Colonial Style Brazier

[Enfield1]

Anybody here ever cooked or heated something with a colonial brazier? What's the best period correct fuel? Any tips? Thanks. :hatsoff:

 

[Black Hand]

I've had good luck with natural chunk charcoal. Small pieces of wood (branches or split wood) work as well, though the wood species will determine efficiency.

Temperature management is difficult as there is no way to adjust heat, other than moving your pot.

 

[Coot]

Mrs Coot & I have used one a fair amount. Keep in mind that they are more intended to warm food than to cook it. We used ours a lot in the mornings to boil water for tea. Our best trick was to take brown lunch bags, drop some shavings in the bottom & add as much "cowboy" (natural) charcoal as would fit in the brazier & fold the top of the bag shut. We kept a supply of the pre done bags so there was no dusty pouring of charcoal or hunting for small kindling. Toss in a bag, shavings down, shut the top, light at the bottom & you are set. Never use the briquets with lighter fluid in them as it stinks up the whole camp & everyone knows that you are "cheating".

 

[tenngun]

I use lump charcoal or chunks of wood four or five inches long. Can make my coffee, and boil my hasty pudding for breakfast on it. I have made a small hard wood fire in it, flipped the grill up and put a lead ladle in to the coals. Quickly its melted and I can run ball at an event.
I have made forced meat balls and puddings-in-a- haste for camp pot lucks in mine.

 

[coloradoclyde]

While I don't have an actual brazier, I do cook with wood a lot.....I cut up small chunks of wood and stack them around the inside of a chimney starter...(not exactly PC) they burn very nicely and make wonderful coals for cooking...

I have also made my own lump charcoal....

Got to get my butt in gear and make a brazier....

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I use "Cowboy Lump Charcoal" from the market. Folks say braziers aren't for cooking....well maybe not with charcoal briquettes, but that hardwood lump stuff gets very hot, and works fine.

I use it when I'm helping to run an event, and don't have time to do a fire pit nor to tend a fire. They also work on top of a table (mind the ash and any stray bits). They also work as home hibachi's (I add an extra grate when grilling) and are a lot lighter than their cast iron, Japanese cousins.

LD

 

[ohio ramrod]

Since I use a lot of oak in my furniture building I keep a box by the table saw and short cut offs go into the box , then into the brazier. Kiln dried oak cut offs make a great fire for cooking and leave little ash compared to charcoal briquets, which have a lot of clay binder. Hardwood Lump charcoal works well also. But my cut offs are free, my favorite price! :idunno:

 

[tenngun]

My wife and I went camping in the Petit Jean last year. The area south of the Arkansas river had missed the wet weather north of the river, and a fire band was on. I took my braizer . We could have fires in containers. Using short cuts of pinion pine we had amino camp fire.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Wish this was a picture thread......

 

[Cruzatte]

Since I use a lot of oak in my furniture building I keep a box by the table saw and short cut offs go into the box , then into the brazier. Kiln dried oak cut offs make a great fire for cooking and leave little ash compared to charcoal briquets, which have a lot of clay binder. Hardwood Lump charcoal works well also. But my cut offs are free, my favorite price! :idunno:

That reminds me, I used to have a rendezous buddy who worked at a factory where there were great quantities of pallet wood lying about. He used to bring a lot of that for his fires. It was mostly oak, I believe. Whatever it was, it sure was dried and seasoned nicely. It made dandy cooking fires, for sure.

 

[BillinOregon]

Wish this was a picture thread......

Agree, Clyde. There is a member here who made a wonderful brazier but we had issues with the photos.

 

[Brad McCaffree]

dadgum... easy idea and works. Pack the sacks in a canvas bag, burn the bag, and use the canvas bag to carry the new plunder you didn't plan on taking home lol. Thank ya kindly!

 

[Coot]

Your most welcome .

 

[JohnN]

Our small group does just about all our cooking with braziers. If we have too we will light 2 or 3 depending on the size of the meal. Will use match light,lump or a combination of both. Never had any complaints about smell. On my own it's easy to cook up some rice or veggies and keep them warm while I cook some meat. Especially nice if you dont want to tend a camp fire all day.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I use "Cowboy Lump Charcoal" from the market. Folks say braziers aren't for cooking....well maybe not with charcoal briquettes, but that hardwood lump stuff gets very hot, and works fine.



LD

I've been making charcoal lately, getting pretty good at it...Also did some research and Braziers seem to have historically been used more for heating to keep people warm rather than cooking food....although cooking was a side benefit.

It also led me to this....

"The Roman Emperor Jovian was poisoned by the fumes from a brazier in his tent in 364, ending the line of Constantine."

Does anyone have Brazier cooking quotes?

 

[Loyalist Dave]

It also led me to this....

"The Roman Emperor Jovian was poisoned by the fumes from a brazier in his tent in 364, ending the line of Constantine."

Does anyone have Brazier cooking quotes?

No, but the info on Jovian led me to this:
"At the news of Julian's death on a campaign against the Sassanids, the army hastily declared a commander, Jovian, emperor. The army still found itself beleaguered by Persian attacks, forcing Jovian to accept humiliating peace terms. The treaty was widely seen as a disgrace and Jovian rapidly lost popularity. After arriving at Antioch, Jovian decided to rush to Constantinople to consolidate his political position there. While en route, he was found dead in bed in his tent at Dadastana, halfway between Ancyra and Nicaea. His death was officially attributed to either a surfeit of mushrooms or the poisonous fumes of a charcoal warming fire.

So the guy checking the body (who probably smothered the dude) came up with two stories as to why the guy making the bad treaty ended up...dead. :shocked2:

LD

 

[Rifleman1776]

I had one and liked using it. Have since given to my son that is into Renaissance reenacting. Enneyhow, I kept a 1/4 cord of hickory firewood I had cut in dry storage. Before a ronny I would split and cut a bunch for use. I made small pieces 4-7" long and kept in a plastic garbage bag kept inside a burlap sack inside lodge out of sight and dry. That made a nice fire I cooked on with little fuss. Downside: certainly not an item the real mountain men would have carried due to bulk and weigh.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Washington supposedly had one also....But I cannot see soldiers other than a few officers having one due to the weight and cost.....at least not a metal one.

 

[Black Hand]

I purchased one from Mountaintop Trading and have used it many times. Useful when open fires are not permitted or advised... http://www.mountaintoptradingco.com/index2.htm (5th item down)

 

[tenngun]

The romans did not know about CO or even o2 depleation. However a way of suicide was to take wine some favored books in to a small room, seal the doors and window then light a braizer.
I have brought a braiser in to my wedge but only after tying a door open, since we buy so much on the debit card now I might not have coins to pay the ferryman, So both doors are tied open. Even so it adds a lot of warmth to a wedge.