BAR Jr.: Housewares and Recipes from 2,000 Years Ago
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The housewares on these pages are not a manufacturer’s new line. Nor are they the work of a clever department store display, trying to launch a new line of cookware. They are actually 1,600 to 2,000 years old, yet their design is so contemporary that they could very well be from a modern housewares specialty shop.
This fascinating collection of objects for everyday kitchen and dining use is part of an exhibita at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem. The artifacts—from the time of the Second Temple and the Byzantine period—have been unearthed in Israel over the past 25 years.
At Qumran, for example, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were written, more than 1,000 pieces of tableware were discovered, the largest collection of housewares ever found in a single excavation. The Manual of Discipline, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, reveals many details about the eating customs of that Qumran community.
Michal Dayagi Mendels, the young, attractive Israeli curator of the Rockefeller Museum since 1975, explains that for the Essenes who fled Jerusalem to found their own sectarian community at Qumran, the communal meal was almost a ritual activity. Excavations at Qumran uncovered the pantry attached to the communal dining hall. Large numbers of bowls, plates and serving pieces were found in the pantry grouped together. The amount and variety of housewares 056provide significant information about cooking, eating and the storage of kitchenware 2,000 years ago.
What was the appearance of these pots and pans? All cooking and frying pans were terra cotta color and made from fire-resistant clay. Their uses differed according to their shape.
The cooking pot most frequently mentioned in Jewish literature of the time and the most commonly found in excavations has a globular body and rounded bottom, two handles and a wide mouth for stirring. In Hebrew it is called a kedera meaning dark or black since the underside was blackened from constant use on the cooking stove. No lid was used because food cooked in this pot such as meat, fish, vegetables, milk dishes, rice, cereals, lentils and seeds required constant stirring. The wide mouth also lent itself to stacking for easier storage.
If the housewife of 1,600 years ago wanted to stew or steam vegetables, fish, meat or eggs or wished to reheat something previously cooked in the kedera, she would undoubtedly use an ilpas or casserole. The ilpas was a broad, shallow cooking vessel with a close fitting lid. A vertical hole in the lid permitted draining of the liquid, an idea which could be useful in cooking foods like potatoes today! The knob handle on the lid facilitated holding onto the cover of the casserole to keep the food inside while draining. The ilpas could also be easily stacked because of its straight sides and wide diameter.
The potter who molded the ilpas used an interesting method of construction. The pot and lid were made as one unit; then while the clay was partially hard (leather hard, as the archaeologists say), the potter would cut the lid from the body at an angle, lending a slanting profile to the rim of the casserole and the lid. While still on the potter’s wheel, he would turn the pot so the lid would be very thinly sealed. The housewife who purchased the casserole would then be sure to have both lid and pot together for transporting to her home. Once home she would tap the place where they were attached so she could remove the lid.
A well-known rabbi of the period once compared the creation of the universe to that of an ilpas and suggested heaven and earth were created at the same time just like the casserole and its lid.
The frying pan of this period, called a tegan, may not have had teflon coating nor was it electric, but it was quite sophisticated and available in pottery and metal. Frying pans can be distinguished according to their depth—some for deep frying and some for shallow frying.
For boiling water, one used a metal or pottery vessel which came in different sizes but similar shapes. The yora was narrow-mouthed and globular. The kumkum may have had one or more handles. It was used for both heating and boiling water. The meyham was wider than a yora or kumkum and was used for heating water. It had a bulb-shaped body and may have been used in a way similar to the way the top of a modern-day double boiler is used.
One of the water-boiling devices of the period 057resembles a samovar and has a hole in its side where coals for heating could be inserted.
All these pots and pans were obviously considered to be of great value. One of the sources of the period says that if a man divorces his wife, she retains possession of the family’s cooking vessels.
With such a wide variety of pots and pans available, we naturally want to know about the stove. Cooking stoves were generally permanently installed in the ground against a wall and contained two or more apertures for pots and pans. Fuel was inserted through a front opening. A single hollow compartment allowed the heat to circulate. One stove, more intricate than others, has special places to put stirring implements and spices.
Many kinds of storage jars have been found in Second Temple excavations. One jar called the havit was made in two ways—the jars were either broad with a shallow bottom, or tall and narrow. The shape of the havit determined whether it was used for locally produced items or for exporting. The broad-bottomed style would not have been suitable for packing whereas the tall and narrow shape could more easily be packed for transport by ship.
Anyone desiring to make wine according to the method of the period can find precise directions. Wine was allowed to ferment for three days in the wine press and then was transferred to pitch-coated jars. The jars were hermetically sealed with a lid or stopper. The wine jar was filled up to a point below a hole drilled in the side of the jar. This hole could be left unplugged so that carbon dioxide produced during fermentation would not build up pressure and explode the vessel. After fermentation, the hole could be sealed or used to siphon out small amounts of wine.
Now that we know what these people 2,000 years ago cooked on and with, we may want to find out how they entertained and what they ate. Jews, like Greeks, ate banquet style on important occasions. The group, usually consisting only of men, would gather in a forecourt and sit on benches. Each person would wash one hand, receive a cup of wine and some hors d’oeuvres 058and make the appropriate blessings over them. After all the guests had assembled, they would enter a dining room and sit, Roman fashion, reclining upon couches arranged in an open three-sided square. The guests would wash their hands again; then, after the head of the group made the blessings, they would drink the second cup of wine and break bread. Probably they washed their hands many times during the meal to remove the grease that came from eating food with their fingers. No doubt some of our younger readers would like to return to this method of eating!
Tables were used only for serving purposes and could hold a bowl for bread, one for salt and another for more of the pre-dinner hors d’oeuvres.
Serving bowls of pottery, silver, wood or glass were used to bring food to the table and were passed around. One of these, the tamhui, carried boiling hot food from the stove to each guest, who would take his portion in a serving bowl or plate called a ke’ara. The tamhui was not placed on the table. The iskutla, a large footed tray of glass, metal, stone or clay held some of the delicacies. The very interesting tavla uva kearoth, or serving tray with sunken cups, resembles a lazy susan of today. This particular tray also looks like the modern Passover plate with its indented areas for ceremonial foods.
Jugs or pitchers for measuring and pouring wine were also used during the meal; each person held his own cup, usually made of glass, and which is called a kos in Hebrew.
White wine or clear glass cups were valued more than the cheaper colored ones, and it became customary for the wealthy to drink only from white glasses. Glass blowers closely guarded the secret of making translucent glass.
Wine was served either hot or cold. However, it was never drunk without being diluted with water—one part water and one part wine or one quarter wine and three quarters water.
After the meal, it was customary to bring in incense burners so the diners could inhale the smell of spices, such as cinnamon, frankincense, myrrh and spikenard, which were placed on hot coals in a burner.
That archaeologists can identify these daily objects and their uses is interesting, but still we ask: What was eaten at the banquet? Although archaeologists cannot give us definitive answers, it appears that quail, quail eggs, mulled wine and lentil pancakes were among the foods eaten at banquet meals.
Two ancient recipes will allow you to try some of these foods at your next banquet: mulled wine (not for kids) and lentil pancakes. As for the quail, you must improvise as best you can.
The housewares on these pages are not a manufacturer’s new line. Nor are they the work of a clever department store display, trying to launch a new line of cookware. They are actually 1,600 to 2,000 years old, yet their design is so contemporary that they could very well be from a modern housewares specialty shop. This fascinating collection of objects for everyday kitchen and dining use is part of an exhibita at the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem. The artifacts—from the time of the Second Temple and the Byzantine period—have been unearthed in Israel over the past 25 years. […]
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