Have you ever cooked in a fireplace?
 

An excerpt fom the book, Hung, Strung and Potted, A History of Eating habits in Colonial America, by Sally Smith Booth, cpyrt 1971.

"The fireplace or clavelpiece, was constructed specifically to provide the best possible arrangement for cooking. On each side of the fireplace, just below mantel level, were two small ledges on which rested a round rod. From this sturdy lug pole, pots were hung for cooking. In poorer homes lug poles, also called backbars were made from green wood which was wetted periodically or completely replaced to retard burning."

"A lug pole that burned at an inopportune time meant that the dinner pot dropped directly in the fire, not only spoiling the meat but possibably burning any bystanders. As famlies became more affluent, iron poles were substituted for the wood, thus eliminating the danger from scalding."

"Pots that hung from the lug pole were raised and lowered above the fire by means of s shaped hooks, adjustable ratchets, trammels, hakes or chains. By adjusting the height of the pot from the fire, cooking could be regulated must like the burners of present day ranges; the shortest hook was the highest from the fire produced a slow simmering, the low-hung pot on a longer rachet was needed for a fast or rolling boil."

"Baking was done is a small enclosed compartment built into the chimney next to the open hearth. The door to this recess opened into the room or directly into the fireplace. Ovens facing into the fire made it difficult to bake and cook on the hearth at the same time. Burned clothing was not unusual, particularly since early American women cooked while wearing long skirts, which easily picked up scattered sparks. As a result ovens that opened into the fireplace were gradually eliminated in favor of those that face into the room."

How awesome! I always swore that if I ever built a house I would certainly include a "stand up" hearth for cooking complete with baking oven, etc. This sounds like just the thing for me.

Thanks for sharing.

Donsgal

Ovens facing into the fire made it difficult to bake and cook on the hearth at the same time. Burned clothing was not unusual, particularly since early American women cooked while wearing long skirts, which easily picked up scattered sparks. As a result ovens that opened into the fireplace were gradually eliminated in favor of those that face into the room."


Lordy...cooking sure was more hazardous then!

We done lots of cooking on open fires - but all were OUTside...

One of the leading causes of death for women in "developing nations" (PC term for third world countries) is, of all things, skirt fires.

donsgal

one of my goals is to buy a dutch oven with a recessed lid/top. i can't wait to get one of those and cook with hot coals.

every now and then I bake cornbread in my woodstove. when the coals are all flamed out and just hot glowing, i scraape them all to the sides and leave the brick floor in the center bare, and set a tin breadpan with batter there in the center.

doesnt take long and bada bingo... hot corn bread.

the first loaf i did I think is still here somewhere as a doorstop.

lol

I've seen it done, but haven't gotten to do it myself yet. I don't have a fireplace. Have cooked on an outside fire, and on a old wood kitchen stove, and would love to try cooking in a fireplace.

I've done baking potatoes and sweet potatoes in the coals. Just wrap them up in foil, bury them in the coals, and don't let the fire get too hot while they're roasting. You can do chicken the same way, but the timing gets tricky.

I cooked a couple of squirrels in our fireplace back when we lived in the burbs. They'd been digging up my bulbs all year and I'd finally had enough. The neighbors had been feeding them for a few months so they were nice and plump. Cleaned them, wrapped them in foil with some veggies and herbs and into the coals they went. Revenge is tasty!

I tried cooking over camp fires when I was a boy scout. I hope I don't ever have to do that again.

If you boil noodles in the fireplace, put a lid on it so no ashes drift in. Though it DID do the job!

That probably is the biggest problems with camp cooking - cooking over the fire. You get a lot better results if your scrape coals into an area next to the fire and then cook over the coals. You can add more coals from the fire as needed.

We went on vacation once to Cape Cod, Mass and up there we just happened upon an old colonial house and they were giving tours of it. The tour guide was very knowledgable and the tour was fascinating. The house had one of the huge fireplaces like you describe, but instead of an iron pole across the fireplace there were two poles, one on either side, and they could be rotated out into the room for easier stirring, adding of ingredients, and dipping out of the contents.

There were several dutch ovens and iron pots, along with utensils and S-hooks hanging in and around the fireplace.

The tour guide said the same thing DonsGal did - skirt fires were a leading cause of death in the old homesteading days. The women had to actually stand *in* the fireplace on occasion, so a popping bit of wood and flying sparks were quite dangerous.

Years ago I worked as a historical interpreter at Booker T. Washington National Monument. We dressed in the long skirts and used the fireplace in the cabin to cook almost everyday.

There was a long swing out iron hook to hang a cast iron pot on over the fire and we had a cast iron skillet with a very long handle. We also had a dutch oven with a rimmed lid. For lunch, we usually had corn-on-the-cob or green beans in the hanging kettle, fried potatoes or squash and onions in the skillet, and either rolls or blackberry cobbler in the dutch oven. It was good eatin' but it sure was hot!!

I cook meals in a dutch oven placed inside my outdoor wood heater. Does a great job, as long as it's only a bed of coals and not too hot.

You didn't have to bake that cornbread!
 

An excerpt fom the book, Hung, Strung and Potted, A History of Eating habits in Colonial America, by Sally Smith Booth, cpyrt 1971.

"Cornmeal in its driest and most finely powered form was known on the frontier as rockahominy. Most travelers carried small bags of maize with them on the trail, and mixed the powder with water in the palm of their hands to get quick energy. A similar indian dish was named nokik. This food of small weight was particulary nourishing, for during the eighteenth century, it was estimated that a frontiersman could exist in the forest half a year with only 6 pounds of rockahominy and 2 to 4 pounds of glue soup."

I used to work in a colonial restaurant that was in a restored 1776 building. They used to do fireplace cooking demostrations in the walk-in fireplace from time to time. On the occasion of the annual Christmas feast, we would roast a small whole pig on the spit, along with several side dishes. The employees got to eat the pig after the dinner was over.

I have cooked potatoes a few times, and once I tried something I had seen on TV....

I had roasted chicken in front of the fire hanging it from a string. I used a large piece of aluminum foil and chicken wire to hold it in place for a heat shield. You have to soak the string in oil then tress the chicken. I buttered it and used spices 'n herbs from the garden on and in it. You also need a drip pan under it, and it needed basting quit a bit. All you do is wind the string up now and then to evenly roast it. I had used a thermometer to know when it was done. It took allot of time but it was worth it! What a good smoked flavor! MAN THAT WAS GOOD EATS!

I’m always looking to try something new!

this is something I want to build into my dream kitchen. I want the option but I still want to be able to have a gas stove.
I just figure it will be a good thing to have if there is a power outage, a blizzard or other event as such. Or if we cant pay the gas bill. :shrug:

When I was in highschool, our history teacher Mr. Glass would sponsor a day at his house, an early 18th c. center chimney colonial. It had a small modern kitchen for everyday but still had the original colonial kitchen and its huge fireplace. We spent the day doing all sorts of colonial skills, spinning, weaving, making sausages by hand, cheese making and candle making and we finished up with a meal cooked in that fireplace. It was really hot hard work.

Ive always wanted a kitchen fire in the English manner. Many english cottages have a narrow but tall fireplace. The fire is placed on a raised platform like a modern brick barbecue and has a grill over it. This is for grilling and boiling. There is generally a swinging rod for hanging pots and kettles and a built in oven on one side. The top of the oven made a shelf for slow cooking or warming food.Sometimes there was a big kettle set into the brick work with a place to build a fire underneath for boiling water for the wash or making large batches of stew or soup. Heres a picture that sort of looks like what I mean.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f3...placeright.jpg

There are some good cooking shows on DirectTV channel 379 dealing with cooking over a fire. Campfire Cafe comes to mind but there are others.

I've cooked a pig in front of a fireplace.

Does that count?

Yes, Paul & I were part of reenactors that went from early 1800's through early 1900's. We were set up in the log cabin and made Christmas dinner in the fireplace of the cabin

During the Blizzard of 1998 I was forced to cook on our fireplace for six days....I used up everything we had to cook in the refridge since we had no electricity during that time....my iron cookware and skillets worked just fine over the open coals and fire...

I didn't have a "hanging pole" so cooked mainly over the coals I'd raked out toward the front.

Now we have a propane stove with no electricity going to it but I also regularly cook on our wood burning heater when we have it fired up...dried beans, stews, chilis and all kinds of stuff like that are great slow cooked on top of the wood burning heater...

Also, as for safety: blindness runs in my family; my grandmothers as far back as we could trace all went blind. They all wore long skirts and they all cooked over open fireplaces (or campfires when they were traveling in covered wagons) and all of them managed to stay safe....( and yes I take all the vitamins and do everything I can to protect my eyes including working closely with my eye doc.)

I have a friend that built a fireplace in his new home. He put a bracket in the fireplace and a heavy metal grill that slides onto it. Once the fire gets a good bed of coals he slides the grill on and swings it over the fire. Once hot, he grills steaks or chicken or baked potatoes. All the smell goes up the chimney. Great for grilling in the winter or when its raining out, when outdoor grilling isn't possible.

Were they picking berries and snaring rabbits along the way?

What the heck is glue soup anyhow? Is it tastier than Elmer's ?? :shrug:

Here is one answer to what is glue soup.
 

From a Mormon diary
The winter of 1848-49 was especially severe, and both settlers and livestock suffered heavily. Firewood was difficult to obtain and food supplies dwindled. Some turned to boiling rawhide for nourishment "glue soup," it was called by one family. Those who had surplus shared with those who were less fortunate; and to prevent excess profit-making, voluntary controls were established on the price of such necessities as beef and flour. The colony survived, but empty stomachs, frostbitten feet, and an unfamiliar environment discouraged many pioneers. For some, California's milder climate became an increasingly attractive lure.
http://www.ldshistory.net/crossing.htm

From Lorenzo Dow's Mormon Diary
To prepare a meal, a piece of raw-hide was boiled until it became a glue soup, when salt was added to season. This being a native product was abundant while other condiments were as scarce as the food they were intended to season.http://www.angelfire.com/trek/forthe...oneergold.html

And Glue soup may have been made from soup cakes
 

http://www.metnews.com/articles/2005...cing052605.htm

Lewis and Clark Supply list

One receipt shows the purchase of 193 pounds...of ‘portable soup,’ which Bredhoff said was a paste made of boiled-down beef and cow’s hooves, eggs and vegetables.

we've done quite a bit of open fire cooking in campstove dutch ovens (bread,cobblers, potpies, biscuits, stews etc.) It makes me appreciate my gas oven ALOT. I also have a woodburning cookstove. In '01 we used it primarily for heat and I did cook on it quite a bit. It's not as insulated as needs to be and I had to keep turning the biscuits around to get them to brown evenly, as well as a pie I baked; but it did get the job done and I know now that I can do it if the need ever arises. tyusclan momma

I have been researching possible outdoor ovens and came across this link for Guatemalan relief efforts to provide stoves for the women. Terrible burns and high mortality rates from respiratory infections, but also blindness is not uncommon among women.
http://www.onilstove.com/benefits.htm
http://www.guatemalastoveproject.org/aboutus.html

Health problems and open fire cooking
 

Thanks burbsteader, considering all the health problems with open fire cooking, I think maybe that cooking in a fireplace should only be done occasionally or during emergencies. Maybe todays fireplaces are designed a litle safer with less smoke going in the room.

Rockahominy Link (parched indian corn)
 

http://www.kurtsaxon.com/foods011.htm


"Rockaliominy is nothing' but Indian corn parched without burning-, and reduced to Powder. The Fire drives out all tlie Watery Parts of tlie Corn, leaving the Strength of it behind, and this being very dry, becomes much lighter for carriage and Iess liable to be Spoilt by the Moist Air. Thus half a Dozen Pounds of this Sprightful Bread will sustain a Man for as many Months, provided he husband it well, and always spare it when he meets with Venison, which, as I said before, may be Safely eaten without any Bread at all. By what I have said a Man needs not encumber himself with more than 8 or 10 Pounds of Provision, tho' he continue half a year in the Woods. These and his Gun will support him very well during the time, without the least danger of keeping one Single Fast."

I can be counted as one of those who worked at a historical villiage for most of my youth in N E ohio .. through the 70's and early 80's. During the summer months I mainly worked outdoors as Jack of all .. but in teh winter I worked indoors as tour guide or in teh kitchen .. I was lucky enough to apprentice under two women , Evelyn Jagger and Nancy Kalin .. both now deceased .. I learned extensive fireplace cooking , and brick oven baking. to this day I can tell you oven temp pretty much on by sticking in my arm .. I dont know how many coals i have hauled out of brick oven withthe peel ...
A few years ago all this stood me in good stead when I had my yoke at a re enactment in nw ohio that had an outdoor brick oven on the premisis and they did a whole meal for the re enactors in that and a cabin fire place ... the family who usually did the cooking and baking didnt show up .... some one had told the directors that I had experience ... guess who did all the baking and roasting for 250 re enactors/family two turkey's , one venison haunch , one rear primal beef roast .. and 15 loaves of bread ... all that and still gave demos with the oxen that saturday !!!!

Also for those of you who dont have a spit/crane etc.. a reflector oven works well for meats in front of the fireplace / campfire .. and would be simple to make ...

Paula
Hyde Park Farm

I cook in my fireplace occassionally, but I haven't done it much since I got my wood cookstove. I cook on my regular woodstove sometimes too. The fireplace is more like a campfire than the woodstoves, so ashes can be an issue but if you're careful it's not a problem. I would like to somehow incorporate a bread oven in my fireplace-- I think I could there are heat chambers w/fans??

And Paula you'll never know if you'll need these skills sometime in the future. If things got tough you would be able to cook over any kind of fire. You never realize when your young how important some of the things that you are taught can be. I worked in a butcher shop scraping blocks and cleaning slicers when I was 14. The butchers there showed me how to cut up chicken and other smaller pieces like pork loins and such. I still get a kick out of remembering that when I cut up my own chicken for meals. :)

You arent telling me nothing !!! time and time again my skills learned both under the craftmen and atisans as well as the restoration crew laborers and the farmer and jsut being a tour guide in general have come in handy , both in being able to teach others as well as in day to day life ... fire place cooking , weaving harnessing and driving a team , a yoke , gardening ,butchering , construction work and numerous skills I couldnt begin to name .. i think the best skill I learned was just plain people skills .....
invaluble lessons all to have learned in early life, all very hands on .. and almost every day I rely on skills I learned before I was twenty .. I am thankful for all the folks who taught me and alwowed me to aske endless questions ..
whe I first saw a copy of carla emery's book ... as I read through it , I thought to my self .. you know i could have written that !!
Still more to learn though ... always

Paula
Hyde Park Farm

My dad used to grill meat on an old refridgerator grate propped up on four bricks! I never thought anything of it until I got to be an adult and realized no one I knew grilled meat in their fireplace! He was a wonder.....

PHL

Some of this "glue soup" recipe sounds and awful lot like the recipe for "hide glue" Most of your early furniture was built with this and its still some of the best glue there is. the best thing is it s repairable.
i have a kodiak stove/fireplace that I cook on and in during the winter. nothing like bacon and eggs on a wood stove.