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Local Roots Blues, Brews & Evening Dining BBQAugust 8, 2014 (6:30pm-9pm, Dinner 7pm) in Greenfield Village PavilionThis is an extraordinary backyard-style event. |
Click on an artifact below to see how the foods we ate and the ways we prepared them have changed over the last three centuries.
1750-1830
Fireplace Trammel
Possibly United States
77.11.22
Gift of Mary Dana Wells
People living in the American colonies during the 1700s cooked the way people had for centuries--over an open fire in a fireplace. They had to constantly monitor both the fire and the cooking food.
Fireplaces don’t come with thermostats, of course. Food cooked unevenly if the heat varied from one extreme to the other. As heat levels shifted, women used trammels to raise or lower cooking vessels as they hung over the fire. These trammels--hanging adjustable hooks--were attached to a horizontal pole high in the chimney. If the fire was too hot, the cook removed the pot and adjusted the trammel hook to a higher position. |
