At the Wilcox House in the West Granby Historic District, Dennis Picard will provide a program on early American cooking and food preparation at the Sept. 12 opening.
Picard is an expert on early American lifestyles and folkways with nearly 50 years of experience interpreting and teaching at various New England museums. His program, entitled “The Victualler’s Dilemma and The Commissary’s Challenge,” will focus on feeding the troops of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, specifically those in the winter encampments in Redding and West Hartford.
Picard will share the stories left to us through diaries and memoirs of the soldiers themselves who lived through supply shortages and some who lived in the “huts” in Redding. You’ll hear about a variety of foods like burgloo, salt pork hash and more prepared by the soldiers with available foodstuffs, and how they improvised their own cooking equipment and techniques to prepare meals for themselves and their fellow campmates.
Picard will bring examples of rations and some dishes made from them and will speak on Open Farm Day at both 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. The Wilcox House is at 145 Simsbury Road, West Granby. There is no charge for admission.