GROVE CITY — Cooking lunch in one pot for 40 people may seem like a task for the "Iron Chef," but it's a normal occurrence for Christine Hoffman of Grove City.

Hoffman is part of the Mercer County Historical Society's 10th Pennsylvania, a re-enacting group that promotes Civil War education in communities and schools.

Aug. 23 and 24 were spent at Grove City Memorial Park where she, the wife of re-enacting soldier Ken Hoffman, cooked all of the meals for a weekend camp of about 40 people. That means two breakfasts, two lunches and one dinner — all cooked over an open fire with rudimentary tools.

During the Civil War, officers' wives traveled with them to cook.

"If she didn't go with me, I'd starve,"Ken Hoffman said.

Her menu items usually include beef stew, smashed potatoes, Italian marinated chicken, ham, bread pudding, apple pie and many other foods.

Hoffman said that cooking outdoors is fairly simple, but "the weather is the biggest challenge."

To cook, Hoffman uses a grate that re-enactors built for her. It's made out of iron pieces that can easily be taken apart and packed up, just as they were 150 years ago.

Her tools include a few large pots, a Dutch oven, a coffee percolator and skillets. The welding gloves she uses as hot pads are an admitted stretch from what Civil War cooks had as protection from burns.

To bake an apple pie, Hoffman puts a brick inside a Dutch oven and places the pie tin on top of the brick, then puts the lid on. She said that the heat then circulates around the pie.

Dressed in full Civil War-era attire including a snood and pantaloons, Hoffman said that she's never caught her skirt on fire.

She doesn't, however, "wear a hoop (skirt) around the fire," she said. That would be impractical and dangerous.

Hoffman's family all participate in the re-enactments. Her 8-year-old son Garrett Shiemke acts as a soldier and her teenage daughters Jassa Yost and Linsey Yost help around the camp and the kitchen tent. Linsey recently helped her mother by cutting the cantaloupe for Saturday's lunch.

Linsey's favorite part of re-enacting is "getting dressed up in the ball gowns," she said.

The 10th Pennsylvania re-enacts camp and battles from the Civil War several weekends each year. They also speak at local schools including Grove City and Slippery Rock's sixth through eighth grade classes. At the schools, the society can make the history "come alive" for the students, Hoffman said.

The group also presents a Civil War Christmas each year at the Old Stone House in Brady Township. They decorate the house with homemade ornaments and garlands and serve Civil War Christmas cookies to touring guests.

From her husband, who has a degree in history education, Hoffman has learned to enjoy researching the Civil War and cooking.

Cooking measurements in the 1860s were different from current day. A pound of eggs included only nine and a gill was a pint, she said.

In her research of Civil War era cooking, Hoffman has come to respect the etiquette everyone followed in that time.

"Ladies were ladies," she said. "They had etiquette for eating chicken. They had etiquette for etiquette!"

She acknowledges that what the re-enactors eat is somewhat different than what soldiers ate.

"We eat better than the soldiers,"she said.

Recipes featured today are taken from one of Hoffman's favorite books, "Civil War Period Cookery" by Robert Pelton.

2½ cups flour4 teaspoons baking powder½ teaspoon salt1½ tablespoons sugar2 cups milk2 egg yolks, beaten1 tablespoon butter, melted2 cups huckleberries2 egg whites, stiffly beatenSift together in a wooden mixing bowl the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Combine the milk, beaten egg yolks and melted butter in a separate bowl and blend thoroughly.Add this mixture slowly o the dry ingredients in the first bowl. Beat until smooth. Stir in the huckleberries. Lastly, fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.Drop by large mixing spoonfuls on hot greased griddle. When bubbles appear and it starts to brown around edges, flip pancake over and cook on other side.Serve while hot and spread thickly with butter and honey as General Lee did. He also enjoyed eating them with maple syrup generously poured over the butter.

¼ cup sugar¼ teaspoon salt½ teaspoon vanilla2 tablespoons butter, melted¼ teaspoon cinnamon1 egg, slightly beaten2 cups milk, scalded1 cup bread cubes½ cup raisinsCombine together in a wooden mixing bowl the sugar, salt, vanilla, melted butter, cinnamon and beaten egg. Blend these ingredients well.Slowly add the scalded milk while stirring constantly. Lastly, add bread cubes and raisins. Mix together thoroughly. Pour into well-buttered baking pan. Set baking pan in a larger pan of warm water.Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until inserted knife blade comes out clean. Let cool before serving. Serve with heavy cream.Makes four servings.

¼ cup flour1 teaspoon salt½ teaspoon pepper3 pound chuck roast1½ tablespoon fat1 pint boiling water2 cloves3 medium onions, quartered5 potatoes, quartered5 carrots, cut in piecesBlend flour with the salt and pepper in large wooden mixing bowl. Dredge chuck roast in flour mixture and set aside momentarily.Melt the fat (lard or butter) in a large cast iron kettle. Then put roast in kettle and brown on all sides. Add boiling water and cloves.Cover and let simmer for about two hours. Then add onions, potatoes and carrots to gravy in kettle with roast.Cover and let simmer together for another 30 to 60 minutes or until meat is tender and vegetables are done.