Portable fireplaces/grills/coal holders

[Glaukos the Athenian]

From my recent trip to Greece, I was surprised to see a large number of grills or braziers displayed in museums, ranging in age from the Mycenean period all the way up to the late classical.
(photos to be added later)

Semi forgotten in a secondary display at the museum in Mycene was a portable grill/fireplace.
This consisted of a square slab of good quality clay, with a lip or raised edge on three sides, and four legs.
Perpendicular to the open side, the raised edge had scalloping, and the museum curators had placed wooden skewers to show the way this was used.
This is obviously not as sexy as bronze swords, but relevant for us. Fires are not just made anywhere in period. They are controlled.
Also there is relevant connection with texts, as meat roasted in skewers is the main way of cooking food in Homer, and still used to this day all around the Mediterranean.

Then these from the Agora museum, from the 6-5 centuries BC:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... 9_2009.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... 9_2009.jpg

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: ... 9_2009.jpg

Lastly,

A round clay tripod "griddle". With a smooth surface with a raised edge, and "stippling" on the bottom.
(photo later)

It seems that the old "fire on the ground" idea we learned from camping may have not been the usual way to manage cooking fire, at least in Greece. I suspect, from seeing the Roman field kitchens, that they liked to keep fire well under control as well.

Hope this is of some interest...

Glaukos

[Norman]

Man!
Now I have a craving for Shishkebab
(and I can't have for another week)

You bastard!

okay ... coming down now

Not quite clear on the photo - Is the first grill made of clay or metal?

The last image - with the skewers,
am I right in understanding that a small layer of coal would lay on the flat surface of the clay pedestal and the skewers would sit very much as displayed?

[Glaukos the Athenian]

Man!
Now I have a craving for Shishkebab
(and I can't have for another week)

You bastard!

okay ... coming down now

Not quite clear on the photo - Is the first grill made of clay or metal?

The last image - with the skewers,
am I right in understanding that a small layer of coal would lay on the flat surface of the clay pedestal and the skewers would sit very much as displayed?

It is clay.

It sorta makes sense. If you are not moving it about too much, and use the right type of clay, clay would work well for a grill.

As for shiskebab, actually souvlaki in Greece, it is as common as the word suggest.

More or less unchanged for more than 3200 years....

[Norman]

So, if I was to make this

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:3240_-_Athens_-_Shallow_brazier_-_Sto%C3%A0_of_Attalus_Museum_-_Photo_by_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto,_Nov_9_2009.jpg

Do I need to use anything special?
Or would any ole clay from the crafts shop do?

And -- are there period (I mean medieval ... and hopefuly Eastern Europe / West Asia) versions of the same documentable?

[Glaukos the Athenian]

Well,

Potters would me more qualified than myself to answer as to materials. From my delving in archaeology, I would imagine that to make the clay more resistant to thermal shock, it would help to use a quantity of grit temper (such as coarse sand) in the clay.

This is the case in Canaanite and Israelite pottery, which is closer to my area of familiarity.

Notice this page:

http://www.regia.org/pottery.htm

And this from Australia describing a grill/griddle/pan from medieval Romania...
http://www.levantia.com.au/dailylife/cookware.html

Notice also the similarity in the use of a grill with a pan on top, in these Mexican ladies cooking Tortillas over a clay griddle set on top of a grill

http://mexicocooks.typepad.com/mexico_c ... eras_2.jpg

Does this help at all?

Remember clay was cheap (though the skill to manage it and the fuel to fire it were less cheap). We treasure our clay items because they are specialized reproductions. But we throw out McDonalds cups because they are everywhere....

[Glaukos the Athenian]

I owed you guys some pics:

Mycenean shiskebab grill, Circa 1250 BCE

Notice one side open to manage the fire, and the handles, as well as the "slots" on the sides, to keep the skewers from rolling...

[Glaukos the Athenian]

Also a griddle, Archaic Greece, from the Nauplion Archeological museum, for the Early Greeks version of bacon an eggs.... (probably for bread or a brazier)

Notice the bottom is stippled or punctured with little holes, perhaps for heat management...