Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M 63 Eating in the morning was not, of course, an exclusively white occupation. What European culture quite literally brought to the table was the ritualization of mealtimes, including breakfast. Montana welcomed many German immigrants, and the mealtime rituals of the "High Germans" were impressive: Fruestueck (early bit) was followed by a light zweites Fruestueck (second bit) at mid-morning. Mittagessen was the main meal at mid-day and Kaffee und Kuchen (cof- fee and cake) at mid-afternoon were followed by Abendbrot (evening bread) for supper. At Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site in Deer Lodge, visitors can enjoy the view from the back porch where German cattle baron Conrad Kohrs and his family enjoyed coffee and cake in late afternoon. e cook must have appreciated the ease of preparing Kohrs' preferred breakfast of raw hamburger mixed with brandy (steak tartare). Augusta Kohrs had toast and bacon. Montana became a state in 1889, and the Territorial Prison be- came the State Prison. e breakfast menu wasn't bad. In 1890, beef hash, gravy and boiled potatoes were served with bread and coffee. Bread and coffee were breakfast standbys throughout the Terri- tory, and on the open range and remote homesteads, it was often sourdough bread. Sourdough starter, a yeasty mass of fermenting flour, was used to raise biscuit and nearly legendary as open range fare. Not every chuckwagon cook made sourdoughs for breakfast, however. "Saleratus" an early (and often contaminated) form of baking soda was also used. Pancakes were also popular. Also known as flapjacks, slapjacks, griddlecakes, hotcakes, and johnnycakes, they were quick and easy and could be cooked as well over a campfire as a wood stove. Speaking of johnnycakes, the March 1865 Montana Post reported on a gold miner who passed through Cottonwood (an early name for Deer Lodge) where he had a hearty breakfast at Johnny Grant's before hurrying off to a rumored gold strike at Ophir Gulch. e paper neglected to mention if "johnnycakes" were on the menu. Raw oysters were also popular in frontier days, and for some unfathomable reason, still are. Half a dozen consumed for breakfast and washed down with an "eye opener" of whisky was not untypical in the early mining towns. ese were not the Rocky Mountain oysters of cattle-raising fame, but the aquatic variety, some tinned and some laboriously packed in ice and brought into the Territory by ox or mule train. Virginia City's Montana Post told of a lady who asked her physician, "Do you think that raw oysters are healthy?" "Yes," he replied. "I never knew one to complain of being out of health in my life" Essence of coffee, 1856 For Lyndel's article "Cowboy Cordon Bleu," see the DM Archives www.distinctlymontana.com DISTINCTLY MONTANA | DIGITAL –STYLE I N T HE 1 8 0 0 s

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