That doesn’t sound the least bit familiar… /s wrt to cooking facilities, I recall seeing, probably in the ROM, a brazier . It was about the same as a double hibachi. This was many years ago, so maybe superseded. They said it was typical of what might be found in a tenement in ancient Rome, although I understand those were stratified, lower floors = more wealth.
As I understand it the typical set up was arranged around a central courtyard. Whether a private villa for the wealthy with a courtyard at its center. Or multiple housing blocks arranged around a public courtyard.
Cooking was done in or adjacent to that courtyard. And braziers, and similar semi open early stoves (basically add a top with a hole in it to hold a pot) are all considered open hearth cooking rather than true stoves.
This was the common setup in warmer areas of the world. It kept smoke and heat out of the home. For poorer classes stoves/hearths would be communal the way ovens were, and might have been as simple as an open pit dug in the ground. Heating inside the home was accomplished with small open braziers.
Those heating braziers are often confused for cooking devices. For example “hibachi” refers to small cast iron braziers used to heat rooms in Japan. The small grills/stoves we label that way are properly called shichirin or konro, and were essentially small scale versions of Kamado. The Japanese version of the early enclosed stoves first developed in Asia. Kinda those early open stoves with the pot holder fully enclosed to conserve fuel, and once fully developed were as much like an oven or tandoor as a stove.
Building one involved partially burying a large ceramic or clay vessel to act as the fire box and central draft. Then building earth and plaster or clay around the top to keep the heat contained. That allowed you to bake in it very much like a tandoor, or more commonly support a pot or skewers/a gridiron over the top for cooking.
Our modern Kamado style barbeques originate with taking one of those clay inserts, sticking it on legs, and using it like a grill. My grandfather actually made a good amount of money smuggling those into the US when he was in the Airforce in the 50’s and 60’s/.
IIRC the earlier semi-enclosed stoves and braziers/grills, as well as the tandoor style buried pot ovens existed by the early Roman period, having been developed in Asia and spread along trade routes. But the full on stove version didn’t develop until the 15th or 16th century (maybe a bit earlier I’m bad with dates). And never proliferated outside of Asia.
In colder climes the hearth was usually inside, and tended to be a large open fire place. Which allowed it to heat the home, and meant cooking was shielded from weather. But required chimneys and ventilation.
It’s kind of illustrative for the difference between open hearths and true stoves. With a true stove the heat is contained, channeled and directed.
And I’ve just realized I know more about the history of stoves and ovens than I do about Rome.
You’re quite right about the cooking, bread in most Italian villages was made in large communal ovens. there are some places they’re still in use, unless I’m mistaken… and most cooking was done over a fireplace, or by burying things in ashes in the fireplace, and I’m guessing the fireplace and chimney had the same history as most of europe, when bricks became more commonplace, they ended up in chimneys and fireplaces in houses where people couldn’t afford to build the whole house from them (I think the 1400’s they started to become popular in Britan).
Can confirm. I spent some time in West Bengal, mostly Durgapur, in 2015. Every tea stall was surrounded by a dusty red bed of crushed clay cups. You drank your tea then crushed the cup under your foot. The longer a stall had been there, the thicker the bed of clay became. I suspect this clay was eventually pulled up and returned to the cup makers, but never was able to confirm.
I took a couple home with me, but they didn’t survive the journey.
I recently saw a BBC show on preparing a Tudor sugar feast.
The confectioners used 16th century gear, heating sauces in small pots by balancing them precariously on upright cans of charcoal. Scalds must have been very common.
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…bread in most Italian villages was made in large communal ovens.
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The issue was largely the cost of fuel. Even if they had a bread oven, few households could afford the wood to heat it up. The baker could fire up a large oven that retained heat much more efficiently.
Tastes like chicken! I’m not sure what the usual fair on Haida Gwaii was; Haida eat a lot of seafood but the name suggests to me opportunistic eating so maybe small land animals or small birds or probably all of the above