[Sca-cooks] ISO resources for history of cast iron cookware

wheezul at canby.com wheezul at canby.com
Tue Jun 14 09:10:43 PDT 2011


I recently went on a journey of pots and pans and spent some time looking
at German 16th century inventories to get an idea of how a house might be
outfitted for culinary purposes.  I just want to say up front that my
examination so far has just been scratching at the surface, but I would
like to do more follow up.   I have a love of kitchen gadgets!

I'd agree with Anne-Marie - the inventories confirm that most implements
were brass, bronze and ceramic, with a great deal of pewter ware for
service.  However, iron kettles and pans do pop up with some frequency. 
However, the inventories so far have not revealed if they are forged,
riveted, or of cast iron.

And then there was an interesting reference I think in the book below
which has a line drawing of a cast iron kettle or pot dating from the late
medieval period.  I wish I had kept or could find my notes - I seem to
recall that the pot was in a museum in Scotland.

Irons in the fire : a history of cooking equipment /
http://portlandstate.worldcat.org/oclc/12453278

I also scanned these books for information:

English bronze cooking vessels and their founders, 1350-1830 /
http://portlandstate.worldcat.org/oclc/53459205

Les objets de la vie domestique : ustensiles en fer de la cuisine et du
foyer des origines au XIXe siecle /
http://portlandstate.worldcat.org/oclc/299756011

Has anyone worked on an annotated bibliography of cooking equipment?

Katherine

>
> Certainly if the archeological record is to be considered, the majority of
> cookware was cast bronze (cast by bell makers, perhaps?), fabricated
> tinned
> vessels and ceramics. I have used all three in re-enactment settings to
> good
> results :).
>
> --Anne-Marie
>
>



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