In the North of England, the bake-stone ,
originally of the material to which it owed its
name, but at a very early date constructed of
iron, with the old appellations retained as
usual, was the universal machinery for baking,
and was placed on the Branderi, an iron
frame which was fixed on the top of the fire-
place, and consisted of iron bars, with a
sliding or slott bar, to shift according to the
circumstances.
The tripod which held the cooking-vessel
over the wood flame, among the former
inhabitants of Britain, has not been en-
tirely effaced. It is yet to be seen here
and there in out-of-the-way corners and places ;
and in India they use one constructed of clay,
and differently contrived. The most primitive
• " Environs of London,” ist ed., Surrey, pp. 502-3.
212
The Kitchen.
pots for setting over the fire on the tripod
were probably of bronze.
The tripod seems to be substantially iden-
tical with what was known in Nidderdale as
the kail-pot. “ This was formerly in com-
mon use,” says Mr. Lucas ; “ a round iron
pan, about ten inches deep and eighteen
inches across, with a tight-fitting, convex lid.
It was provided with three legs. The kail-
pot, as it was called, was used for cooking
pies, and was buried bodily in burning peat.
As the lower peats became red-hot, they drew
them from underneath, and placed them on
the top. The kail-pot may still be seen on
a few farms.” This was about 1870.
The writer is doubtless correct in supposing
that this utensil was originally employed for
cooking kail or cabbage and other green
stuff.
Three rods of iron or hard wood lashed to-
gether, with a hook for taking the handle of
the kettle, formed, no doubt, the original
tripod. But among some of the tribes of the
North of Europe, and in certain Tartar,
Indian, and other communities, we see no
The Kitchen.
213
such rudimentary substitute for a grate, but
merely two uprights and a horizontal rest,
supporting a chain ; and in the illustration to
the thirteenth or fourteenth century MS., once
part of the abbatial library at St. Albans, a
nearer approach to the modern jack is ap-
parent in the suspension of the vessel over
the flame by a chain attached to the centre
of a fireplace.
Not the tripod, therefore, but the other type
must be thought to have been the germ of the
later-day apparatus, which yielded in its turn
to the Range.
The fireplace with a ring in the middle,
from which is suspended the pot, is repre-
sented in a French sculpture of the end of
the fourteenth century, where two women are
seated on either side, engaged in conversation.
One holds a ladle, and the other an imple-
ment which may be meant for a pair of bel-
lows.
In his treatise on Kitchen Utensils,
Neckam commences with naming a table, on
which the cook may cut up green stuff of
various sorts, as onions, peas, beans, lentils,
214
The Kitchen.
and pulse ; and he proceeds to enumerate the
tools and implements which are required to
carry on the work : pots, tripods for the kettle,
trenchers, pestles, mortars, hatchets, hooks,
saucepans, cauldrons, pails, gridirons, knives,
and so on. The head-cook was to have a
little apartment, where he could prepare
condiments and dressings ; and a sink was to
be provided for the viscera and other offal
of poultry. Fish was cooked in salt water
or diluted wine.
Page 67
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
In the North of England, the bake-stone , originally of the material to which it owed its name, but at a very early date constructed of iron, with the old appellations retained as usual, was the universal machinery for baking, and was placed on the Branderi, an iron frame which was fixed on the top of the fireplace, and consisted of iron bars, with a sliding or slott bar, to shift according to the circumstances.
The tripod which held the cooking-vessel over the wood flame, among the former inhabitants of Britain, has not been entirely effaced. It is yet to be seen here and there in out-of-the-way corners and places ; and in India they use one constructed of clay, and differently contrived. The most primitive
• " Environs of London,” ist ed., Surrey, pp. 502-3.
[illustration: The Kitchen.]
pots for setting over the fire on the tripod were probably of bronze.
The tripod seems to be substantially identical with what was known in Nidderdale as the kail-pot. “ This was formerly in common use,” says Mr. Lucas ; “ a round iron pan, about ten inches deep and eighteen inches across, with a tight-fitting, convex lid. It was provided with three legs. The kailpot, as it was called, was used for cooking pies, and was buried bodily in burning peat. As the lower peats became red-hot, they drew them from underneath, and placed them on the top. The kail-pot may still be seen on a few farms.” This was about 1870.
The writer is doubtless correct in supposing that this utensil was originally employed for cooking kail or cabbage and other green stuff.
Three rods of iron or hard wood lashed together, with a hook for taking the handle of the kettle, formed, no doubt, the original tripod. But among some of the tribes of the North of Europe, and in certain Tartar, Indian, and other communities, we see no
[illustration: The Kitchen.]
such rudimentary substitute for a grate, but merely two uprights and a horizontal rest, supporting a chain ; and in the illustration to the thirteenth or fourteenth century MS., once part of the abbatial library at St. Albans, a nearer approach to the modern jack is apparent in the suspension of the vessel over the flame by a chain attached to the centre of a fireplace.
Not the tripod, therefore, but the other type must be thought to have been the germ of the later-day apparatus, which yielded in its turn to the Range.
The fireplace with a ring in the middle, from which is suspended the pot, is represented in a French sculpture of the end of the fourteenth century, where two women are seated on either side, engaged in conversation. One holds a ladle, and the other an implement which may be meant for a pair of bellows.
In his treatise on Kitchen Utensils, Neckam commences with naming a table, on which the cook may cut up green stuff of various sorts, as onions, peas, beans, lentils,
[illustration: The Kitchen.]
and pulse ; and he proceeds to enumerate the tools and implements which are required to carry on the work : pots, tripods for the kettle, trenchers, pestles, mortars, hatchets, hooks, saucepans, cauldrons, pails, gridirons, knives, and so on. The head-cook was to have a little apartment, where he could prepare condiments and dressings ; and a sink was to be provided for the viscera and other offal of poultry. Fish was cooked in salt water or diluted wine.