Fire Cakes

I got very interested in Revolutionary war-era cooking when I was researching for my HF book (set in the same time period--obviously.) When I read that the soldiers ate mostly fire cakes, I thought, "Wow, that sounds quite good. Cake made over an open fire. It must taste a little sweet, a little smoky. Yum!"

But no, naive girl, it is not tasty actually. I looked for the recipe and found that fire cakes are exactly this:

flour
water
salt if you're luckier than most

Cook this over an open fire. Ever had pancakes that were so hard and disgusting not even the dog would eat them? Yep, that's fire cakes!

Amazing what we take for granted. First of all, salt. Then, sugar. Then, a real stove, not an open flame. Can you imagine how badly they'd stick, if nothing else?!