Note: This is part of a series of articles on traditional foodways in southern Appalachia, pairing with a display on the 2^nd floor of the Transylvania County Library.

Woodfire cooking was central to food preparation, and many traditional Appalachian recipes are based around the modes of cooking available to mountain residents. Fire meant life, and keeping the fire maintained, efficient, and ready for cooking or heating was an essential task that required time and care. In winter, hot coals would be covered with ashes to keep them warm until needed for the next fire.

HEARTH COOKING

In the early days of European settlement in Appalachia, an open hearth would have been the cooking heat source. The fire had to be created just like a campfire or modern-day wood fireplace with dry wood in various sizes for fire-starting and the continuation of its steady burn. The hearth was inside the home and was often made of stone.

Hearth cooking required a bed of coals, which would take about an hour to create from starting a cookfire until it was ready to provide the slow, even heat that cooking requires. Starting to cook over a crackling blaze will overheat or burn some parts of the food, while other parts won’t be hot enough.

Once the fire was the proper type for cooking, there were implements around the hearth that would assist with cooking, such as a long iron bar on a hinge which could swing suspended cast iron cookware over the fire or shift it away from intense heat if the fire was too hot. This technique would be used for heating soups and stews, boiling water, meat or vegetables.

Frying and roasting was another way to cook on a hearth fire. A frying pan would be placed directly on a bed of hot coals; potatoes, corn, onions, and even cloth-wrapped bread could be buried with coal and ashes to slowly roast. The ash would be cleaned off before eating through removing the outer layers in contact with the ashes.

WOOD-FIRED COOKSTOVES

In the mid-1800s cookstoves began to surge in popularity. This new technology allowed cooks to separate heating from cooking to make it more efficient. These wood-fired cook stoves had a firebox on one side where a fire could be started or coals from a heat providing woodstove could be brought over once ready. There were different internal compartments that controlled the air flow, making it easier to regulate the temperature.

The top of a wood cookstove had “eyes”, or circular openings that could be used to heat various cookware and their contents. Eyes closer to the firebox would be hotter, and those further away cooler. The pot or pan could be placed on the metal eye covering or the covering could be removed for more direct heat. This new innovation allowed a different kind of meal to be served that included several dishes all heated and ready at the same time, instead of the one-pot meals that were more common with Dutch oven cooking.

MODERN STOVES

Gas and electric stoves became the standard in the 1920s and beyond, and although some innovations have developed in their features, these heat sources for cooking remain the dominant style in the modern day. Appalachian cooks have come a long way from cooking over an open fire.

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library. This article was written by Local History Librarian Laura Sperry. Sources available upon request. For more information, comments, or suggestions, contact NC Room staff at [email protected] or 828-884-1820.