DarkAgeKitchen

My Dark-Age kitchen is mainly a reconstruction of how people would have cooked in an encampment. This is because the events staged take place at historical sites and usually revolve around a battle of the period. An encampment would have sprung up around the army to feed and house the soldiers and personnel required to look after them. Some of these people may have traveled with the army and some could have been drawn in from neighboring villages. Not knowing much about Dark-Age warfare, I can't elaborate any more than that.

Methods

Equipment

Cauldrons: made of various metals or alloys: 'a copper vessel, or a brass or bronze one' ; and a 'tin vessel' .
A Kettle, Kettle, Ladle, Pans, Crocks, Firedogs, Dishes, Vessels with handles: ,
Gridiron/Tripod, Trivet, Leather vessels
Frying pan

	Fire, either in sand-box or pit	The sandbox could well have been a Viking invention, for keeping warm whilst aboard ship. It is used by re-enactors as many events take place at historical sites, such as castles, etc., which may have important archeology under the grass. In these circumstances it would be a crime to dig a fire-pit - as would have happened in any Anglo-Saxon encampment. The box can be wood or metal filled with sand and raised on legs to let the air circulate underneath.
	Ladle	dishing up soups and stews
	Iron cauldron	A high status item as most folk would have cooked in a clay pot or bucket - transferring the heat with hot stones.
	Iron Tripod	Used in conjunction with chain. This is probably a high status item as the poor couldn't afford metal.
	Cauldron chain and hooks	suspending cauldron over fire when it needs to be higher up
	Clay jug	This jug I know holds 2 pints, handy when you need to know how much liquid to put in.

	Dried herb and spice packets	Squares of cloth tied with cord containing dried herbs and spices. Most herbs would have been picked fresh when needed, but some spices were imported.
	Clay pots	storage
	Small wicker basket	I use this for keeping my veg. in prior to cooking and for holding the bread when we eat.
	Wooden salt box	Salt and pepper were expensive commodities and so would have been used sparingly.
	Wooden pepper box
	Wooden cups	drinking, transference of liquids
	Bowls - large, medium and small	temporary storage whilst preparing food
	Clay flasks	storage of liquids

	Knife	cutting things up
	Spoons - large, medium and small	stirring and eating
	Iron 'wok' type frying pan	One of these was found with the Oseberg ship burial. Mine is a wok with the handles removed and a new one added.
	Trivet	standing cauldrons on over the fire




	Chopping board
	Poker	moving coals around in the fire
	Clay cauldron

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