[Sca-cooks] Greek terracotta foufou stove

[Sharon Gordon]

In Hoffman's book, The Olive and the Caper, she describes a 2000+ year old
stove style that is still in use in the present in Greece.

 

Description:

Made of red clay

~15 inches tall

Wine cup shape on thick hollow stem

Incisions in at the bottom of the cup leading to the stem

At the bottom of the stem is a triangular cutout

Two small curlicued handles on opposite sides of the cup's broad lip

Presently only made and sold on the island of Sifnos

 

To use:

Put small heap of charcoal in the cup, perhaps with a bit of paper
underneath

Light it

Let coals burn to red glow

Place food into long-handled two sided grill basket

Set encased food on the lip of the foufou cup over the coals

Cook one side

Flip and cook second side

 

How it works:

Triangular slot acts as fire-feeding air hole

Ashes drop through incisions into stem

When cinders/ashes are cool, they can be dumped out of the triangular slot
and the cup

 

If anyone has seen one of these or knows about the historical use, I'd love
to know:

      1) It seems like this design would be very fuel efficient.  Is it?

      2)  Any indications of what might have been used historically for the
grill basket?

3) Any place I could see pictures of historic or museum versions?

      4) Are you aware of any places in the US or Europe that have current
ones and maybe internet photos?

      5) How wide is it at the top?  Is the stem thinner or wider than the
cup?  How stable is it?

 

She really enjoyed using her foufou stove and used it almost daily when she
lived in Greece in the house that had no electricity or running water.  (She
also had a gas hot plate.)

 

Any leads appreciated.

 

Sharon

gordonse at one.net