Cooking stone
A cooking stone is a stone that is used to prepare food by using its thermal energy storage capacity to heat the food. Cooking stones can be used for many different types of preparation, which place different demands on the type of stone, shape and size.
Stones that were used for kitchen purposes have already been preserved in large numbers from Stone Age settlements and can provide information about the customs of the cultures of that time during excavations. Based on the type of rock and the signs of wear, it can usually be clearly seen what these stones were actually used for.
With the advent of ceramics and metals , roasting and cooking was possible without stones.
Shapes of cooking stones
Actual cooking stones are those that are placed in watery liquids such as soup, stew or syrup in a very well heated state in order to bring them to a boil. The process is the oldest form of cooking with water and to this day the only practicable way to bring liquid food to the boil without a container or electricity. It is still used in this form. In addition to this real cooking form, there are also other forms of preparation with stones.
When bricks are called stones, which are used for waterless cooking food, which thus surrounded or covered. This form of use is still in use today. The term is homonymous in the German language with the term brick , which is made by burning (baking) from glazed clays , but was not used for the preparation of food and has nothing to do with it.
As Bratstein is called a stone pad which in heated condition for frying is used by food. Baking and roasting stones are used in traditional kitchens from different cultures and are also offered as an experience ( hot stone ) in restaurants in Europe . However, compared to cooking stones, to which there was no alternative before the invention of pots, they are of less historical importance.
Prehistoric cooking methods
grilling
In prehistoric times, only open fire was available to humans , which only enables forms of preparation that are now known as barbecuing . These shapes are not very complex, but are only suitable for meat that is only cooked on the surface, but often remains raw in the depth until the layers above are exposed. Continuous re-grilling was necessary. Vegetable food is difficult or impossible to open up with an open fire. The search for more effective preparation methods resulted in baking, roasting and cooking with stones as one of the numerous intermediate stages to the methods commonly used today , which has been preserved as an alternative cooking method up to antiquity, through the Middle Ages and into modern times.
Grill cooking
Cooking whole animals on the grill in their own body shell is regarded as an early forerunner of the water -boiling methods. If pigs, monkeys, rodents, etc. are placed in an open fire, the fur and dermis carbonize to form a stable crust under which the muscle tissue and internal organs begin to boil in their own juice. Turtles and shellfish can also be cooked in this way. The entire body heats up inside and can then be broken open and eaten. In this process, the food is completely broken down and disinfected, but part of the animal is lost through charring. The smaller the animal, the faster the contents cook. For the purely nutritional cuisine, some preparation variants of guinea pigs in South America are still based on this method. The specialty cuisine of some traditions also has some recipes with this method of preparation.
A further development of the method was to put the (small) animal (e.g. a hedgehog) wrapped in grass into the fire or to pack it in clay and leave the clay ball in the fire for a longer time (depending on its size, for example two hours) and then tap them open.
Development and use of cooking stones
As with grilling, baking is also possible without intermediate storage of thermal energy through contact with directly heated air . Bricks can be used in addition or as an alternative, depending on tradition. Roasting and cooking, on the other hand, were originally only possible with stones, because no other fire-resistant materials were available from which vessels or bases could be made.
With the first water boiling methods that used cooking stones, it was also possible to break down herbal spices and food ingredients effectively and develop a real kitchen. Soup and sauce-like preparations as well as cooked plant extracts such as teas were originally only possible with cooking stones. Of all the types of preparation, cooking is the most versatile and can be used universally for every type of food. In contrast to the other methods, cooking with stones also made it possible for the first time to safely and completely kill pathogens and parasites down to the deeper layers.
Cooking in today's sense, which is possible with any form of food, requires hot water for a sufficiently long period in which the ingredients can swim. In Stone Age societies all over the world, water and food ingredients were placed in basins or stone hollows and cooked with heated cooking stones. This was the only way of boiling water with which difficult to digest foods such as bones, cellulose-containing fruits, roots and dry foods ( legumes ) could be prepared at the boil. For dry plants, the alternative was grinding into flour , which could be used to make baked goods .
The use of cooking stones occurred in almost all cultures and sometimes extends to technological stages of development. However, because only a few types of stone are suitable for cooking or can be used for longer, cooking stones in regions that have no natural occurrence of suitable rocks were considered family possessions and tools. They were inherited and traded.
Only recently, after the invention of the immersion heater, was it even possible to heat water in troughs without a storage medium, but this technology is not used for cooking food in industrialized countries. Electric heaters are used in conjunction with vessels. With the invention of pots and kettles, water-based cooking with stones has taken a back seat and is only used for special gastronomic preparations. This has not only practical but also taste reasons. In some areas, cooking stones are still used as a traditional method of preparation that is occasionally practiced. There is also a modification of the procedure. In China, for example, cooking stones are industrially sintered from granules into hollow bodies , filled with coal and sold as disposable items for operating special table ovens in sizes that can sometimes cause problems with waste incineration.
Development and use of bricks
The waterless baking of meat and vegetables in their current form requires an oven in which high air temperatures can be maintained over a long period of time. The construction of directly heatable ovens is complex and requires experience and local residency. The simpler earth ovens , which can be set up anywhere, are still in use today and are also used for special dishes in industrialized countries , were older and widespread worldwide . The original development of the stove goes back to natural or created cavities in rock walls or floors in which fire was kindled. Only some constructions work with bricks, most types of ovens can be used without intermediate storage.
When baking with bricks, the food is wrapped in strongly heated pieces, either as a pile on the ground that is turned into an oven that can only be used once, or in hollows. The types of stone used differ considerably from those of the cooking stones and are less demanding. Almost all rocks can be used for baking, which is why the regionally available rocks could be used. They were therefore not taken with them on hikes and in many cases only used once. Splintering and abrasion are not a problem with this form of preparation.
Fireless baking is possible in the ground if many hot bricks are formed into a bed on which the food is placed and covered with soil, parts of plants or other bricks. Replacing cooled stones during the baking process is difficult or impossible. Depending on the construction, bricks can also be heated by a wood fire placed directly above the trough, which is removed after burning down.
To date, this process is an alternative to more modern forms of preparation such. Commonly used in the Caribbean and South America, where it is traditionally used for festivities. Originally living Aborigines in Australia still use different forms of earth ovens, in which, depending on the construction principle, bricks are also used for heat storage.
Roast on stone
.jpg)
Roasting also goes back to Stone Age practices in which food was cooked on hot stones , which were often concave in shape. Here, too, the meat does not come into direct contact with fire and can lie in fat or in a sauce ( sotten and braising ). Frying stones are often larger than the others and have a flat shape. This process requires a long-burning fire, is energetically unfavorable and later develops into a cooking stove and frying pan .
Further preparation options
In general, stones can be used as a source of heat in a variety of ways. The use of woven cooking baskets , in which food and (smaller) cooking stones have been placed, can be viewed as a modified hybrid between cooking, baking and roasting . The food is cooked through, heated or kept warm by shaking or stirring. Filling animals with many smaller cooking stones also allows them to cook through from the inside.
Cooking stones were also used as heat donors for finished dishes or can preheat or keep cold dishes again. They were placed in woven storage baskets, but also in animal containers such as stomachs, bladders, etc.
Functional principle of the cooking stone
The stone is heated over an open flame, in embers or in some other way and placed in water in this state. It releases the stored heat to the water and brings it to the boil. Cooking stones must be large enough or used in sufficient numbers. If the water is to boil for a long time, the stones must be changed. The cooking stones discovered during excavations are between the size of a fist and a head.
Many small stones can be heated up more quickly, but they also release their energy into the water more quickly. Large stones may need to be preheated for many hours, but they can keep a soup boiling for a long time.
If cooking stones are heated over an open fire or in embers, they take on substances on their surface that go into the soup and contribute to the taste. This effect is independent of the type of rock and is influenced by the fire and the fuel. In addition, take all the stones by thermal wear and abrasion also a taste impact which is related to the type of rock and can not be avoided.
effectiveness
Cooking stones can store a considerable amount of heat energy and release it over a much longer period of time than comparable masses made of metal. However, they have to be heated for a long time and take on the temperatures that prevail at the point where they are located. It is usually placed in embers, directly in the flames or above the flames on plates or bars. The heating effect is greatest in the upper area of the flame. The temperatures assumed by the stones vary depending on the method, but they do not make the stones glow.
If there are enough cooking stones available, if they are large or if they can be constantly replaced and reheated, it is possible, for example, to cook on the edge of standing water. A ring of hot stones, which are changed in turn, can keep the water boiling for as long as you like. However, closed small earth hollows are more effective. The Yanomami Indians on the Amazon dig a hole near the bank that is lined with banana leaves and equipped with hot cooking stones for cooking.
Rock type
Basically all stones are suitable for heat storage and for boiling water, but the vast majority of types of stone are not suitable for chemical and material reasons for the preparation of food , as they either disintegrate or release substances into the food that alienate the taste or make it inedible . This includes all sedimentary rocks such as Keuper , limestone or sandstones , with which no food can be cooked. The abrasion of limestone can also be desirable for some foods or drinks, such as Steinbier , a rare specialty with a typically distinctive, bitter taste, which is partly due to dissolved limescale.
Stones that splinter and disintegrate when heated or quenched in colder water are also unsuitable for cooking . In addition, stones that do not last long enough are unsuitable. In cultures that were not local, cooking stones had to be carried on hikes and could not be replaced if lost. Good cooking stones were of considerable value in many cultures.
Metamorphic rocks , granite and pebbles of many varieties are particularly suitable for cooking . Also Basalt is very good and largely tasteless. Most cultures preferred rock types that keep the influence of taste low.
In stone-poor regions, such as estuaries, burnt or air-dried balls made of clay or loess were also used for the same purpose. These cooking balls are typical artefacts from the archaic period in the lower reaches of the Mississippi River and the adjacent parts of the coast of the Gulf of Mexico . Particularly pronounced forms are the type characteristic of the Poverty Point Culture at the end of the Archaic period in northern Louisiana , where they are referred to as Poverty Point Objects .
Archaeological finds
Cooking stones are recognized as found objects in archaeological excavations if they have been changed by the influence of the heat in the fire. Such features can consist of discoloration, the appearance of hairline cracks or small more or less evenly distributed flakes, which are referred to as pocking in English . In extreme cases, the temperature differences during heating or cooling will make the stones brittle and shatter. Experimental archeology can use practical tests to determine which cooking methods using cooking stones cause which changes in stones, and thus make statements about prehistoric cultures even if only the stones have survived.
literature
- Emil Hoffmann: Lexicon of the Stone Age (Munich 1999) p. 211 ISBN 3-406-42125-3 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Jacqui Wood: Prehistoric cooking. Tempus, 2001.
- ^ Paul Stokes: Britain's prehistoric recipes uncovered . In: The Telegraph. September 14, 2007 (quoted from: Jacqui Wood: Prehistoric cooking. Tempus, 2001.)
- ↑ Ancient and modern hedgehog recipes In: The Telegraph. April 12, 2008.
- ↑ Helen Pidd: Roast hedgehog and nettle pud - a slap-up feast for ancient Britons. In: The Guardian. September 14, 2007 (quoted from: Jacqui Wood: Prehistoric cooking. Tempus, 2001.)
- ↑ Anthony P. Graesch, Tianna DiMare, et al .: Thermally Modified Rock - The Experimental Study of "Fire-Cracked" Byproducts of Hot Rock Cooking . In: North American Archaeologist , Volume 35, No. 2 (2014), pp. 167-200, 168
- ↑ Anthony P. Graesch, Tianna DiMare, et al .: Thermally Modified Rock - The Experimental Study of "Fire-Cracked" Byproducts of Hot Rock Cooking . In: North American Archaeologist , Volume 35, No. 2 (2014), pp. 167-200, 194f.