KITCHEN EQUIPMENT. Batterie de cuisine. All utensils and accessories used to prepare and cook food. Of widely varying shapes and materials, such utensils range from skewers, which are as old as the invention of fire, to the lattest applications of modern technology. Origins. We know very little about the first kitchen utensils. The Eguptians, theAssyrians and the Perssians principally used earthenware and bronze vessels big-bellied in shape, with and without handles. They also used the spit and, for taking cakes and biscuits (cookies), they had baking dishes, rather like those we use now adays. The Jews did not generally use earthenware vessels for cooking purposes, most of their pots and pans were made of metal. To extract the meat from the big pots in which the food destined to be offered to God was prepared, they used a big two-pronged fork theforerunner of the modern table fork, which did not make its appearance until the l7thcentury. The Greeks, for their culinary preprations, used greatly improved bronze, iron or silver vessels. They also had some in earthenware. Almost all these vessels were conical and not very deep. They had lids and handles or detachable rings. Among theprincipal kitchen utensils used by the Greeks was the chystra, a kind of earthenware pan used for cooking meats and stews. It may have been in this utensil that the famus Spartan broths were prepared. Or perhaps they were made in the Kakkabi, a fairly large three-legged pot. The Greeks also had another pot, which can be considered as the prototype of the earthenware casserole. Filled with fruit that probably had been cooked in wine and sweetened with honey, this dish was carried to the altar of Dionysus, on the third day of the feast of Anthesteria, the famous festival in honour of the God. The Greeks alsohad bronze casseroles, which resembled those now in use. For cooking pieces of meat and fish they had a frying pan called a legamon. In order to place all these metalor earthen-ware receptacles on the fire, the Greeks used a triangular support, the tripod. Kitchen utensils used by the Romans were similar to those of the Greks, and it was Greek cooks who brought the art of cooking to Rome. The Romans, who were sensual, voluptuous people, with a great love of luxury in all things, made kitchen utensils not only of bronze but also of silver. Among the treasures of Bosco-Beale, which are kept in the Louvre in Paris, various kitchen utensils of this type can be seen. Kitchen utensils used by the romans included the chibanus, an earthenware utensil with holes pierced in it, used for cooking various dishes, mainly pastry, in hot ashes; craticula, a grill for cooking meat and fish on the glowing embers of a fire; and the apala, a dish withcavities of varying sizes, which was used for cooking eggs. The Gauls and the Gallo-Romans had earthenware and metal kitchen utensils somewhat similar to those of theGreeks and Romans. The Celtw knew nothing of the refinements of thesumptous cookery of Imperial Rome and their pots and pans were rudimentary. With thecoming of the Merovingian era, kitchen utensils began toimrpove. Some specimens of themagnificent bronze vessels n which the food was prepared have survived and can be seen in museums. From reading Charlemagne’s Capilaries, it seems evident that in succeeding centuries, kitchen utensils were improved still further. After the Crusades, a great number of richly worked metal utensils-owers, silvers, cauldrons - were brought to Europre and served as models for the artisans of the West in the manufacture ofmagnificent utensils. Among the many utensils used was the h orsehair sieve, or tammy, a large strainer with a h anle, which was used for draining foods, iron hooks on which food was hung pots and kittles of all thebaking tins (pans); saucepans; frying pans (skillets0: and a lage metal vessel used as a water container; a pot with a handle and a long curbed spout; funnels, mostly in copper; a greater use for granting nutmeg and cheese gridings, mortars; spice-grinders; various ladles, long-bladed knives, and varius other utensils that are still in use in the present day. Modern times. Many of the basic utensils we know today already existed during the Renaissance, and about twocenturies ago, Brillat-Savarin, who followed the latest developments of his era very closely, owned an economical cooking pot; a roating shell, a pendulum spit roaster and a steamer. Since teen, technical improvements and the emergence of new materials 9not to mention the imagination of manufacturers) have led to great variety in modern kitchen equipment. Electrical appliances have completely transformed professional and domestic kitchens. Food mixers, blenders and food processors replace a battery of individual pieces of equipment. At a domestic level, smaller households and a less formal approach to food, meals and cooking has changed the typed of food preparation carried out. This has led to a reduction in the number of items of equipment and in general, the use of versatile appliances pots, pans and dishes that can be adapted for many techniques or to prepare a variety of dishes.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Jul 2013 13:12:24 +0000
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