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Zoe, an eighth-grade student, asked, "I have to make a dish relating to the Revolutionary War, and tell about its importance. Do you think you could help me with a recipe?" She didn't say how much experience she's had in the kitchen, so we'll offer an easy one, plus point her to a newsgroup where she can get more recipes and information.

The first cookbook written and published in the United States was Amelia Simmons's American Cookery. It was published in Hartford, CT, in 1796, some 20 years after the Revolutionary War, but it features the kinds of foods people ate during the war. She gives three recipes for "A Nice Indian Pudding," which are the first ones ever printed:

No. 1. 3 pints scalded milk, 7 spoons fine Indian meal, stir well together while hot, let stand till cooled; add 7 eggs, half pound of raisins, 4 ounces butter, spice and sugar, bake one and a half hour.

No. 2. 3 pints scalded milk to one pint meal salted; cool, add 2 eggs, 4 ounces butter, sugar or molasses and spice q.s. [to taste] it will require two and half hours baking.

No. 3. Salt a pint meal, wet with one quart milk, sweeten and put into a strong cloth, brass or bell metal vessel, stone or earthen pot, secure from wet and boil 12 hours.

Obviously, recipe-writing styles have changed a bit in the last two centuries. Back then measurements weren't standardized! For example, we have no idea what kind of spoon she meant for us to use in recipe number one. Also types of spices weren't usually listed, and amounts of sugar were generally left unspecified. Temperatures weren't given either, because Simmons would have been cooking at her hearth, not in a thermostatic-controlled oven like the ones in our kitchens.

Here's a modern recipe that recreates the flavor of the dish that Simmons had in mind, in a more convenient form to take to school. It's adapted from a recipe in Betty Fussell's I Hear America Cooking:

A Nice Indian Pudding
1 quart milk
1 stick (8 tablespoons) butter
1 cup dark molasses
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups cornmeal
6 eggs, beaten
2 lemons, zest grated (the thin yellow peel — only, avoid the bitter white pith)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon nutmeg, freshly grated
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups raisins
2 cups fresh pumpkin purée (or a 15-ounce can)

1. Combine first four ingredients in a saucepan. Scald (heat to just below the boiling point) the mixture, then turn off the heat.

2. Stir the corn meal into the scalded milk until there are no lumps, cover and set aside for an hour, until the milk has been absorbed by the cornmeal.

3. Pre-heat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

4. Combine remaining ingredients with cornmeal mixture.

5. Bake in buttered muffin tins for 45 to 60 minutes.

Zoe can find out more by joining in the discussions at Savory Fare, a group of people interested in historic American foods of the 18th century, including Revolutionary War re-enacters.

She might also want to read articles by Alice Ross, which includes dozens of articles on food history — from apple pie to sausage to foods of the Civil War — in The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles.
 
References
Fussell, Betty. I Hear America Cooking: A Journey of Discovery from Alaska to Florida — the Cooks, the Recipes, and the Unique Flavors of Our National Cuisine. New York: Elisabeth Sifton Books/Viking, 1986.

Hess, John L. and Karen Hess. The Taste of America. New York: Grossman/Viking, 1977.