VOL. II.

No. 12.

In the early settlement of Essex county food, as now, was baked, roasted, fried or boiled. The colonists had the necessary means of cooking in these several ways. Vegetables and meats, as well as water, were boiled in various kettles suspended over the open hearth-fire by pot-hooks and trammels from a movable crane which swung in the fire-place. Pot-hooks were short pieces of small-sized iron rod, bent partly over at each end so as to form hooks. Trammels were similar to pothooks, but longer, and made to shut together by sliding, so that their length could be changed at will. In the earlier days trammels were placed far up the chimney, when there was no crane, being supported by a bar of iron placed across the flue. In the inventory of the estate of Abraham Belknap of Lynn, in 1643, pothooks and pot-hangers receive their first mention in the county.

Iron pots were the earliest cooking vessels in use here, being mentioned in the inventory of the estate of Samuel Smith of Enon (Wenham) in 1642. In the Belknap inventory a brass pot is first mentioned.

In the latter inventory, brass and iron kettles are named. Copper kettles were also early used. It was a sacred duty of the thrifty housewife to keep her brass and copper kettles brightly polished.

Small kettles or boilers, made of brass or iron, and called skillets, were in common use here in the earliest days, the Belknap inventory mentioning "three ould scillets."

The fire-pan was in use all through the colonial period. It was a shallow iron

dish about the size of a spider, though generally deeper, and stood on three legs, which were about eight inches in length. It had a close-fitting cover, with a rim about an inch high. The food to be cooked was placed in the pan, and the pan was set upon or in the hot coals or ashes on the hearth, the cover being also covered with hot coals or ashes.

ANCIENT FRYING PAN.

Meats, etc., were fried over a fire in the early days much the same as now. The ancient frying pans* had long handles, which were necessary because of the heat of the hearth-fire over which the pans were held. For use in stoves and ranges, their handles were shortened, and they were and are still called spiders. The Belknap inventory contains the earliest mention of frying pans here.

Gridirons for boiling meat and fish have always been in use in this county. The first mention made of one here is in the inventory of the estate of Hugh Churchman of Lynn, in 1644.

The toasting-iron for toasting bread and cheese before or over a fire was also early in use.

Some of the poorer families in the early days roasted meat by suspending it before the hearth-fire by a strong cord. To have the heat applied to it evenly on every side a twist was frequently given to the cord,

Frying pans are very ancient, being mentioned in Leviticus, ch. ii, v. 7.

Most families, however, had one or more iron rods called spits. The spit was thrust through the meat to be roasted which was then securely fastened in an even mass by thin and narrow pieces of

- SPIT AND SKEWERS.

iron about seven inches in length. This was done by thrusting the skewers through the meat and through the holes in the spit. Dr. Felt says that skewers were sometimes made of wood. The spit was placed horizontally above the hearth before the open fire, the ends resting on supports in such a way that it could be turned. In the early days, poor boys were hired to turn the spit, and they throve on the gravy that fell into the dripping pan. The Belknap inventory contains the first mention of a spit in Essex county.

Swift refers to the spit in the following couplet :

"With Peggy Dixon thoughtful sit,

Contriving for the pot and spit." Remembering the days of the spit, the reader will undoubtedly recall the old expression, "Done to a turn."

Whether the roasting was done on a spit or cord the meat was repeatedly basted with gravy from the dripping pan, which was placed below the meat to catch the fat that fell therefrom. The first mention of a dripping pan here is also found in the Belknap inventory. It is still used, though now it holds in the baking-oven both meat and gravy.

The constant attention that had to be bestowed upon a roast was a burden upon the early cooks, and a mechanical contrivance to keep the spit in motion was invented, being named a jack. The power was obtained from heavy weights. The machine was fastened above the fireplace, and was connected with the spit by a belt. It had to be wound up, there being a rachet within the drum next to the large

picture of an ancient jack. The spits used with jacks were heavier than others. Jacks remained in common use until they were superseded by tin kitchens about 1790. Pope notices the jack as follows:"Some strain in rhyme; the muses, on their racks, Scream like the winding of ten thousand jacks. The tin kitchen, which caused the passing of the jack, was a tin cover which was placed upon the hearth over the roast, the side next to the fire being the only one open. The cover collected the heat and applied it, in some degree, to all sides of the meat. The engraving shows how the

spit was placed in this frame, and how it was turned by the handle. Around the handle end of the spit were a series of small holes. The little point projecting from the back part of the handle was inserted in these holes, one at a time, resting for a few moments in each one successively, thus holding the roast securely in the same position until a partial turn was given by moving the point to the next hole. This was a great improvement; still, the necessity of constant watchfulness and frequent turning of the meat remained.

The brick ovens of our fathers must not be forgotten. From the earliest settlement until recent times ovens were built by the side of the kitchen fireplace, at a convenient height. They were flat on the bottom and arched above. Some of them were quite deep, and a thin shovel, made of wood or iron, called a peel, was necessary to move in and out the pots of brown bread, Indian pudding and beans. The bricks were first heated by a roaring wood fire in the oven itself, which was continued