Posted by admin
Posted: November 6, 2007 - 1:21 am
Return to Alaska cracker connection unbroken as Pilot Bread's demise proves false
120 December 10, 2007 - 9:34pm | jerickson
When we were in college my wife and I had to have our parents send us boxes of Pilot Bread. Now that we have college kids we send it to them. We've made containers made from old pepperoni sticks. On them we've put on labels that have a little poem I wrote entitled "Eskimo Manna" -- "Send me away, I'm off to explore, Marry me off, See the village no more. There's something I need, Not a tool nor a toy. I can live without much, but give me my Sailor Boy."
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119 November 19, 2007 - 3:15pm | allen
Goes good with anything at any temp, but if you are very hungry have a cracker and a soda and feel it rise in your belly, gives you a full feeling.
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118 November 12, 2007 - 9:43am | AugustWest
Oh boy, let's jump for joy! One of our endless numbers of brand name nutrition-less consumables is still in business. Be sure to buy a lot of them now to show your support when they need you. Gee, since it's so cheap at Walmart (thanks for this other great shopping tip FRIEND!), everyone's favorite store- don't forget to shop at Walmart too, to support them and thank them- we don't want them to go out of business- we need them almost as much as that nutritional staple Pilot Bread!!
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117 November 11, 2007 - 10:07pm | daybreak
As a little girl my family worked at the Arctic Institute of North America at Kluane Lake Yukon Terrtory (we lived in New Hampshire at the time). My Grandfther, Phillip Upton, was a bush pilot for the Institute and would request my specialty of the house a PB cubed.
What is that you ask? It is a Peanut Butter and Pilot Biscuit sandwich made by Polly-Beth.
It is still a favorite of mine and it reminds me of him.
Polly-Beth Odom
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116 November 11, 2007 - 11:23am | Ruralmom
Remembering when I was a young girl, my aunt gave us cup o noodles for lunch with a cracker, the spread on the cracker was a mix so simple yet it seemed so delicious when eaten with our soap. Wondering what to have with your next cup o noodles try this: Just mix some mayo and relish and spread it on your cracker, simple yet "Delicious". Don't forget the dried fish and a cup of "CHI"
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115 November 11, 2007 - 10:38am | cupellaq
Extreme SBPB Delivery to Bethel
I joked to my wife that I'd pack a flat case of SBPB in my suit case coming back from Anchorage one trip. We both laughed...while rushing to get all items she listed for me and packing them...I ended up doing just that. However, I brought the pile of groceries to a major air cargo carrier for the best delivery price. No one questioned why the suit case was among the pile of cardboard boxes, but that's the way it goes once you've landed into Anchorage from the outside. Standards of living sway one extreme to another; SBPB is one of those standards and it can evolve to new horizons if you keep an open mind about it. Interbake on the Kuskokwim!
SBPB is better than gold digging!
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114 November 11, 2007 - 10:29am | cupellaq
A group of stout Yup'ik men were discussing school sports one afternoon. Seeing that the local boys always seem to do well in any school sport, one questioned how it could be? Another answered, "Suggalit, breakfast of champions!"
Peanut butter and jelly, agutak, vegetable shorting sprinkled with sugar, plain dipped in moose brisket soup, light butter with hot oats, light butter and dipped in hot tea after a meal of some sort eaten with more SBPB.
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113 November 11, 2007 - 10:19am | cupellaq
I can imagine an Interbake Oven Company displacing the Donlin Creek Open Pit Mine up in Donlin Creek. All the current employees must be transferred into a job of similiar skill sets and pay. Cost of living out here is outrageous. Though I highly doubt that any (from the janitor to the CEO) of them would agree to such a drastic change; Calista Corporation would finally do something popular among it's seemingly non-existent shareholders.
Nontheless, Interbake, come on out to the Kuskokwim and open an oven in Bethel...hub town of Southwest Alaska, the epicenter of your sales. WE LOVE the cracker with everything else eaten out here. Agutaq on SBPB, the best snack on the go!
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112 November 10, 2007 - 10:09pm | cindycory
When I go home to visit, I buy a box and bring it home to Washington. My kids and I eat them up too fast! With butter.
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111 November 10, 2007 - 7:44pm | jcarter
Growing up in Nome, the question was which is better with salted wood keg butter......
pilot bread or a jersey cream cracker?
Haven't seen a jersey cream in years!
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110 November 10, 2007 - 1:12pm | highwayismyway
I don't live in Alaska anymore but remember growing up in Anchorage with pilot bread crackers always on hand. My friend Becky and I would go to my house after school and put butter and sprinkle sugar on it and melt it in the oven. Other favorites toppings of mine were butter with peanut butter and butter with american cheese. Those made a smooth taste.
This cracker would taste good with anything on it not to mention with butter it makes a good hot tea dipper.
Aside from loading this cracker with your favorite goodies it would make for a great diet staple.
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109 November 10, 2007 - 11:44am | itsonlyjoe
Pilot Bread fried in bacon grease
Black coffee, eggs over easy, bacon, and PILOT BREAD FRIED IN BACON GREASE. can't beat it, especially on a chilly fall morning after pulling in 1000 Alaska salmon.
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108 November 9, 2007 - 10:00pm | Jody12
This may be a new one, as kids we used to butter them and dip them in Tang juice dry mix. I grew up in Alaska.
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107 November 9, 2007 - 3:49pm | hd28vrjim
Called "John Wayne" crackers when it used to show up in our wild fire fighting food supplies of yesteryear-- C-rations-looked like the same crackers. Now great with smoked canned salmon (homemade) smeared on top. Indestructible camp food, or behind the coffee filters and extra cups at the office for late night emergency snack.
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106 November 9, 2007 - 1:41pm | cotton_tail
I remember growing up in Ninilchik, I use to eat Pilot Bread after school for a snack. I would put cheese on it and put in in the oven until it melted. YUM YUM!
I sure hope it stays with us, my kids enjoy eating Pilot Bread just like I did in the 1970's.
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105 November 9, 2007 - 11:06am | mallerhoopsta
That's what is called in the southwestern Alaska..The taste changed tremendously, so with the texture. Back then, crackers tasted richly full but now, that taste is gone forever...Too bland and not crunchy. Sometimes they taste like mold..over stored in a dank storage place in Seattle..that's just my guess. I hope I am wrong. The only cracker I've tried is the oyster crackers which are shaped in rectangle are the closest taste from the 1960's and 1970's. Please tell me I am wrong...Or is it my taste buds that are going awry.
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104 November 9, 2007 - 9:20am | iwethey
You can have pilot bread with most anything! Whatever it is, it will make it taste even better.
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103 November 9, 2007 - 7:44am | akmom7
This is the most feedback I have seen on adn.
But, I must agree with others the new is not as crispy. "NEW & IMPROVED", is not always improved and better. Enjoy everyone and keep posting recipes, there are several I have not tried yet.
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102 November 8, 2007 - 4:36pm | plongpre
I always keep a box of Pilot Bread on hand. Pilot Bread is a know staple in what is called "Bush Alaska"...areas beyond the road system. Most bush Alaskans used to bake their own bread, and Pilot Bread was substituted for the in-between times when a family ran out of fresh bread. Here in Bethel, Alaska folks would receive a case of pilot bread on the first spring barge coming up from the Lower States. If company stopped in for a quick visit it was easy to put out some pilot bread with butter, jams or peanut butter to be served with hot tea or coffee. Pilot Bread is a great item for hunting and camping trips. I'm glad it is still available in our local stores. Pilot bread goes good with a salmon salad spread. It makes good minature pizzas too. It's always been the best substitute when one runs out of real bread.
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101 November 8, 2007 - 4:12pm | moenstar
Pilot Bread...Pizza sauce... Mozzarella... then microwave. So good.
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100 November 8, 2007 - 1:53pm | eskimo_shaman81
I grew up eating pilot bread in the 60s-70s with oleo...Later we liked mayo on top...but I preferred it topped with miracle whip with soup or fish...Later i discovered cream cheese and topped with any jam or jelly...yum yum...
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99 November 8, 2007 - 1:17pm | myspacer
I like to eat mine with a slice of mild cheddar cheese and turkey pepperoni on it and then microwave it for like 30 seconds, delicious and also like it with the peanut butter and jelly mixed together stuff, yum, ive also heard of people eating it with crisco smeared on it and sugar sprinkled on top which sound like BARF to me, but hey, to each their own...LOL...
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98 November 8, 2007 - 11:34am | govey_7
Pilot Bread needed in Lower 48
The homesickness of Alaskans in the Lower 48 could be a little lighter with the availability of Pilot Bread in Walmart stores all across the nation. I’m sure the Lower 48 population would take a liking to Pilot Bread. My wife-to-be from Kansas (where I am now at) took an immediate liking (affinity) to Pilot Bread when she tasted a sample in Anchorage. She wants more! Somebody please help me forward this comment to the Walmart marketing department.
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97 November 8, 2007 - 10:49am | ttundra
Pilot Bread with eskimo ice cream on the go!!!!
YYYYYYYYYYammmiiiiieeeee
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96 November 8, 2007 - 9:23am | snowshoehair
With seals' balls and ash snuff. Though the author is so funny.
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95 November 8, 2007 - 9:13am | kcarlsen
We would visit in the village; every house had pilot bread, Darigold butter in a round tin, and salmonberry jam. Heavenly.
In town, we put tuna on it or peanut butter. However, my 17 year old grandson says "thumbs down" to the latest box or two of pilot bread...too light and crumbly, not as crispy.
They need to crisp it up again.
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94 November 8, 2007 - 6:36am | jgay
We called them Bristol Bay peanut butter brownies -- pilot bread smeared with PB and sprinkled with powdered hot chocolate.
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93 November 7, 2007 - 11:25pm | theresaphilbrick
I love pilot bread. I used to stash it in my snack and treat drawer in my desk at the office where I used to work. Whenever the snack and treat drawer stash was raided, the pilot bread was always left. It also works in a pinch if you need to balance your table, cause' one of the legs doesn't touch the floor. Gotta be careful though, cause the dog might try and eat it.
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92 November 7, 2007 - 12:43pm | SkiDooGirl
Native Bread...i mean Pilot bread
Toasted, buttered,salted...broken up.......devils spread...OH and the ultimate SPAM and MAYO!!!!!!!!! Thankyou now i am craving BOTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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91 November 7, 2007 - 10:58am | ahsilamarie
i love eating it with a slice of melted american cheese on top.
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90 November 7, 2007 - 10:48am | gala
Pilot bread crackers with homemade wild Alaskan fish spread....YUMMM!!!
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89 November 7, 2007 - 10:24am | mssookie
Pilot Bread "crackers" have been a part of my daily diet for as long as I can remember...I can't stand it when my box of crackers is empty, I take them everywhere and they are always a part of the grub I take when I go out hunting during the summer, winter, spring, and fall seasons...Who ever invented the "crackers" has provided countless Alaskans with a durable food staple that goes good with just about any kind of dish!
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88 November 7, 2007 - 7:53am | jacsyd
Good News! We found it great for taking on foreign (and domestic) trips. With a bit of pilot bread and a small plastic container of peanut butter we could have a snack in Singapore, Shanghai or Sydney without going exploring for a place to eat at weird hours. When I was a "liveaboard" there was always a box of it in the galley.
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87 November 7, 2007 - 7:34am | gcflorida
When I was a kid pilot bread and C rations were the main staple of food on my Dad's mining claims. We ate it with with just about anything you could smear on top, from tuna fish to peanut butter and honey.
The "Sailor Boy" also accompanied us on our 400 mile float trip down the Yukon River and our hike over the Ckilkoot Trail...and when I crunch for lunch, their is always a box in my cupboard! Glenn Flothe, Cooper Landing Ak.
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86 November 7, 2007 - 7:16am | jimmyonayakik
I grew up with pilot bread, 63 and still love it, forget to buy chips? get the crackers out no problem. keep watchingthe game with sailor boy in your hand.
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85 November 7, 2007 - 12:16am | twilly
Whenever I ate, I always had to have a cracker in my left hand, because I'm right-handed. My spoon or fork or cup of juice or pop always at my right hand. The cracker never left it's rightful place. A meal wasn't the same with the crunch. I've had moose, reindeer, salmon, beaver, for topping with mayo and ketchup. Don't forget spam with jam, hash and jam, sardines, corned beef, libby's smallish sausage's in a small can, all topped with either mayo, ketchup, soy sauce, lp sauce, and nowadays blue cheese or ranch dressing.
One time I walked into my aunt Nuuk-jun one morning and found her making pancakes with a round circle in the middle. I sat down and watched her make the sourdough pancakes and wondered about the circle as I waited for her to finish making breakfast. I finally asked her what that circle was, and she told me that it was a suugalik. I enjoyed the new way to eat my suugalik cooked with sourdough pancake mix. I went home and told my mom about the pancake, and my mom laughed.
After graduating from high school, I went with my brother and went to school in Washington state. We start craving for crackers and my brother looked all over South King county and in Seattle for suugalik. We almost gave up, but we tried Span-Alaska and happily found lots of crackers there. Before finding them, my brother said there was no crackers in all the stores. For all you cracker lovers in the lower states, www.span-alaska.com is the place to make your orders.
Personally, I like the older style cracker, but I'll settle for this new one.
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November 7, 2007 - 2:11pm | elenalockuk
Awesome qalamciq, Twilly~ you made my day!!! My co-workers thought I was laughing to myself...lol good story. :)
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84 November 6, 2007 - 11:56pm | pitterpatterofpaws
I just want to thank you all, for your posts. I usually never do this, (well, ok, I NEVER have) but I had so much fun reading all your stories, and recipes, and I liked hearing some of your memories. Thank you all for sharing! Funny how something as simple as a cracker, can tie people together.
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83 November 6, 2007 - 9:57pm | vince1954
We've got a friend in Boston that takes a suitcase full of Pilot Crackers back with him on every visit home!! And at summer fish camp, a cracker with peanut butter and jelly is an "Igushik Big Mac"!! Can't live without them in AK
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82 November 6, 2007 - 9:28pm | cryptographix
Everywhere in Alaska and then some. We share it with our family and friends in Haida Gwaii--(British Columbia). It's a sure give away at potlatches. Goes great with fish stew or dipped in ooligan grease and to beat all with a good fish spread. I send some when I can to my Alaskan friend back East. Goes good in the hunting/fishing pack.
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81 November 6, 2007 - 7:40pm | jtikiun
Yup, miss having pilot crackers in my shelf. Been eating those since birth and passed on to my kids. My daughter loves them especially with a hot cup of Tundra tea.MMMMM!!! Can we order them online??? Thank God for Hawaiian Pilot Crackers which taste the same, but they are thinner.
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80 November 6, 2007 - 7:21pm | waynedoc
can of sardines, put on top of sailor boy crackers equals a good lunch, then a cracker topped with cold butter for dessert, um um good
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79 November 6, 2007 - 6:27pm | jameswoodman
Where can I buy the crackers in Anchorage ?
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November 6, 2007 - 6:37pm | pitterpatterofpaws
Walmart, Fred Meyers, Carrs, Costco, to name places I know of...
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78 November 6, 2007 - 5:36pm | herberq
My wife and I loved the story. I started looking around online and
it appears that the rumor which got it started had to do with
Nabisco's Crown Pilot Crackers.
See: http://www.chebeague.org/crownpilot.html
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77 November 6, 2007 - 5:31pm | m_archi
Well, I can't say that I grew up on the stuff, but we did keep it in our pantry from time to time. However, my Dad would *always* have it in his pack when he went moose hunting. Not always as a food source. He taught me, when your feet and socks get wet from tromping through the woods, you can stick one of these suckers in your boot and they absorb the moisture; voila! Dry feet! SO, it's got other advantages too!
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76 November 6, 2007 - 5:30pm | curtis4
Dipping a pilot bread into a thermos cup of hot chocolate during bird hunting was always good. They make a great lunch too, putting a kippered salmon spread on it. Talk about soul food!
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75 November 6, 2007 - 5:25pm | marwillie
When my family and I visited an old friend, who has passed on to the other side, he would always offered us tea, salmon strips and ten layer cake. Thats what he called pilot bread. I just toasted a box by placing two crackers in each slot in the toaster on 3 (medium) and then cool them off. This makes them more crisp and tastier.
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74 November 6, 2007 - 4:53pm | robynandbatman
The staple for those working in the field- archaeologists, fish and wildlife, etc. I miss it!!!
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121 January 12, 2008 - 2:20pm | reneen
pilot bread travels
My son was in Iraq and I use to send him pilot bread and salmon strips in a jar...gamathluk. Now he is in texas and I still have to send him pilot bread all the time. He will go back to Iraq for 15 months and he will want me to send them to him again.. Many of his troop never even heard of them and when they taste them, they like them. Put Spam and a slice of cheese and you have a great sandwich...
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