[Sca-cooks] how old are kettles?

[Decker, Terry D.]

The primary difference between a kettle and a cauldron is the kettle
commonly has a cover.  The common pouring method would likely be a ladle.
Although I don't think that's what you were looking for.

Bartolomeo Scappi's Opera (1570) provides a look at some of the common
utensils.  The woodcuts are webbed at:
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/food-art/

The vessels with pouring spouts I have come across all appear to be
decorated serving vessels which would not have been put on the fire and I
don't remember any from within period.

There is a rectangular brazier with what appears to be a built in tank for
heating and dispensing (from a spigot, IIRC) water that was recovered from
Pompeii.  There is a picture of it in the catalog of a Pompeii museum
exhibit which toured the US about 20 years ago.  The exhibit catalog is
entitled, Pompeii -- 79 A.D., and is often available in libraries and used
book stores.  We have a couple copies in our library.

Bear

> I have been trying to find any references to kettles in
> period, but when
> doing searches on period utensils, I've come up with mostly
> information
> about forks and cauldrons.
>
> Has anyone seen any information about a kettle type pot?  I
> realize a tea
> kettle would be out of the question, but I'm sure people
> heated water for
> other reasons.  It seems to me that it would be a natural
> development to
> have some sort of spout on a pot used for pouring hot liquids.
>
> Madelina