The fireplace, the hearth, with the
kettle made of iron or clay was the most important equipment in the
Viking family's household. It was here one cooked the meal from the raw
material the family had at its disposition that day, most likely the
same as the day before, and the day before that, and the day before....
In addition some places had a pit beside the fireplace where one
could fry over the hot ashes that were scraped out of the hearth. Spits
of iron were in use; however most evidence shows that most everyday food
was cooked.
Water or soup could be boiled with the help of hand sized
fire-heated
stones - cooking stones - that were put into the liquid gave up their
heat and were then picked up and put back into the fire again. After a
few uses cooking stones began to break up and they had to be disposed
of. These fire-exposed stones have been found in abundance at Viking
homes, in the fireplaces and in large outdoor fry pits.
Note! Cooking stones must not be made of flint - they will explode
in the fire!
Clay pots have been used in many sizes and shapes both for the
preservation and preparation of food.
In addition, there are spoons and ladles of wood or bone, and knives
of iron. Forks were used only in the form of large cooking forks used
for fishing out pieces of meat from the kettle.
Large shards of pottery were used to move glowing ash and hot stones
or for baking flatbread.
A huge and difficult job was to grind grain in the rotating grinder,
which had in the course of the Iron Age replaced the push grinder. Both
strength and patience were necessary to grind the grain into flour.
