[Spit-project] Idea about firebowls

[Michael Gunter]

>I'm looking at those pictures and drooling.  All that food looks so good!

Well, if you like that, Mistress Gwyneth and I will be doing a class at
King's College in preparing a full period meal over an open fire and using
as much period cookware and techniques as we are able.

>What's occured to me is:  Can a smaller spit be made that can sit over one
>of those firebowls?  Can one of the spit designs do that already, and then
>once another base is made just convert it?  We have a firebowl, and I'd
>LOVE for it to be multi-purpose and be able to cook in it.

I don't see why not. Just use a smaller spit. If you look at the Scappi
illustration there is a trivit for holding a large cauldron on it and spits 
along
the legs. The size of the spit would depend on what you want to cook
on it. For a firebowl like that you can do sausages, game birds, small 
roasts,
etc....Shoot, you can set up a spit to go over a simple brazier.

>Which brings me to my second question:  Is there a "Cooking everything on
>an open fire for Dummies" book?  It may sound like a dumb question, but
>I've never worked like that to cook.  I don't think the backyard grill
>counts.

Mmmmm....depends. There are a ton of grilling books. And you might
want to check books by buckskinning groups. There are a lot of dutch
oven cooking books with other recipes as well. I think that would be your
first place to look.

As far as doing period cooking over open fires, I'm not sure of any. Maybe
I'll have to write one.

I'm really looking for period pottery cookware. They didn't have cast iron
back then so most dutch ovens and potjies really aren't period. They used
bronze and brass and tin pots a lot. And a lot of the cooking was done on
pottery. That's a totally different animal than cooking on steel or iron.

The main object in cooking over pottery is controlling the heat. It needs
to heat and cool slowly. It works well but you can't just leave it alone.

>Moira
>Novice camp coo

So I haven't heard from anyone wanting to get together and get stuff
and start welding or blacksmithing. Any of you talented folk want to pipe
up?

Gunthar

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