Kitchen Tools: A Skewer Set
A few books in our archives library shed light on the background and uses of a set of iron spikes that hang over the hearth in the historic Blanchard House.
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Visitors to the Blanchard House who take our guided house tour often ask questions that bring a fresh perspective to the building and its objects. On a recent tour of the house, an observant visitor asked what the set of iron spikes that hang from the top of the kitchen’s hearth were used for.
While this group of of dangling metal spikes may seem mysterious and even a bit foreboding, it is in fact a set of skewers that hang on their own decorative holder. An older spelling is sometimes skuers. Iron skewers were common kitchen items in the 1800’s for cooking meat over a fire.
Several books in our archive library, give clues about the use and forms of skewers in the 1800s.
Mrs. Lincoln’s Boston Cook Book
Grab a snack, because the Boston Cooking Schools cookbooks tend to cause immediate craving. In Mrs. Lincoln’s Boston Cook Book from 1898, an item in our archival collection, there is a recipe variation for sweetbreads as appetizers which references skewers:
“No. 2. -- Cut in half-inch slices, roll in seasoned bread crumbs, egg, and crumbs again. Put three slices on a small skewer, alternating with three thin slices of bacon one inch square. Fry in deep fat. Serve on the skewers with tomato sauce.”1
From Hearth to Cookstove
A skewer sometimes requires the use of yet another tool. In the voluminous collector’s guide to hearth-style cooking utensils, From Hearth to Cookstove, Linda Campbell Franklin describes a flattened stick with a hole at one end, like a very large needle, which can be threaded onto the end of a skewer and pulled. It is aptly named a skewer-puller.
The guide’s entry quotes an 1899 Ladies Home Journal promoting the use of a skewer-puller to more easily remove the bigger wood skewers that butchers used to keep meat and poultry delivery items from moving around in transport. Campbell notes that what is basically a stick with a hole in it had sometimes cost much more than a complex item like an egg beater.2
Early American Ironware: Cast and Wrought
In Early American Ironware: Cast and Wrought, Henry J. Kauffman lists wrought iron items that in the 1800s were often both functional and aesthetically pleasing:
“These objects include cranes, and irons, trammels, tongs, shovels, trivets, small game spits, skillets, toasters, skewer holders, etc. It should also be noted that although these objects were primarily of a functional nature, many of them were simply and beautifully decorated by the blacksmith.”3
Dictionary of Antiques and the Decorative Arts
Lastly, the beautifully designed and very informative Dictionary of Antiques and the Decorative Arts adds some European context. The terms skewer is associated with the French term “attelet” which can be either iron or silver, depending on its function:
“The attelet made of iron was used by the kitchen maids to hold small birds and small fish while roasting over the fire. These were replaced by silver attelets for serving at the table. The handle end was usually in the form of a ring and often elaborately wrought.”4
Although this article is a bit half-baked in covering the history of skewers in hearth cooking, I hope not to be skewered for any glaring omissions.
Thank you for reading!
Photographs by Kathryn Stamps
Lincoln, Mary J. “Mrs. Lincoln’s Boston Cook Book.” Roberts Brothers. Boston, Massachusetts. 1898. pp 243.
Franklin, Linda Campbell. “From Hearth to Cookstove: Collectibles of the American Kitchen 1700-1930. House of Collectibles, Inc. Florence, Alabama. 1976. p 192.
Kauffman, Henry J. “Early American Ironware: Cast and Wrought.” Charles E. Tuttle Company. Rutland, Vermont & Tokyo, Japan. 1966. pp 63-64.
Boger, Louise Ade, H. Batterson Boger. “The Dictionary of Antiques and the Decorative Arts: A Book of Reference for Glass, Furniture, Ceramics, Silver, Periods, Styles, Technical Terms, &c.” Charles Scribner’s Sons. New York. 1957. pp 23.
No skewering here. I've gotten familiar with skewers through barbeque and what in my house is still called shish kebab. I have no idea how authentic it is. But, I only tolerate grilled tomato when it's from the garden.
Fascinating!! Thanks for this post.