[Spit-project] New member to the list
Virginia Gatling
ginlee at cnbcom.net
Thu Apr 12 19:03:33 PDT 2007
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
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