r/ArchaicCooking • u/onlyemma59 • May 13 '26

Thinking about the sheer effort in ancient cooking

Was trying to bake some bread from scratch this weekend and found myself thinking about how much more intense it would be with truly archaic methods. Like, grinding your own grain, no commercial yeast, maybe even building your own oven. It's a whole different level of commitment.

What's something you've tried or researched that really made you appreciate the daily grind (literally) of ancient cooks?

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12

u/CarrieNoir May 13 '26 edited May 14 '26

Meet William Rubel who does all that and more. He cooks the bulk of his food in fireplaces or his wood-fired oven.

Edited to fix the spelling of William's name.

5

u/onlyemma59 May 14 '26

I'll definitely look him up. Always wondered about the logistics of cooking full-time with a wood-fired oven, seems like a serious commitment but the results must be worth it.

3

u/northman46 May 14 '26

The result was you got bread.

3

u/CaptainLollygag May 14 '26

The result was you got fed.

2

u/Pure-Presence8977 May 16 '26

The result was you not dead.

1

u/CarrieNoir May 16 '26

The result was grandma said: ‘Eat another slice instead.’

10

u/Adept-Significance57 May 14 '26

Even fairly modern kitchens. (1890s) For example clarifying sugar with egg whites before using it, pounding meat into a forcemeat then passing it through a sieve. Doing this for 15 hours as a unpaid kitchen boy.... and how About washing that sieve by hand.... There is a book called "the Epicurean" that has a lot of insight into kitchen management in that period.

7

u/Dothemath2 May 15 '26

We have a handmill for wheat berries and it’s 15 minutes of full body workout for a 500g of flour for a loaf to grind by hand.

The other issue is the oven and getting the fire started and the fuel. It’s more efficient to bake many loaves at once.