Greece - The Ancient Kitchen

Greece - The Ancient Kitchen
by Sofia Petrakou

Food History

Our understanding of the ancient kitchen is largely based on evidence from the town houses in Pompeii. Its dominant feature is the hearth,

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which in more primitive cultures was at ground level but later became a raised platform of masonry at a convenient height. In one house the platform extends from wall to wall and has four arches for storage of charcoal beneath. These have often been interpreted as ovens but it is clear that the oven stood separately from the hearth and was often outside, especially as it was fired with wood.

The key to this raised platform is that charcoal, without excessive fumes, was used indoors. A gridiron was placed over the coals to take the cooking pots. Experiments I have done using charcoal on a masonry platform built for the purpose have proved very illuminating. We all know how to barbecue: the technique is very simple. However, the Romans would not have wasted so much of the heat generated as we do. A charcoal fire has an extended life well beyond usual barbecue needs. When the ashes are well burnt and apparently exhausted, the heat generated and stored in the platform can maintain a simmer for an extended period while a fresh fire is started, moving from one side to the other, for frying and bringing to the boil. Using this technique all the basic methods of cooking for which we now use a gas or electric bob can be performed. The technique is largely dependent on understanding the quality of heat generated and involves a good deal of waiting around for the fire to be ready for a particular cooking method.

Many recipes have been reproduced using authentic ceramic pots and metal cooking vessels. Bronze pots have been found in situ in the house of the Vettii in Pompeii, and Roman soldiers have been found buried with their own personal bronze cooking pot. Cheaper earthenware vessels had a shorter life-span and were difficult to keep clean as they were unglazed. In Apicius the cook often calls for a new pot, implying that residues from previous dishes could taint some foods. Lead vessels existed, strange as that may seem, and appear to have been used when boiling down must (grape juice) into syrups for sweetening and colouring. Pliny the Elder actually tells us that they liked the particular flavour imparted by lead!

Roman ovens were dome-shaped and could be built into an outer wall. Larger ovens could be free-standing, made of brick and shaped like a beehive. Those found at Pompeii are elaborate structures that could hold many loaves at once. Ovens inside the kitchen were charcoal-fired and either free-standing or used on top of the hearth. The literary sources refer to this type of oven as either testum or clibanus. They were dome-shaped with a small hole in the top and a projecting flange that seems to have been used to hold the coals, and they were made of bronze, iron or a coarse earthenware. Archaeological finds show that large amounts of grog (sand, stone and broken pot) were mixed with the clay to enable it to withstand the thermal shock of direct contact with the fire.

In use the testum is suspended over the fire until very hot, and then the hearth is cleaned. The bread or cake was placed directly on the hearth and the testum placed over it. Hot coals were heaped around and on top of the testum before the baking process began. Using equipment based on archaeological finds, I have found that a baking temperature of 375-400 °F (190-200 0C) is easily maintained, and I have produced some very successful bread and cakes. It is apparent that these ovens were used at a domestic level for baking honey cheesecakes, which are best served warm. The accumulated hot ashes from a day's cooking are the ideal medium for the baking process, whereby no heat at all is wasted.

Placed on top of a dish of similar material, testa could be used for cooking moist dishes such as meat or fish. The dish would stand directly on the hearth, with the testum over the food, and the coals would be pushed up against the sides and on the flange just as for baking. Apicius gives instructions for just such a method when he tells the reader to cook kidneys in a clibanus: see the recipe for Barley Rolls for a discussion on alternative baking covers.

Some very sophisticated pieces of equipment have been unearthed at Pompeii. It seems the Roman cook had access to such items as fish kettles, moulds in the shape of suckling pigs and hare, and portable braziers that could cook and keep dishes hot in the dining room. Other kitchen furniture include fixed stone pillars which served as the base for a wooden table and kitchen sinks, often supplied with hot water. In a larger kitchen the ubiquitous amphora stood against the wall to store wine and fish sauce. Large mortaria, suspended on tripods, were used to mix the various sauces. The Roman mortarium was a large shallow vessel with grit embedded in the clay to aid the break-up of spices. A mortar is essential for reproducing Greek and Roman food. Pounding and pureeing would have been a task for a menial household slave in an ancient kitchen and would have taken hours of effort. If you do not have a slave to hand, then I suggest you invest in a food processor at once!

It would be a splendid idea to know more about Greece by visiting it during a Mediterranean Cruises. To make up your mind you should probably take a look of Pictures of Greece to see for yourselves how beautiful this country is.

Article Source: EzineArticles.com

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