Comal (cooking device)
A comal (from the Nahuatl word comalli ) is a smooth, flat griddle that originally comes from Mexico , central and parts of South America . It is used for the preparation of tortillas and arepas , for toasting spices and nuts or for roasting meat. In Venezuela there is a similar cookware called a budare .
Designs
The traditional comal is concave and is made from clay by the indigenous peoples of Mexico and Central America . Modern comales are shaped like US frying pans or Indian tava.
Comales for home use are usually made of clay or heavy cast iron and are sized to fit either over a burner on the stove (round) or over two burners front to back (elongated oval). In some indigenous and pre-Hispanic cultures, the comal is traditionally passed on from grandmother to mother to daughter. The background to this is that a comal that has been tempered over many years heats up faster and cooks cleaner. Rapid heating protects the flatbreads prepared in the Comal from drying out.
Originally it was thin ceramic pieces with slightly raised edges. In archaeological excavations in Central America, the earliest finds were made to the year 700 BC. Dated.
Individual evidence
- ^ Diana Kennedy: The Art of Mexican Cooking: Traditional Mexican Cooking for Aficionados . Ed .: Bantam Books. 1989, ISBN 978-0-553-05706-5 , pp. 11 .
- ↑ Chelsie Kenyon: Knack Mexican Cooking: A Step-by-Step Guide to Authentic Dishes Made Easy . Rowman & Littlefield,, ISBN 978-0-7627-6206-4 , p. 12.
- ↑ Linda Bladholm: Latin & Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified . Renaissance Books, Los Angeles 2001, ISBN 1-58063-212-2 , pp. 229 .
- ^ Paula E. Morton: Tortillas: A Cultural History . UNM Press, October 15, 2014, ISBN 978-0-8263-5215-6 , p. 14.