Eating like a Lighthouse Keeper from the 1800s

Reminder to Subscribe and leave a suggestion for future historic recipes. And I will see some of you in October for the Fall Book Tour in Boston, Ridgewood, Atlanta and Chicago. And the companion channel for extra random content: https://youtu.be/Glw5OTrHxQk

That hardtack joke never gets stale 🙃

If she makes you a Boston Corn Chowder like that, she's a Keeper

FYI, scalding milk in this recipe is a holdover from a time before pasteurization was widely available, so consider it optional. In some recipes scalding is used to infuse the milk with herbs and spices, but that's not the case here.

I've worked as a modern-day lighthouse keeper and can honestly say that the voices really liked this video!👍

You know what? I would absolutely visit a Tasting History themed restaurant.

As much as mercury is certainly an issue for neurological damage, I can only say that I've never been closer to a breakdown in sanity than being a new parent waking up every few hours. Chronic sleeplessness at the level you described would absolutely drive people over the edge. Combine that with a grueling work schedule, isolation, and consequences for failure, and I've no doubt the average keeper was barely alive day to day.

I'm a subtitle user since I have auditory processing issues, and I have to say thank you for typing them in yourself! Automatically generated subtitles on YouTube can be a nightmare. I always laugh when you do funny emoticons like at 6:29, and I can tell that you put so much passion into every step of the video making process - including writing your own subtitles, which are only noticed by folk like me. You're one of my favorite youtubers, and history has always not been one of my strong suits, but pairing it with cooking/baking (things I love to do) makes it so much easier for me to stay interested + learn about the history behind the foods. Thank you for doing all that you do, and sharing your love of history/cooking/humor/stuffed plushies with us! I love seeing what Pokémon plush + other items you'll use in the background of each video. •ᴗ•

"It's friggin delicious" The enthusiasm is adorable. That chowder looks amazing, and an old french lightkeeper with an epic heard who loved cats. This video should go in your top 10 best

Thank you. My dad was a light house keeper here in New Zealand back in the late 1940s until the mid 50s. They were very self-sufficient ,from gardening, raising a milking cow, sheep gardening ,fishing and now and then home brewing beer. Mum made butter , baking, bread. One of mums favourite recipes was what we called whales tail. It was a fruit scone mix cooked in a syrup of golden syrup, baked in the coal heated stove. Even to this day when our mum who is 95 year old she still makes it when we ask for it. She was very skilled at making clothing and keeping an eye on us children. Dad did as was required when it came to maintain the light etc, fishing and smoking the catch. I still remember loving smoked blue cod poached in fresh cows milk with lots of parsley.

Huzzah, we made it to #41 on Trending Videos. Thanks for watching and sharing.

Here in Alaska, pilot bread is very popular. I teach at an Alaskan native school, and it is a staple for us and in native villages as well as rural Alaska in general. The brand you are using for this recipe is the one we have available here, and I have heard that Alaska accounts for the lion’s share of Interbake foods’ pilot bread sales. I grew up eating it, and to me, it is delicious. I realize it is kind of bland, but there are times that there is nothing I want more than a couple pilot bread crackers. We put smoked salmon and cream cheese on them, peanut butter and jelly, eat them with moose soup, or use them for just about anything you would use bread for.

British lighthouses had two keepers until 1818, when one died and the other went mad, and from then on it was three.

I was in the Coast Guard (I got discharged in 2022 from covid complications) and serviced all of the lighthouses in Rhode Island. There are still a few original mercury stained lenses in use and are literally one of a kind. An absolutely incredible experience servicing and maintaining lighthouses. If you guys ever get the chance, Block Island is an absolute must see 👍

Max, you have ruined me. I was watching Cooks Country the other day, and a lady mentioned hard tack, and I immediately put a goofy smile on my face and clanged my hands together. You have Pavlov dogged me. ❤

Honestly, having a kitten live in your beard is life goals.. It’s pure serotonin to watch Max light up when something is delicious!.

I made this for dinner today. I cut the ingredients in half (one can of corn) since I was cooking for two and it still made a generous pot of soup. I didn't have the crackers so I toasted some day old country bread in the skillet i used to make the bacon grease. It was a delicious soup and am happy I made it. Thanks Max and Jose!

It is respectable these keepers were depressed but kept the light going to keep the sailors alive. Truly a selfless job.

It's a mistake, in my opinion, to not use the water in which you boiled the potatoes in the chowder. It has the starch, some of the nutrition, and a LOT of the flavor of the potato in it. The starch will help thicken the finished soup. I also mash a bit of the potatoes to thicken it a bit more. I also remove the bacon or salt pork solids after they are rendered and add them back to the finished chowder before serving. Just some chowder tips I find helpful, use them or not. 😊

Hey, Max (and Jose!), I just made this today and it was delicious! One thing I changed, though, because you mentioned at 21:00 that it's not very thick: I drained most of the water from the potatoes before adding the milk, butter, corn etc. You strained them once at 7:15 before boiling them with the bacon fat, but you didn't drain them again at 7:30 and I did. My soup turned out wonderfully thick and creamy. Thank you for the recipe!