The Origin of the Lumberjack Breakfast

In 2014-2015 long before I became a podcaster I briefly had a blog called "A Taste of the North Country." In it I explored the food found in the North, both historic and contemporary. At the time I was only working as a freelance historical presenter and writer, so I was doing as much economizing with food as possible, including foraging wild food (mostly wild berries), and doing my own canning. I was looking at this with the eye of the historical perspective. It also got me to think about some of the food that was historically eaten, such as in the logging camps.

We have all seen the "Lumberjack Breakfast" on menus at diners and greasy spoons throughout the North Country. And even elsewhere where no lumberjack ever roamed. It is a breakfast meal with eveything on your plate. Did you ever think of where the name came from. In this blog post, I talked about the origin of this meal going back to the logging camps. For this bonus episode of the podcast I am sharing that blog post with you.

Can you still find "A Taste of the North Country?" Why yes you can! Although I stopped writing it when my work situation improved in 2015, first working as the winter caretaker at the Wellington Farm U.S.A. historic agricultural museum, where I took care of the livestock for the winter, then I was hired as the museum director for the Lovells Township Historical Society; if you google the title, you will find it. However, as I tried to just bring it up while typing this, it won't connect on my laptop, though I have it on my phone. 

Here is the link if you want to try:

atasteofthenorthcountry.wordpress.com

Vinegar Pie Recipe

This is the recipe we used at the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum.

One Pie Shell

1/4 Cup of Butter

1/2 Cup of White Sugar

2 Eggs

1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar

3 Tbsp of Vinegar*

1/4 Cup of Flour

1 Cup of Water**

Dash of Nutmeg to taste (or can use cinnamon, cloves, or other spice of your choice)

In a large bowl, blen white sugar, brown sugar, flour, and nutmeg with fingers until no lumps remain. Stir in vinegar, eggs, butter, and water until well mixed. Pour into pie shell and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Notes

*Try a variety of vinegars. Distilled white vinegar may give the pie a taste similar to pecan pie filling (minus the pecans); Apple cider vinegar may give the pie an apple taste. Both of these would be historic adaptations.

**The recipe calls for 1 cup of water, but at Hartwick Pines we found that when cooking on coals on a fire, that this makes the pie a little soupy. We have adjusted it to 1/2 cup of water and it is much better.

Episode Sources

Ellis, Charles. Among the Michigan Pines. The Current. Chicago: 1885, Vo. III

Fitzmaurice, John W. The SHanty Boy or Life in a Lumber Camp. Cheboygan, MI: Steam Democrat Press, 1889.

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