Elizabeth Raffald 1769 The Experienced English House-keeper.-
“I received a comment from Mercy Ingraham regarding my question on “Dutch Ovens” in my Scalloped Potatoes blog.
Raffald’s receipt, says to put them in a “Dutch oven,” now there’s a controversy for you. Did she own a bake kettle from Holland or is this Dutch oven a new-fangled tin thing. HMMM– very interesting side note. There has been a lot of banter about the word “Dutch Oven” and nothing conclusive that I have heard either way. Anyone out there have an idea about this?”
Mercy Ingraham said– “Like the potatoes in the scalloped shells. Very pretty. I have a photo of an old? Dutch Painting that is clearly what I call a tin kitchen or reflector but labeled as a “Dutch Oven” dating to the 1600′s. “——- “ That’s one of the reasons many of us in Pennsylvania call the cast iron pot in which we bake a “Bake Kettle”.”
Gabriel Metsu , born 1629, died 1667, Painted the following picture called THE COOK, undated. It clearly shows a tin oven and the painting is Dutch. Now is this the oven of which Raffald speaks. I’m not sure we have a real answer here. Several American receipt calls for a tin oven. Did they not know it was called a Dutch oven by the mid 1700 in the colonies?
It always seems like one question leads to more questions. I do agree with Mercy, a cast iron pot with lid should be called a bake kettle, not a Dutch Oven. The Tin Oven in the picture is Dutch and may have been called just that in the 1600’s. I think I might still call my tin oven, just that a tin oven.
Sandie
If God had intended us to follow recipes, He wouldn’t have given us grandmothers.
~ Linda Henley-Smith
I, too, have seen the above painting, as well as another one (in fact, I included this one in a blog post about tin ovens being around since the 17th century). I’ve also seen several written references to “Dutch ovens” that clearly refer to tin/copper reflector ovens. However, as I recall, most were in peoples’ memoirs that were written in the mid to late 1800s (or thereabouts) wherein they recalled life as it was in the late 1700s to early 1800s. So, perhaps they just had fuzzy memories? Or not?
I guess the one question I have in the other direction is: where’s/what’s the proof that round cast iron cooking contraptions with three legs and a lid were, and should be, called “Dutch ovens” in the 17th, 18th, and/or 19th centuries?
Your a wiz
Carolina,
Someone calling a bake kettle a “Dutch Oven” is often heard. To my knowledge there is no proof that the iron kettles were called “Dutch Ovens.” Just one of thoses Myths that leark about .
Sandie