A home’s fireplace, or multiple in larger buildings, supplied a portion of the light and heat for both cooking and comfort. This situation predominated in one form, or size, or another for centuries.
Imagine a colonial or early American cook. Year round, regardless of the weather, the kitchen fireplace burned. Meals were often prepared and set to cook in cast iron pots like those below.
In some homes, the kettles were hung on hooks able to move from over the hearth to over the fire. In others, the three-legged pots were set deep into the fireplace or on a trivet.
Always, the hazard of fire, either to the kitchen or the cook, remained. Imagine for a moment moving in the kitchen, wearing a skirt that hovers mere inches from the floor, and positioning the kettle containing today’s primary meal. No wonder that childbirth and fire were the most common causes of death among women.
But technology sped forward in the 19th century. In the 1820’s the first cast iron cookstoves appeared. They gained in popularity at a steady pace — I like to think in much of the new construction — and by 1850 even the White House boasted one. Was the man of the house reluctant to change? Convince him that a stove used less wood than a fireplace. Less wood to cut – or purchase. Saves time and money — and perhaps a life.
By 1851, in fictional Elm Ridge, Illinois, many of the homes have one or more cast iron stoves. Think of one in the kitchen for heat and cooking and perhaps another (if the home is large) in the parlor for heat. The town also is the site of a foundry where stoves are manufactured and shipped — as far as St. Joseph, Missouri.
The stove, and more important, a large oven is the center of the bakery’s workroom. In the clean & wholesome romance, New Dreams, a newly arrived young woman is lucky enough to be hired by the baker — first as a chore girl, and later with increasing responsibilities with the bread and other baked goods. Check the details at the link: https://amzn.to/3vWydWE
