Cooking Technologies and Processes: Fuels and Fires

Fire making was the source of all cookery, and fires were made from the fuel at hand. Wood was chosen according to the heat produced, perhaps the flavor imparted by the smoke, and the dish. Wood gathering was a chore for women, who hauled dead and dried branches from their surroundings. Among some tribes (the Hidatsa, for example) dogs were harnessed to a travois, or hauling frame, and transported the collected branches and logs. Relatively small cooking fires and slow cooking were most common, whether in boiling pots or pit ovens. Among the tribes of the eastern woodlands, hardwoods such as oak, nut woods, and fruit woods produced moderate temperatures and long-lasting heat. Juniper and mesquite were favored in the Southwest. Large trunks were rarely felled or split, because stone axes were inadequate to the job. On the often-woodless plains, women collected “buffalo chips,” or dry dung, which ignited fast, burned well (although quickly), and produced low to moderate heat. In some areas dried grass was burned. The plains offered cottonwood, which was used as fuel by the Kiowa.