About Cooking in Colonial Times

The image of colonial women dressed in long dresses and aprons hovering over a steaming pot of delicious stew or serving up platters of aromatic baked breads isn't quite the way it was. These industrious women worked hard to provide their families with a nutritious meal, but cooking over open fires was difficult.

Misconceptions

Colonial recipes, although reflective of the foods that were served during that period in time, have often been adapted with spices and flavorings that were available only to wealthy people.
Images of colonial families enjoying freshly baked loaves of bread straight from the oven may be reflective of the latter years but are certainly not an accurate image of early Americans.

The Facts

Dutch ovens were covered and heaped with coals and set over a bed of coals, or near the fire, to create a crude oven. Out of necessity, meals were generally produced in one pot and lacked spice and other flavorings. Flour, sugar and spices were expensive and were not available to poor people. Bread was often made from crude cornmeal, homemade yeast and animal fat.
It was difficult to regulate temperature, and food often contained ash and smoke from the fire. Cooking consumed a great deal of the woman's time and required extensive bending and lifting.

Invented

The first wood cook stove was not available until the early 1800s and did not become readily available to middle-class urban Americans until 1850. Availability to less-affluent homes in rural areas was restricted. The first stoves were small and stood in front of the fireplace, sharing the chimney for the escape route for smoke. These stoves were smoky and required constant cleaning, but they were an improvement over cooking directly over the fire.

Features

The invention of the wood cook stove made the old rounded-bottom kettles with legs designed to cook over coals or open fires inconvenient and difficult to use. New kettles were designed to fit neatly into the "eye" hole of stove covers, allowing the cook to set the kettle closer to the fire. These kettles were designed with flat bottoms to evenly distribute the heat. The cooking temperature was determined by the location of the kettle on the stove. Those nearest the fire were hottest; those on the edges provided less heat. Oven temperature was unregulated, and food needed to be turned frequently. The distance from the firebox needed to be adjusted to maintain an even cooking temperature.

Benefits

Free-standing stoves made cooking more convenient and less time-consuming. It required less bending and lifting, produced less smoke, and decreased the amount of ash in the food. The cost of sugar, flour, and spices declined at this time, making them available to a wider range of people and expanding the variety of meals women could produce.
Cooking consumed less of women's time and provided them with more time to devote to other pursuits.