[Country music] [Walter] I'm here in Old Fort Harrod, in Harrodsburg, Kentucky the first English settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains.

Early settlers, determined to find land and opportunity, pushed westward across the Allegheny Mountains into what is now Kentucky.

Today, we learn about James Harrod and the company that established the first permanent English settlement in the region, and prepare a few of the pioneers favorite dishes.

Gourd Soup, Elk pot roast, Cymlings with bacon, and Kentucky's famous stack cake from right here, within the walls of Old Fort Harrod.

All this, for A Taste of History!

[Narrator] This program is made possible by.

Pasture-raised Australian beef and lamb, adding variety into your weekly meals or unique touch for your next celebration.

Widely available at your local market.

For recipes and more, we're at aussiebeefandlamb.com [Adventure music] [Narrator] At the end of the French and Indian War in 1763, the British Crown sent explorers to survey its newly acquired land west of the Allegheny Mountains.

Many well-known explorers made their names during these times, but it was a lesser known figure that can claim the first settlement.

Colonel James Harrod Harrod took multiple surveying trips from his hometown of Pennsylvania to the Kentucky region throughout the 1760s.

and it was during one of these trips that he discovered a big spring that would one day become the cornerstone of Kentucky's future.

[David] This was referred to as the Eden of the West.

I mean, it was really a land flowing with riches.

The ground was more fertile than anything they'd ever seen before.

And the bounty out here was unbelievable.

[Narrator] On June 16, 1774, Harrod's Town was established the first permanent pioneer settlement in what would one day become the state of Kentucky.

The Native Americans really did not want the settlers out here.

Long hunting was bad enough, but when you came out here and started making settlements, they could see the writing on the wall.

So they were really in a fight for their lives at the time.

[Sawing] [Narrator] In the spring of 1775, Harrod set about turning his settlement into a center of trade and commerce for the Kentucky frontier.

Wisely, he also constructed Fort Harrod to defend his new community.

[David] Within a few years, Kentucky was just exploding, different towns popping up and different civilizations and forts, and station houses.

[Narrator] Many significant Kentuckians passed through these walls throughout its early years including frontiersman Daniel Boone, and famed revolutionary hero, George Rogers Clark.

Over 150 years later the state of Kentucky established Old Fort Harrod State Park to commemorate its history as the birthplace of Kentucky.

[David] The park is 32 acres.

This is not just a state park, but it's a community park.

Serves as recreation for the town's people and of course, you have the fort itself.

It's reconstructed very historically accurate to the original fort.

[Narrator] Harrodsburg stands today as the oldest permanent settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains, and will proudly celebrate its 250 year anniversary in the year 2024.

[Acoustic music] [Walter] So, Mary [Mary] Yes [Walter] I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the opportunity to work with you understanding those recipes and also understanding this unbelievable fort.

[Mary] We're so excited to have here with us at Old Fort Harrod.

Of course, Fort Harrod was the first settlement in Kentucky.

And so today we're cooking in the George Rogers Clark Cabin.

George Rogers Clark was a very special part of the life here.

He remained here at the fort for four years and then he left from here and did the Northwest territorial campaign in 1779.

[Walter] The menu that you picked today is basically something that would have been served here all the time, right?

[Mary] Yes, it was.

Our first recipe is going to be the Gourd Soup.

It was a simple recipe at the time for them to have on hand.

Add our butter to our kettle and let it melt down.

And then we're going to add our onions.

While we let these cook, then we'll cut up our butternut squash and get it ready to go in which I have already steamed.

[Walter] 20 minutes, 30 minutes.

[Mary] That's right.

Got it ready because it's so difficult to peel.

The Native Americans grew gourds and so it was a ready plant that you could already have.

[Walter] Then you take this one here and you're going to take a spoon and you take out the seeds.

Now, you know, a lot of people will toast those seeds.

[Mary] Oh, yes, yes.

Because it's got nourishment in it.

[Walter] Yep.

[Mary] The Native Americans gave us the winter squashes that we talk about today.

They knew that they would be able to put those away and have them for all winter long because there's nowhere to get food between November and April.

And so this is going to have to cook down.

So it's going to take some time for it to get soft before we go to the next step.

[Acoustic guitar] [Walter] So let me just cut those ones here for you.

Make it easier.

[Mary] In this period of time, wheat was very scarce.

So if you got wheat at all to make bread, you're going to have to either trade a whole lot, or pay dearly for it.

So you're going to use this bread anyway you possibly can.

So that's why you're going to be using it as a topping for the soup.

It's going to give you a little crunch.

[Walter] Alright Mary, here's your spectacular chicken stock.

[Mary] And so now we're going to let that cook.

I'm going to add the butter now into the skillet.

We want to let that melt down and then we'll add our croutons and get those toasty brown.

[Fire crackling] Now we're going to add the breadcrumbs and we'll stir them right in.

[Walter] There you go.

[Mary] Now, we'll let that thicken up.

[Walter] I would say approximately maybe 40 minutes until it's all disintegrated.

Now, remember again, this soup is originally from France and therefore it's a cream.

So therefore, whoever first introduced it to the early settlers wanted to make sure that you either pass it through a sieve or through an etamine, which is basically nothing else but a piece of cheesecloth.

[Mary] To get out any lumps or chunks that may not have cooked down.

It makes it creamier.

[Piano music] [Walter] So Mary, the soup actually took a little longer than I thought, so about 50 minutes.

But it's perfect now and the consistency is right.

So what would be better to add a little bit of basil just cut it up really fine like a chiffonade and throw it right in there.

And I'll tell you what, this will make the difference, like you watch and see.

A lot of people are going to say "This happened here in 1775?"

because that could be right now in the south of France, I'm telling you.

[Mary] Yes.

I think it looks wonderful.

[Spoon drop] [Walter] Wow.

[Mary] Oh, yeah.

[Walter] Oh, golly.

[Mary] I can see why they would eat this quite often.

[Walter] Heavenly.

[Mary] Yes, it is.

Very good.

You're not wasting anything.

Everything is just beautifully made.

[Walter] Well, your chicken stock also obviously helped tremendously.

[Mary] It did.

[Walter] It's a beautiful recipe the flavor was fantastic.

I can hardly wait for the rest of the menu.

[Sounds of war] [Narrator] The defeat of the Shawnee and Lord Dunmore 's War in 1774, emboldened land speculators in the southern colonies who believed much of what is now Kentucky and Tennessee, would soon be under British control.

One such speculator, Richard Henderson, a North Carolina judge, negotiated a treaty with the Cherokee to purchase roughly 20 million acres of land between the Cumberland and the Ohio Rivers.

[David] Richard Henderson wanted to own the Kentucky territory, where he would be the landlord and you would be a serf on his property.

It wasn't the Cherokee's land to sell to begin with.

They sold them something they didn't own.

[Narrator] Judge Henderson called a meeting at Fort Boonesborough in 1775 between the many settlements in the region he believed now belonged to him.

It was here that committees were assigned and laws were written to create a new colony.

However, this was met with resistance by James Harrod and his old friend George Rogers Clark, who had arrived at Fort Harrod to help the settlers.

[George] A friend of mine, he's got a great vision for the future.

He'll understand what's at stake if Henderson has his way.

It'll be no different than it was back in England.

[David] George Rogers Clark, along with Jack Jones, had gone back to Virginia and they enlisted the help of Thomas Jefferson.

If they claimed Kentucky as part of Virginia, then that would have done away with the Transylvania company as it stood.

The three of them together really worked the legislators over and got them to agree not only to claim Kentucky as a county of Virginia, but to also fund them with gunpowder during the summer of 1777.

[Narrator] 1777 was known as the year of the "Bloody Sevens" on the western frontier.

With the Revolutionary War raging in the colonies, the British enlisted the support of 15 bands of Native Americans to raid frontier settlements in an attempt to divert troops fighting in the East.

[David] The British were paying the Shawnee $20 a head for each scalp they brought back, which was huge money, and they'd also supply them with guns and ammo.

1777 is known as the "Bloody Sevens" for a very good reason.

This was a very, very violent and heinous place to live.

[Walter] Hey!

I got you!

I gotcha!

I can live here.

I can cook.

I can hunt.

And I can kill.

[Axes cracking into wood] [Narrator] Rather than launch full scale assault native warriors focused their attention on the destruction of crops, animals, and foodstuffs to compel the settlers to abandon Kentucky.

[David] It was around 550 people in the Kentucky in 1777, and roughly over 300 of them were jammed inside of this fort and they were pinned down the whole year.

[Trickling spring] [Walter] Having a spring like this inside your fort was a rarity in the 18th century.

Not only was this essential to have fresh drinking water nearby, but the quick access to water also kept Fort Harrod standing during native attempts to burn it down.

[Narrator] The successful defense of Fort Harrod was an achievement of national importance.

Its resistance caused land speculators, as well as prospective settlers, to continue to migrate into Kentucky.

The frontier population would rapidly expand from a few hundred to 15,000 in just a few short years, and by the turn of the 19th century, the population stood at over 200,000.

James Harrod would hold several positions of political leadership, including election, into the Virginia House of Delegates in 1779 and would help lead the charge towards Kentucky's petition for statehood.

[Music] [Mary] So chef, we're going to be doing one of the favorite dishes of the settlement, Elk Roast with potatoes and carrots, and then we're also going to do a Pattypan, fried.

Elk was a primary source of meat here, along with the buffalo, along with all the deer that they would have had here.

You could salt it and keep it through the winter.

[Walter] And what a beautiful piece of elk you got here.

I tell you I mean I've been admiring it.

Look at that.

[Mary] This is one that I enjoy doing because it's got that wonderful wild flavor to it but yet it's not overbearing.

[Walter] To me, this is the ultimate one-pot meal.

[Mary] Yes, it is.

[Walter] Cause everything is ready in there and you actually want to cook it until the meat literally falls apart.

Put the schmaltz into it, and then put the elk into it.

[Sizzling] This flavor.

[Mary] It's wonderful!

[Walter] Unbelievable.

Yeah.

You get a little bit of a sear.

[Mary] And that's what a lot of men did.

They would go out to hunt and get the meat for the family.

Sometimes they wouldn't even return.

[Mary] Some of those people would be going out for months at a time, before they come back home.

the longhunter.

[Mary] Yes, they would.

[Plate sizzling] [Walter] Beautiful.

Here you go.

Look at it.

[Mary] All right.

Now we need our green beans.

Cut up an onion.

We need them quarted.

[Walter] Yeah.

[Mary] We're not going to peel potatoes because they knew that there was nourishment in skins of the vegetables.

So it would give them more protein because you only got one meal a day in this day.

And we've already got our carrots ready.

Now we'll put in our ale.

I really would like for you to get that sage.

[Walter] And I think some thyme.

[Mary] And they would have put what they had available in there to give it a little bit more "oompf."

[Walter] At 275 for three and a half to 4 hours, depending on what ovens you use.

[Mary] That's right.

We would have to start and build a fire in the cob oven, and then it heats it up inside.

Once you get it all hot and it's ash, you're going to clean that whole floor.

You don't want any ash flying around in your food, and then you're going to put your dish in and close the door, and then you're going to let it sit there.

Then for the 5 hours it needs to cook.

[Walter] Fantastic.

So Mary, what's next?

[Mary] Well, we're going to do a cymling, which is basically a pattypan, but it was prominent in the Native American course.

You have your pattypan, this is what it's going to look like when it grows.

In order to fix one of these.

You're going to have to boil it about 15 minutes.

And so it's going to make it a soft, easy shell that you can slice.

So we're going to just fry this in bacon.

[Sizzling Bacon] Wonderful.

[Walter] It's Cooking up nice.

[Mary] That is very beautiful.

[Sizzling] We have this wonderful bacon grease now that we can put our pattypans in.

So we're going to put this back over the hot coal, let them simmer and get a nice brown.

[Sizzling] [Walter] There you go.

[Mary] Yes, there we go.

Wonderful.

[Walter] Look at that.

[Mary] And now you have a nice dish.

Here is our elk roast coming out.

[Walter] Oh, gosh.

[Mary] Get us some vegetables out of there.

[Walter] Absolutely gorgeous.

[Mary] It smells wonderful.

And that's going to go so nicely with our cymlings.

And we've made our pattypan.

[Walter] I've been around the block, but I've never had that I would have not expected it.

It's so smooth.

It kind of reminds me of zucchini.

Little bit like a zucchini kind of has the same flavor.

But I'm not going to get out of here without trying a little piece of the elk.

It is delicious.

Not gamey at all.

[Mary] Mm hmm.

[Walter] Very tender.

Obviously, we cooked this for a long time.

And also it absorbed some of the flavors.

[Mary] Oh wonderful.

Yeah.

[Walter] That's beautiful.

Comfort food of 1775, you know?

[Mary] Yes.

With my husband as a hunter.

I'm using it all the time.

[Walter] Yeah.

[Mary] Oh, yeah.

Turned out beautifully.

[Walter] It really did.

[Mary] Yes, it did.

[Banjo strumming] [Baa'ing] [Walter] Out here, in the western frontier, you can only imagine how important it was to have a gunsmith in the fort because without a gun, you would have a tough time making it out here.

[John] When we got here, there was no Krogers.

When we got here, we didn't have the Walmart food section In order to get all that good food, you needed a gun, and you needed that gun to function flawlessly.

[Walter] What inspires you about recreating those muskets, would you call this a musket?

[John] No, that's a common misnomer.

Everybody wants to call every muzzle-loading gun a musket.

A musket is a military gun.

We never used muskets out here.

We use rifles, like what I'm building right now.

The musket is incredibly inaccurate.

It would be used by a young soldier who was frightened in battle, and so he needed to drop a rather small ball down a big bore.

This gun I'm working on right here is a 58 caliber rifle and it uses a 575 round ball, meaning the ball that goes in this gun is one half of 1,000th of an inch smaller than the ball.

This is what made the rifle such a formidable weapon.

You load your gun with a patch, you would pour powder down the barrel and then you would take that cloth patch, get it wet with spit to lubricate it.

You put that patch on top of the muzzle, and then you take a round ball shoving it into the bore.

It would do something that no other gun of its time did.

It would create a gas tight seal.

60% of the powder charge that goes off from a military musket, blows right by the ball.

The soldier would pull the trigger.

[Gun firing] The gun goes off, 60% of the charge goes right by and the ball comes wheezing out with the remaining 40%.

With this 100% of that powder charge, that ball comes screaming out of that muzzle with incredible velocity.

And the patch that is caught in the rifling gives you that gyroscopic effect, which gives you the incredible accuracy.

[Walter] Can you show me how to make a gun?

[John] Well, if you got 14 years, you can spare.

No, I cannot, because that was the apprenticeship.

14 years for learning the trade of making a long rifle.

[Acoustic music] [Walter] So, John, if anybody wants to eat, they call you, you got the gun.

But if anybody wants to eat spectacular, then they call me.

[Both laughing] [John] I believe that.

[Upbeat country music] [Walter] So Mary, what a day?

You saved the best for last.

[Mary] We're going to top it all off with our James Harrod Apple Stack Cake, which he supposedly brought the recipe to Kentucky when he arrived here.

He came from Pennsylvania.

and I'm sure his momma sent that with him.

Anything that you were able to dry for the winter you would make into this stack cake.

And it was a special treat when you had a stack cake because, of course, flour was something very expensive and it's going to take quite a bit of flour.

So the way you make this stack cake makes it a little bit easier to spread that flour around.

We're going to put our apples into the kettle first.

[Walter] Okay.

[Mary] And then we have a cup of brown sugar, and then we are going to use a teaspoon of cinnamon.

[Walter] Ginger.

[Mary] And then what we want is we want a half teaspoon of nutmeg grated into there.

[Nutmeg grinding] [Walter] All right.

[Mary] Yes.

[Walter] Done.

[Mary] Now we're going to put five cups of water [Walter] All right.

[Mary] Now this is going to make our filling.

[Walter] Got you.

[Mary] It'll cook down and it will get thicker.

We'll let that cook now for an hour.

[Walter] All right.

[Piano music] [Mary] So now we're getting ready to make our batter for our cake.

So we have to put in our flour, which is five cups, our baking powder and baking soda.

A teaspoon of each, yes.

And then we're also going to add our cup of sugar.

[Walter] Shmaltz, two thirds of a cup, that should do it.

And molasses goes in.

And then, [Mary] And then we're going to add our salt.

[Walter] So basically you're going to mix it all together nice [Mary] It's going to be like a cookie dough.

[Walter] Got you.

[Mary] In this day, you didn't have wedding cakes like we have.

So the bride's mother, she would make the filling and then she would make the first layer.

But then all of the bride's friends and family, when they come, they're going to bring a layer.

Depending on how high the cake gets, determines how many friends she had.

[Laughing] [Walter] Eggs in there now.

[Mary] Yes, and then blend those in very well.

[Walter] I certainly will.

[Walter] Put your milk in.

[Walter] Yeah.

[Mary] All right, here we go.

Put our buttermilk in, and now we're going to stir it all together.

[Walter] Slowly but surely, making sure that you get the flour moist.

It's a little tricky because you have the molasses in there.

You know, the molasses likes to stick together.

[Mary] Well, now, while you're doing that, I'm going to go ahead and put the griddle on the coals so that it can be getting hot and ready for us to put this batter on so that we can start cooking these layers.

[Walter] So what do you think?

The consistency is good?

[Mary] I think it's looking very [Walter] There's no bubbles in there.

[Mary] We got our griddle here.

You can tell it's already hot.

Spoon some out and we'll just spread it out and see how it's going to go [Piano music] That molasses doesn't like to spread.

You got to keep adding to it to get it where we want it, but it makes a wonderful cake.

[Walter] I believe it.

[Mary] And it's going to be really good with this apple filling.

[Walter] So that should be about a half an inch I would think, wouldn't you?

All right.

[Mary] All right.

And now we're going to put it down here and let it bake.

Now, it's going to have to bake now for about 15 minutes.

It doesn't take long and you don't have to turn them over.

They basically just bake all the way through.

Now we have our cake, and now we have our filling, which we've already cooked, and now it's cooled down.

So we're going to take and put just a little filling and you're not going to put it on too thick because what's going to happen is we're going to wrap this cake up in a dish towel and let it sit for a couple of days.

[Walter] So now you get the next one?

[Mary] Yes, sir.

We put the next layer on, and once this sits, it's really going to introduce itself to the cookies.

But you have to let it sit for two days because you want all the apple filling to moisturize the cakes because they're so dry.

[Walter] So Mary, this guy didn't have a lot of friends obviously.

[Mary] Well, evidently not.

I've already prepared one that's been sitting for two days [Walter] That I can actually try [Mary] That you can actually try.

[Walter] Now.

you're talking [Mary] And this person had a few more friends.

[Walter] Oh, good.

[Mary] This is what a stack cake would be.

Very different from our cakes today.

[Walter] The apple made the cookie dough moist.

[Mary] Yes.

[Walter] So it's beautiful.

The only thing I would like with it is a huge dollop of whipped cream.

Or ice cream.

I'm just kidding.

[Mary] And you know, they had cream so they could have made some.

Yes, they could have.

[Walter] Spectacular, maybe complicated.

But it's well worth it and it's a true taste of history.

[Acoustic music] [Towns people murmuring] [Mary] We have so much we have cooked.

We need to share this with our settler friends.

[Walter] I'll slice, some of this unbelievable elk pot roast that we did.

And the soup.

Wait until they get their hands into this one.

I mean, unbelievable.

[Mary] You want some soup?

[Walter] It was spectacular, spectacular happening.

And this entire fort is just uh - It gives me goosebumps!

You know?

[Mary] Yes.

Yes.

[Walter laughs] [Walter] And all this for a spectacular Taste of History.

[Narrator] This program is made possible by.

Pasture-raised Australian beef and lamb, adding variety into your weekly meals or unique touch for your next celebration.

Widely available at your local market.

For recipes and more, we're at aussiebeefandlamb.com Viewers can find DVD's and cookbooks at atasteofhistory.org including the all new A Taste of History Cookbook, complete with step by step instructions of recipes seen on the show.

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