[Spit-project] New member to the list

[Virginia Gatling]

Hello Gunthar and list,

This is my introduction to the list.

I love cooking on an open fire. Most of my "stuff " was made in 1985-86 on a 
forge that was in my yard in Middleford when I first joined the SCA by 
Greybeard, myself, and son ( I learned how to build a forge and make several 
of my utensils, tripods & braisers under Greybeard's watchful eyes).We found 
very little info on this topic and based our designs on pictures in the 
Bayeau Tapestry and what we gleened from museums etc. My largest feat so far 
was cooking a half cow over an open fire at The Mustache War many years ago 
and making lasagna at an Elfsea event   over an open fire was one of the 
most fun & difficult. I have cooked many large pieces of beef, whole deer, 
birds etc over and under fires and in smokers over the years and have made 
items or have had them made (by Ed Ironhand a mundane blacksmith near 
Lufkin, Tx) to make it easier to cook these items and ease of transport. 
Gunthar, as you have pointed out to me in the past none of my stuff is 
period :-) but it sure has added to the ambience of my camp. I have tried to 
be as period as possible within my persona (950-1050) Nordic-Russ and am 
learning new things all the time. So maybe I can make it more so with what I 
learn on this list.

We are going to build a forge etc here in Waxahachie as soon as we can get 
the time. We used a torch & welder to make repairs and replace pieces last 
year. I get my iron from a place in Ennis, Texas. It cost me less than 
$10.00 to get enough iron (square cut) to replace the large turning spit and 
make a dozen heavy duty 24" tent stakes for the large Norman-Saxon wedge 
tent and a few other items before Gulf War last year. They even cut my iron 
for me in the lengths I required. I plan on getting to the shop sometime in 
the next few weeks to pick up some iron and see what I can come up with by 
looking at your pictures of spits.

I don't have the expertise most of you have but am willing to help anyone 
with what I do know and what I have learned about cooking over fires for the 
last 40+ years.

I have approx 5 tripod set-ups in different sizes and convert them to a 
turning split for large pieces of meat. I also have skewers for cooking over 
a small fire. I have approx. a dozen or more utensils that are all hand 
forged, several braisers, fire rings, above the ground pits, an old rusted 
drip pan that I seldom used, a copper/tin roaster & various other pots that 
are now planters since I started using stainless steel pots for safety. Now, 
I am eager to learn all I can about more period set-ups.

Now that I have bored everyone I'll go start planning my new set-up. I plan 
on cooking at Steppes Warlord this year if all goes well (on my old set-up) 
so come by and sample my fare and talk about period set-ups.

Regina