[Spit-Project] Some questions

Saint Phlip phlip at 99main.com
Wed Oct 8 00:24:53 PDT 2008


On Wed, Oct 8, 2008 at 2:59 AM, Daniel Schneider <macbrighid at campus.ie> wrote:
>
>
> Hiya!
>
> With an eye to stirring up some activity on the list, I thought I'd throw out some of the questions I'd mentioned in my intro:
>
> 1:I understand that cast iron is late period, so my bake kettle isn't really appropriate (sob!), so what, if anything, *would* be, for outdoor baking?

I have pictures of copper cooking pots made and used by the Norse
about 1000 CE. Look up the Mastermyr find. The pages with "Osan" in
the url belong to a friend of mine, and have the pictures on the 'Net.

Pottery was used, and we do experiments with period pottery every year
at Pennsic in our camp. I think I sent the URLs from a friend's
website over a couple months ago.

There are several drawings around, from period, of some huge pots used
for cooking- large enough to stew an entire ox. I've noticed some of
them appear to be riveted which tells me that they were likely made of
iron, since I rather doubt copper or bronze would hold together
rigidly in those shapes, considering the weights involved.

> 2: How early are dangle spits? I know that I saw a mention of them on the web page for an English Tudor- era group, I'm wondering how much further back they might go.

I'm not sure. I suspect that metal dangle spits might be fairly late,
though I'd love to learn otherwise. OTOH, the experiments Gunthar
demonstrated for us a couple years ago, placing a roast and a chicken
on a spinning string, got me thinking. Depending on your when/where,
medieval folk were aware of methods of cooking using otherwise
flammable materials where the flammability was minimized by
intelligent balancing of water levels, and avoidance of direct heat.
Cooking game in a "pot" made of its own hide and boiling water in
tightly woven baskets are two examples of this technique, and wouldn't
require using hot rocks as long as the water level was high enough and
the coals were properly maintained. Cooling water in an olla is just
another variation of the same technique.

>
> Thanks in advance for anything ye might have to share
>
> Dan



-- 
Saint Phlip

Heat it up
Hit it hard
Repent as necessary.

Priorities:

It's the smith who makes the tools, not the tools which make the smith.

.I never wanted to see anybody die, but there are a few obituary
notices I have read with pleasure. -Clarence Darrow



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