African American Food: To The Civil War: African Culinary Techniques

The West African cook employed a variety of methods and kitchen utensils to prepare enjoyable meals for her family. Iron working became a highly developed skill in Africa approximately two thousand years ago, so by the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries the average West African wife had at least one iron pot for preparing delectable hot soups and stews. The pots, either iron or earthen, were placed in the center of a fireplace made of three stones arranged into a triangle, or simply over three low clay mounds. If the pot were one of the smaller, earthen vessels similar to a double boiler, the cook could opt to steam her preparation. She would fill the bottom vessel with water and seasonings and place her vegetables, breads, puddings, or meat in the top vessel, with its perforated bottom.