The third one has its candle covered by an extinguisher, a hollow cone, dropped on a lighted candle to put it out. The upstanding extension of brass has a hole in its end, and by this can be hung over a nail in the wall.
[FIGURE 3]
A porringer or shallow bowl, often of pewter and sometimes of silver, with a handle which was commonly decorated with perforations. The perforations helped to keep the handle cool. The porringer was chiefly used on the table as a dish, though food was often cooked in it also. It was most often used for serving food to children.
[FIGURE 4]
A cast-iron skillet with legs to lift it above the coals and ashes. As all cooking vessels were used at an open fire they were all made either to hang above it like a pot or to stand before it like a tin oven, or to rest upon its coals like a three-legged skillet.
[FIGURE 5]
A tin kitchen or roaster. A box of tin standing on legs and with one side open. A steel spit was stuck through the meat and the meat was fastened to it by skewers, which passed through the meat and through small holes in the spit itself. All was then placed in the roaster, which was set before the fire. The spit was turned from time to time as the cooking required. Gravy was caught in the hollow below, and some of it was now and then taken up in a spoon and poured on the meat. This was “basting.” The task of turning the spit by the crank on one end of it was often given to a boy. In the homes of the wealthy and in taverns the one who thus minded the roast was often called a turn-spit. By means of simple tread-mill devices a dog was often used to turn the crank, and he then became a turn-spit dog.
[FIGURE 6]
A plate-warmer. This was a box of tin or sheet iron on legs, with a door in one side. It stood near the fire and in it were placed dishes to be warmed, and food that was cooked and ready to eat but needed to be kept hot until the rest of the meal was prepared, or until all the family had gathered and were ready to sit down to the table. In very cold weather the kitchen sometimes could not be kept warm, no matter how big and hot the fire in the fireplace. It was then a comfort, and almost a luxury, to have hot dishes from which to eat the food which the cold room soon chilled.