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Spatula - what was PC in the day

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salkehatchie

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What the heck did folks in the day [ colonial etc ] use for a spatula?

Have tried the wooden kind and they are just lacking, 'nuff said. Lots of folks use them at events I know.

So, what was historically correct? Wife questions the forged spatulas one sees, but no clue if they were correct or not.

Thank you in advance for any info.
 
Try looking for colonial or 18th c "peel". Like knives and hammers, they were common implements. The trick is getting one made with period material & shape.
 
Thanks guys!

Should be enough options in there to come up with something.

I know we found a spoon, forged iron very nicely done and a brass bowl. One never can tell what you find in the flea markets!


Again, thank you!
 
Frying pans and spiders were known and used, so I don't want this to sound wrong. Things like pancakes were a common food and spatulas were known and used. However most food eaten by most folks were roast or boiled/stewed. It's a little bit of a stretch for most of us to carry, and doing frying at camp. While spatulas were known and used it would not be a common thing seen in a camp setting.
This is to admit that most of us who really try to keep an hc camp have more stuff and eat a more varriered diet then what one would find in a camping situation.
 
tenngun said:
This is to admit that most of us who really try to keep an hc camp have more stuff and eat a more varriered diet then what one would find in a camping situation.
Not to mention that camping as a recreational pursuit would have seemed a little odd at the time, especially for people whose daily way of living was barely above "roughing it" if they had a cabin. Now, there may have been some wealthy people who went on outings or hunting, and I suspect they may have carried many items not commonly used. Wealthier families living in cities likely had a greater number of luxury items as well (check probate lists). Settlers might have had a few of the same as they were carrying their house-hold items, but considering many were poor, it might also be a stretch.

I remember frying pans on at least one trading post list, but don't recall spatulas.

At least, these are my thoughts on the matter...
 
There was a "meme" I saw some time ago that I wish I had saved, and cannot find now, no matter what. There was a period drawing of an army camp (looked like 1812) showing a campfire with a bird cooking on a wooden spit, supported by two forked sticks stuck in the ground and that's it. The next picture showed a modern reenactor's campfire cooking with every iron implement ever devised... "Nailed it"

manure, you just have to see it. ...
 
And vendors are raking in the cash from those that feel they must have every imaginable gadget (whether it existed or was invented to fill a non-existent need)...
 
Agreed!

We here are trying to get back to what I would call the "back pack" mentality. As light as possible.

And if..."Momma" was along I bet that there would have been a few more amenities that if it was just the boyz out longhunting or doing militia duty.

Now I realize that most settlers would have had pack trains of some sort or a wagon. And as one of you guys pointed out, "they" did not go camping for the "fun of it!"

Part of our change of direction is both boys are not around as much as they were, so our..."pack train" as moved on. Literally!
 
Black Hand said:
And vendors are raking in the cash from those that feel they must have every imaginable gadget (whether it existed or was invented to fill a non-existent need)...

And if the wife wants a gadget, even if it's of only approximate authenticity, bulky, heavy, cumbersome, and inconvenient, there is only one possible answer, "Yes, dear!"
... in fairness to wives, how many men (and some women) have more firearms than they could ever shoot or clean in a weekend, let alone "need" (yes, I know each one fills an important psychological void in our souls, and is therefore 100% necessary... :wink: )?
 
People did camp for fun in the old days. Teens and young men would go out on a hunt and jaunt in the woods. You can bet the farm they were minimalist. Tin cup, blanket and a bag of corn dodgers was all the kit they took.
Women and children in camp will add to your camp. A store like Jas Townsend makes a hard attempt to supply hc equipment. However only a wealthy family out for a picnic or a officer would have his stuff in the field.
I like to eat most of the historic recipes I've tried I like, but my wife turns up her nose to some of my dishes, and I have to cook her up something she likes. She no longer comes to camp with me, but when she did I made a lot more 20th cent meals.
I made a baked beans and took some for lunch to work. Everyone said how good it smelled and several of the ladies asked how I made it. So I told them including how to make real salt pork instead of the salted fat sold in stores. When they found out that I used salt pork I put in the brine back in February. All I told it to gave me a look of disgust. Children may well not respond to historic foods
 
The answer to your question was rewarded w/ straight forward answers but then it took a wayward bent. My answer would be the blade of a "kitchen" knife in lieu of a spatula. Why take 2 items when one will do the job?

As far as just what kitchen items were used "way back when".....probably some good guesses are offered. W/ all the modern "gadjet" conveniences we have, it's difficult to think back in time w/o the modern mindset "muddying the waters".

Personally I think an iron forged spatula was used "back then", but how widespread it's use was, is just conjecture.

I made a spatula from some very hard sugar maple which has been treated w/ beeswax by heating the wood and applying beeswax until it wouldn't absorb further. I use it more as a stirring utensil than a spatula, but have used it to fry eggs w/o any damage.....Fred
 
Have you tried single flap jacks, and tossing them in the air with the skillet? :haha:

One could set themselves up like George Washington and his Camp Mess, no?

I personally use Spatula by Allegheny Treenware it works very well, when I'm doing a "heavy camp", but when trekking, I don't do stuff that need "flipping".

LD
 
Thanks guys for all the links and info. Another post was made about a PC shovel and on it there is a spatula as well on that website. Jymm Hoffman Forge something or another. Cool stuff!
 
Yes, though I have never personally purchased anything from Jymm Hoffman, I know he has done his research VERY well and makes good stuff, according to those whom I know and who purchased items from him.

Gus
 
From Wiki:
The history of recreational camping is often traced back to Thomas Hiram Holding, a British travelling tailor, but it was actually first popularised in the UK on the river Thames. By the 1880s large numbers of visitors took part in the pastime, which was connected to the late Victorian craze for pleasure boating. The early camping equipment was very heavy, so it was convenient to transport it by boat or to use craft that converted into tents.[1] Although Thomas Hiram Holding is often seen as the father of modern camping in the UK, he was responsible for popularising a different type of camping in the early twentieth century. He experienced the activity in the wild from his youth, when he had spent much time with his parents traveling across the American prairies. Later he embarked on a cycling and camping tour with some friends across Ireland.[2] His book on his Ireland experience, Cycle and Camp in Connemara led to the formation of the first camping group in 1901, the Association of Cycle Campers, later to become the Camping and Caravanning Club.[3] He wrote The Campers Handbook in 1908, so that he could share his enthusiasm for the great outdoors with the world.[4]
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camping
 
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