[Sca-cooks] peach pit molds, period utensils

[Stephanie Howe]

There will be more dragons- they're too much fun to sculpt. :)  I'll have at
least one, maybe more, for next Pennsic.  Or, contact me privately... I do
commissions.
Clay frypans:
I'd suspect they would be used rather like the legged cookpots- over coals
rather than open flame.  Earlier ones had feet, like pipkins or modern Dutch
ovens.  Clay does fine with heat provided the gradient of change isn't
sharp.. would require much greater care and planning than metal, and I'm
wondering if it's characteristics wouldn't change the expected results, too-
*can* meat be browned on a clay griddle, for instance?  Are the flattish
ceramic pan objects with handles identified as such in my archeology books
really "griddles" or "frypans", or did they serve some other purpose
altogether? Catch pans for drippings or au jus reduction?  For the most
part, the little bit of documentary evidence for kitchen equipment I've seen
doesn't bother to enumerate or really describe the non-metal wares- too
common, cheap, and likely disposable to trouble making an itemized
inventory.. just the words "pottery" or "jugs".
Water storage:
Yes, earthenware or even immature, unglazed stoneware jugs work great at
Pennsic to keep water cool by transpiration.  And a tight fitting lid kept
the ants out, too.  :)  I made one for our camp, being tired of the ugly 5
gal. Igloo cooler... Not completely successful, aesthetically, but perfectly
functional.
I decided to not bother with a bung and spigot, although there's evidence
for later period (post 14C in England) use of such on large cider/ale jugs:
not the spigots themselves, but bungholes in larger jugs, called cisterns.
I got a really nice brass and iron dipper from Magic Badger, and had cool
water all war, even when the jar was in the full sun.  I did pour molten
beeswax into the warmed pot to coat the bottom and help prevent table rings,
but that's it.

Olga