right now we're just giving it a slight stir. Kind of make sure that everything gets incorporated. And meat's not nearly done, if you look. But uh that's generally why it takes so long. But there's different methods that you could use, and uh there's different things that they would have done back in the 18th century. Sometimes, in some cases, they may have gotten a skillet and they would have heated the meat up on that skillet before putting it into their stew pot to kind of give it a not necessarily a char taste, but kind of a little bit uh different taste, and uh it definitely cuts the cooking time down from a little over three hours to maybe about an hour and a half, hour and forty-five. Because at that point the meat's already cooked, but uh other than that, that's another way to do it, other than just putting it into the stew pot and cooking it for about three hours. So hopefully this helps a little bit. Let's give it a quick taste. I'm gonna take this off the fire. Let it cool for a little bit. When it gets to the two and a half hour mark, you're gonna wanna obviously kind of test and see where you're at. I mean, of course, you're gonna be stirring it throughout the whole time that you're you know, kind of testing it and stuff throughout the whole time that you're cooking it, though. But when it gets to the two hour mark, you're gonna really wanna perfect. You're gonna want to see where it's at. Now, as I mentioned, there's potatoes, there's some onions in there with a little bit of potato, and then there's some a little bit of sage as well, salt and pepper, and uh and of course uh can't forget the onions. I said onions, right? Yeah, anyways, you're gonna want to dice up the onions and stuff, but anyway, hope you enjoy the cooking video and uh have a great rest of the day. So this uh this video is sponsored by Albert Meyer, a criminal defense immigration and personal injury attorney serving South Carolina. His contact information is listed in the description below. Now let's jump into today's history. Okay, so right here we are going to test out the wonderful stew that was made with the assistance of Jeffrey here from Sandy K Outdoors. We're gonna see what we think of it and go from there and hopefully it's all good. Pretty darn good, very hot, tasty, definitely something to have on a nice cool day or a nice relaxing day of working outside or working out in the fields or wherever it may be. Pretty good. Oh yeah. Uh hey y'all. Uh thank you very much for checking out this video. Uh if you like it, please like and subscribe. Hope we have a great rest of the day.