Journal articles on the topic 'Clay pot cooking'

Sie reuboh is a traditional cuisine from Aceh Besar district which use red meat, tallow, vinegar and some blended spices. Normally, Acehnese cooks this cuisine in with traditional clay pot. As cooking utensil, clay pot is vulnerable to breakage and has slow heat propagation compared to stainless steel pot which has long usage and good heat conductor. The use of packaging such as nylon plastic and aluminum foil in storage is also expected to affect the quality of sie reuboh. This study aims to find out sensory profile of produced sie reuboh by using ten attributes (colour/brightness, aroma (sour, spicy, meaty), flavor (hot spicy, sour, salty, umami) and texture (tenderness, chewiness). Sie reuboh was cooked in two types of cooking ware (earth clay pot and stainless steel pot) and then store in nylon and aluminum foil packaging for 7 days. The obtained data is statistical analyzed with ANOVA and DMRT. The results showed that attribute sour aroma, hot spicy flavor, umami and tenderness of sie reuboh cooked with stainless steel has higher notes, whereas other attributes showed no significant effect. Type of packaging also showed no significant effect for these ten attributes except sour aroma. As conclusion, it can be stated that stainless steel provides sie reuboh with better sensory properties compare to clay pot.

The Process of vessels making in Mansinam site was not far too different with other places in Indonesia: using clay as the basic material. The vessel making was a woman’s work, started from clay gathering to firing process. Based on the observation of the edge shape, it is predicted that the vessels found in Mansinam Island belongs to the type of pot. The observation on the core shows that on the process of making, the firing was opened and not spread evenly. Pot was used for cooking and keeping food. The vessels from Mansinan Island has spread vast through trade and barter to Wandamen coastal area, Biak Numfor islands, Bird’s Head Peninsula coastal areas and Raja Ampat Islands.

This paper examines pottery technology and change through the eyes of the experimental archaeologist. A new vision is presented of experimental archaeology and the role its findings can play in archaeological explanation. It is argued that the most useful results of experimental archaeology are best obtained with long-term research programs. This perspective is illustrated by a case study of the relations between surface treatments (interior and exterior) and thermal performance in cooking pots. The experiments indicate that surface treatments like texturing, organic coatings, and smudging have marked impacts on thermal shock cracking and on thermal spalling in simulated cooking. It is emphasized that the findings of experimental archaeology, expressed as correlates, can be employed in explanations of prehistoric technological change, but only when embedded in more inclusive correlate theories and coupled with the requisite contextual information.

The radiocarbon dating of ancient ceramics is an important aspect of investigations both the radiocarbon analysis and the archaeology. The time of a making and using of pottery corresponds directly with the time of the ancient people existing. In spite on that fact that the pottery radiocarbon dating has many problems because of different sources of carbon inside pottery, there is the possibility for correct radiocarbon dating with using both the AMS technique and the conventional technique. The main problem of pottery radiocarbon dating is how to separate intrinsic pottery carbon from older geological carbon and younger carbon absorbed by pottery pores during burial. The examination of basic stages of pottery making and using gives the possibility to assess the main sources of carbon entrance to a ceramic vessel. The compositional analysis of clay and temper that had been used for pottery making should be considered. The method of the temperature control during combustion should be applied in process of the radiocarbon dating. It is very important to supply the careful chemical pretreatment of ceramics with aim to remove the older and younger contaminations. The comparison of pottery dates obtained with the relative dating according to pottery typology should use for control. The other problem of the radiocarbon dating of pottery is the reservoir effect if the freshwater and the seawater fish or seafood were used in a cooking process. If the clay has the high carbonate concentration or shells inside pot-sherds the determination of d 13C should be done after carbonate removing. The careful chemical pretreatment of ceramics must guarantee the removing of humic acids forming after burial of pot-sherds and as well as in result of food cooking. The examination of d 13C should be provided for organics from pot-sherds. The correction of radiocarbon age can be realized. If it is possible the total content of carbon should determine in pot-sherds as well. In article the

We furnish a theoretical framework for explaining that portion of formal variability in artifacts attributable to the behavior of the artisan. Major causal factors are the artisan's knowledge and experience, extent of feedback on performance in activities along the artifact's behavioral chain, situational factors in behavioral chain activities, technological constraints, and social processes of conflict and negotiation. In identifying the causal factors at work in a specific case, the investigator must focus analytically on activities-that is, on people-people, people-artifact, and artifact-artifact interactions-and on the performance characteristics relevant to each. Application of this behavioral framework allows abandonment of many cherished but unhelpful concepts, including style and function. Ceramic artifacts, the low-fired, clay cooking pot in particular, are employed for illustrative purposes.

The salt pot compress method in postpartum women involves putting male salt in a clay pot, known as a cooking pot, for heat retention. According to Thai traditional medicine textbooks, there are two types for the nature of salt: male and female. Nonetheless, no report has clearly specified why it needs to be only the male salt and whether it has to be one of either sea salt or rock salt. Some textbooks have not even specifically stated that it must be the male salt. Thus, the objectives of this study are as follows: 1) To determine the heat retention properties of both male and female sea salt; 2) To compare the heat retention properties of both male and female sea salt. The results showed that the size and volume of both types of salt decreased after heating. Meanwhile, higher temperature and a longer time in the pot enhanced the salt’s heat. However, the heat retention time of those types of salt decreased with increasing experimental cycles. Moreover, the male sea salt maintained better heat retention properties than the female sea salt. Thai traditional medicine practitioners suggest the use of male sea salt in the intervention of salt pot compress method. In case male sea salt is not found, large grains of salt will work in its place. Additionally, the heated salt can be reused due to no loss in its heat retention properties for up to 2-3 uses. Nevertheless, increasing the time and energy is required to heat the salt, depending on the number of cycles.

Barreado is a typical dish from Paraná, made with beef and some specific spices and cooked for a long time in a clay pot sealed by a mixture of ashes similar to the clay, being this dish produced with greater relevance in the coastal region of the state, where there is the largest productive arrangement of this dish in Brazil and where has a strong gastronomic touristic appeal. Despite the historical, cultural and economic relevance of gastronomic tourism in Paraná, few and sparse studies use the issue, thus, this study aimed to elaborate and show an overview of the current scenario of production and trade of the dish, highlighting the implications and potential of Barreado in Paraná Coast. The survey methodology was based on quantitative and qualitative descriptive exploratory research, the data collection was accomplished between May and June 2020, with 151 consumers.The study revealed that among Barreado consumers there was a predominance of women (n=61.5%). The average age was 40.9 years old, and the majority of the respondents (46.4%) preferred to consume Barreado when it is done by the traditional way of cooking, in a clay pot and on a wood stove for 24 hours. The greatest potential described was the fact that the Barreado is a typical and original product of Paraná and has great acceptance in gastronomic tourism, which reveals its capacity to be a source that drives regional development, however the price considered high and the distribution network in the retail market was classified as deficient, they were identified as limiting factors to the development of the Barreado production and commercialization. In this context, still on the issue of price and its relationship with the consumption, given that it was one of the main factors identified as limiting and the lack of studies on the subject, for further studies on the cost and quality relationship should be considered by researchers in new future studies.

Potters are artists, and pottery is an ancient art of making artifacts from clay. The earthenware mainly includes items like lamps, pots, idols, etc., which are baked in fire and have been used in day-to-day activities, including cooking, decorations, and religious functions since the earliest date of human civilization. This paper is based on the descriptive method and aims to assess the traditional lifestyle of Kohar, the potter community in the Terai of Nepal. The direct interview was conducted with active pot makers residents of Rupandehi district, Nepal, to know they utilize what raw materials and equipment, what procedures for making a typical pottery are, what kinds of general earthenware are being produced, and what current difficulties affecting their tradition and culture. This cross-sectional study was conducted on the occasion of Dipawali, a Hindu festival in November 2023, and leads to the conclusion that the Kohar community of Nepal is encountering issues like shortage of quality soil, lack of market, and decreased interest of new generation in the pottery

This study was conducted to investigate traditional butter making practice, consumption and utilization in Sidama zone, Southern Nation Nationalities Peoples Region. A total of 180 households were selected from three agro ecology (60 household per each) where milk processing for butter making has long tradition. The highest and significant difference (P=0.010) on butter making practice was observed among three highlands (100%), midland (97%) and lowland agro ecology (88%). Regarding consumption of milk and milk products for household, butter milk and butter were ranked as 1st and 2nd. This was due to most of traditional foods in Sidama zone were prepared with butter and consumed by buttermilk. Besides the women’s in the study area process butter primarily for the combined benefit from the sale, for household consumption and as cosmetics which is holding the highest percent (89%) than consumption together with sailing (34%) and consumption alone (33%). In the process of making butter, the processing equipment (Clay Pot) smoked by different plant for the purpose of improving the flavor ranked as 1st and for increased butter yield (2nd rank) and to prolong the shelf life (3rd rank). Woira (Olea Africana) is the dominant smoking plant used for fumigation in the three agro-ecologies. In addition to Woira, Tside (Juniperous Procera) and Bamboo (Bambusa Vulgaris) the second and the third mostly used plants in the highlands of the studied locations respectively. Furthermore, different types of spices were added on butter while cooking. Among the spices, Koseret (Ocimum Hardiense) is dominant in the highland and lowland agro ecology where as Korerima (Aframomum Corrorima) and Abish (Trignella Foenum) in the lowland agro ecology. In the study area most of the respondents make butter from milk of local cow. The milk from exotic breeds was used for raw milk consumption than processing. There is also significance difference in the amount of milk used once for butter making that about 5.5 litter, 5litter and 3.5 liter for highland, midland and lowland agro ecology respectively. Moreover, the interviewed households make butter every 4 days in the highland and 3 day in both of the midland and lowland agro ecology. The finding also figured out that different butter processing constraints in all of the studied districts such as processing utensils easily be broken (clay Pot) (38%), time taking (30%), limited milk yield (20%) and labor taking (16%). Additionally, about 76% of the respondents have limited awareness on improved butter churner and about 17% of the respondents responded inaccessibility as the reason for not utilizing improved churner. Thus, an introduction and demonstration are required to fill the gap of improved butter churner which saves time, reduces women workload and minimize breakage of processing utensil.

This paper presents the results of a large-scale petrological study of Early Iron Age (twelfth-seventh centuries bc) coarse wares from north-central Crete. 210 samples were taken for analysis from six locations at Knossos, representing distinct funerary, domestic, and ritual contexts. The pottery selected represents coarse to semi-fine fabrics and a variety of vessel types and sizes. The bulk (188) of the samples can be divided into seven fabric groups, with 22 loners or pairs. Four of the seven fabric groups exhibit a mineralogy that is consistent with local geology. The functional ceramic range is clearly reflected in the methods of clay preparation: coarse wares, cooking pot wares and fine wares have distinct clay paste technology. Three of the fabric groups, however, appear to be non-local, twelve samples coming from elsewhere in Crete, and twenty-three from elsewhere in the Aegean. Fabric groups 4 and 7 seem to represent a rather specialized local taste for exotic (possibly Cycladic) wares, used primarily for cooking. Overall the picture is one of considerable continuity in patterns of production and consumption from the Bronze Age. The introduction of the red micaceous wares (especially fabric 4) however coincides with a number of other signs of greater external contact in Knossos during the latter part of the ninth century BC. These innovations appear to be related, even if debate continues as to their significance.To άρθρο Παρουσιάςει τα αποτελέσματα μιας μεγάλης κλίμακας πετρολογικής μελέτης της χονσροεισούς κεραμεικής της Πρώιμης Eποχής του Σισήρου (12ος- 7ος αι. π.X.) από την βόρεια κεντρική Kρήτη. 210 σείγματα πάρθηκαν για ανάλυση από έξι θέσεις στην Kνωσό, οι οποίες αντιπροσωπεύουν σιακριτά ταφικά, οικιακά και τελετουργικά σύνολα. H επιλεγμένη κεραμεική αντιπροσωπεύει χονσροεισή και μεσαίας ποιότητας αγγεία ποικίλων σχημάτων και σιαστάσεων. O κύριος όγκος (188) των σειγμάτων μπορεί να σιαιρεθεί σε επτά ομάσες σύστασης πηλού, με 22 σείγματα να αποτελούν μονασικές περιπτώςεις ή ςεύγη. Tέσσερις από τις επτά ομάσες εμφανίςουν ορυκτολογία ςύμφωνη με την τοπική γεωλογία. H ποικιλία της χρηστικής κεραμεικής αντανακλάται καθαρά στις μεθόσους προετοιμαςίας του πηλού: χονσροεισή αγγεία, μαγειρικά αγγεία και λεπτότεχνα αγγεία σείχνουν σιακριτή τεχνολογία πρόςμειξης πηλού. Tρεις από τις ομάσες ςύστασης πηλού παρ' όλα αυτά φαίνεται να μην είναι εγχώριες – σώσεκα σείγματα προέρχονται από άλλες περιοχές της Kρήτης, και 23 από άλλες περιοχές του Aιγαίου. Oι ομάσες 4 και 7 φαίνεται να αντιπροςωπεύουν μια ισιαίτερα εξεισικευμενη τοπική προτίμηση για εξωτικά (ενσεχομένως Kυκλασικά) αγγεία, τα οποία χρησιμοποιούνταν κυρίως για μαγειρική. Γενικά έχουμε μια εικόνα σημαντικής συνοχής και συνέχειας στις μαρφές παραγωγής και κατανάλωσης από την Eποχή του Xαλκού στην Eποχή του Σισήρου. H εμφάνιση και εισαγωγή αγγείων κοκκινωπού πηλού με μαρμαρυγία (εισικά η ομάσα 4) (συμπίπτει με έναν αριθμό άλλων στοιχείων που σείχνουν εκτενέστερες εξωτερικές επαφές της Kνωσού κατά τα τελευταία χρόνια του 9ου αιώνα π.X. Aυτές οικαινοτομίες φαίνεται να συσχετίςονται, αν και η συςήτηση αναφορικά με τη σημασία τους συνεχίςεται.

Cooking pits – in clusters or in rowsCooking pits can occur either arranged in one or more rows, following a roughly parallel course, or in clusters of up to several hundred closely-spaced examples with no apparent pattern in their location. This type of structure is known from Southern Scandinavia, Germany and Poland. Most cooking-pit systems belong to the Bronze Age, but occasional examples date from the Early Iron Age.The cooking-pit complexes are described according to the following characteristics: 1) location in the landscape, 2) proximity to water, 3) distance to contemporary settlements, hoards and graves, 4) uniformity of form and content and 5) paucity of finds (Heidelk-Schacht 1989).In recent years in Denmark, attention has become focussed on cooking-pit systems and many new examples have been investigated (fig. 1). There are at least 42 known sites (fig. 2) comprising a total of at least 4300 cooking pits. However, as most rows or clusters of cooking pits have not been fully excavated, the real number is much greater. There are virtually no da­table finds from the pits, as a consequence of which there is a tendency to date these features alone on the basis of their form and structure. Radiocarbon dates are the most important source when dating and many new sites, especially with uni-seriate arrangements of cooking pits, have been scientifically dated.In this article, the cooking-pit question is examined with a point of departure in a uni-seriate system at Frammerslev in Salling and a complex system at Brok­bakken, Bjerringbro.FrammerslevDuring Skive Museum’s investigations in 2002 and 2006, discoveries included a uni-seriate cooking-pit system and a 31 m-long row of postholes 200 m further to the east, parallel to the row of cooking pits. The row of cooking pits (fig. 3) lies on a plateau located on a large promontory. The promontory hosts several concentrations and a row of burial mounds, constituting a marked feature in the landscape, also in the Late Bronze Age. The row of cooking pits runs directly towards a burial mound in both directions. Six cremation graves were found in the burial mounds, indicating that they were also used for burial purposes in the Late Bronze Age. There is no settlement in the vicinity.The row of cooking pits comprises 33 pits located in extension of one another, forming a 67 m-long northeast-southwest oriented row (fig. 4). Towards the northeast, the row continues in a more scattered fashion with a further seven cooking pits. In the middle of the series there is a complex of at least four cooking pits ( fig. 4, no. 1), of which two are included in the row. Repeated re-cutting can be seen in the complex and this is the only site so far where repeated use can be documented. At Frammerslev, there are subsidiary cooking pits associated with the row – a feature also seen at Roerstensgård and Bækmarksgård.The other cooking pits in the Frammerslev row are circular or elongate-oval. On the basis of the deposits in the pits, a typology has been constructed (fig. 5).When the cooking pits are classified according to the presence or absence of a compact charcoal-rich layer at their base, as well as one or two overlying layers, two main types can be identified, one with three, and one with two sub-types:Type 1 includes cooking pits with a black, compact charcoal-rich basal layer. Type 1a has a basal layer of charcoal and over this a yellow to brownish-yellow layer with red-burnt areas and, uppermost, brown topsoil material with scattered fire-shattered stones and charcoal. There may be red-burnt soil at the edge of the pit. There are, accordingly, three layers within the cooking pit and the red-burnt layer over the charcoal is unbroken and follows the course of any subsidence in the pit. Type 1b has brown topsoil-like fill directly over the basal charcoal layer. There are, accordingly, only two layers in the cooking pit. Type 1c comprises a black charcoal-rich basal layer with a substantial content of fire-shattered stones in the same layer as the charcoal, by which it distinguishes itself from types 1a and 1b. Type 2 covers cooking pits lacking black charcoal layers and possibly also without fire-shattered stones. In the case of type 2a, the whole pit is filled with brown clay, possibly lacking, or with only occasional scattered, fire-shattered stones and with very little charcoal. There is no red-burnt subsoil associated with these pits. With type 2b, the basal layer comprises clay with a very low content of charcoal and occasional fire-shattered stones or yellow to brownish-yellow clay with many small pieces of fire-shattered stone but no charcoal and no red-burnt clay.As can be seen from the overview (fig. 6) of the cross-sections of the cooking pits, there is great uniformity within, respectively, types 1a and 2a.Cooking pits of type 1 were primarily hearths where the cooking stones were heated in situ and the subsoil has become coloured by the effect of the intense heat. Subsequently, the pit served its purpose as, presumably, a cooking place for the roasting of meat. While the stones were still hot the fire was extinguished by being covered by thin layers of soil being thrown in; in several cases these can be seen to have acquired a reddish colour due to the effect of the heat. In several of the cooking pits there are very small fire-shattered stones, presumably the result of repeated use. Finally, the pit was either intentionally covered after its last usage or stood open and, with time, became filled with soil-rich culture layers. Accordingly, the cooking pit represents a complete series of events.The cooking pits of main type 2, with no or few fire-shattered stones, no or only a little charcoal and lacking red-coloured subsoil, must be explained in a different way. Either fire was never lit in the cooking pit – in which case it is difficult to maintain the term cooking pit and the pit could perhaps represent a kind of preliminary phase to its actual use, or the pit has been completely cleaned out after use, resulting in only the overlying layers being present. This type represents perhaps the pre- and post-phases of the actual cooking-pit activity.By examining the distribution of types 1 and 2, a pattern emerges which can provide the basis for an interpretation of the uni-seriate structure at Frammerslev (see fig. 4). Cooking pits of type 1 are the deepest and lie on both sides of the large central pit. Cooking pits of type 2 lie further away at both the northeastern and southwestern ends. This distribution of types suggest that the most commonly-used features are the central ones and that the row grew successively out from this core. Two shallow pits of type 2 furthest to the north could perhaps be the beginning of the next stage.The cooking pits at Frammerslev have not been archaeologically dated on the basis of artefacts. Two cooking pits of type 1 have been radiocarbon dated (fig. 7). If account is taken of the greatest uncertainty, the calibrated dates are, respectively, 860-790 BC and 1070-830 BC, i.e. Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V.Uni-seriate structures are found on Funen and Zealand and in Central and Northwestern Jutland and have many common features. They have often a marked location in the landscape, several occur on or near the highest point, for example on larger or smaller promontories extending out into a wetland area. Virtually all the uni-seriate cooking-pit rows lie in the vicinity of a wetland. Five out of 11 uni-seriate cooking-pit rows point in the direction of a burial mound. It is difficult to judge whether the cooking-pit rows lie remotely relative to settlements and burial grounds; investigation of even greater areas would be required in order to establish with certainty the absence of contemporary sites in the vicinity. This situation is further complicated by the fact that the houses from this period appear to be located quite a distance apart.The uni-seriate cooking-pit structures are, as a rule, lacking in finds. Nine uni-seriate cooking-pit rows have been radiocarbon dated (fig. 9). The radiocarbon dates reveal that the cooking-pit systems were used in the Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V, especially in the years between 950 and 800 BC.Brokbakken I-IIIIn the period between 1990 and 2008, Viborg Stiftsmuseum carried out several arch­aeological investigations on a 20 hectare site at Bjerringbro. These excavations have been named Brokbakken I-III. By way of the excavations at Brokbakken it has proved possible to demonstrate that large and small concentrations of cooking pits can be found in the vicinity of a multi-seriate system of cooking pits.Brokbakken comprises a delimited promontory (fig. 10), bordered on three sides by 8-10 m high steep slopes and gullies running out towards the flat Gudenå river valley. To the southeast, the promontory slopes gently without any natural boundary. The concentration of cooking pits at Brokbakken II lies a little withdrawn from the edge of the promontory, facing out towards a small gulley. The multi-seriate system of cooking pits, Brokbakken III, lies along the edge of an extensive valley which, 1.5 km distant, runs into the Gudenå.Brokbakken I yielded a concentration of 30 cooking pits, especially of type 1b, together with refuse pits from the Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V.At Brokbakken II, there is a concentration of 85 densely-placed cooking pits, primarily of type 1c (basal layer comprising a mixture of charcoal and fire-shattered stones), as well as several smaller clusters (fig. 11). There are a few finds, including a collection of sherds (fig. 12) from a c. 23 cm high vessel. Radiocarbon dating of a cooking pit shows that, when the greatest uncertainty is taken into account, it was in use between 1130 and 840 BC (see fig. 7), i.e. in Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V.At Brokbakken III, a multi-seriate system of cooking pits was investigated in 1997. This comprised 110 examples arranged in three to four rows (termed rows F, G, I and J), forming a fan shape (fig. 13), as well as 42 cooking pits lying individually or in smaller or larger concentrations. The majority of the cooking pits are circular or oval and they vary in size.The cooking pits at Brokbakken III are built up according to the same basic principles as those at Frammerslev, and cooking pits of types 1b, 2a and 2b are present. Cooking pits with a compact layer of charcoal at the base are, conversely, absent, but these are presumably replaced by cooking pits of type 1c. Overall, it can be seen that the majority of the cooking pits, in all 55% of all those which were sectioned, belong to type 1b.When account is taken of the greatest uncertainty in the radiocarbon dates, the cooking pit alignments can be seen to have been in use in the period 1020-800 BC, i.e. Late Bronze Age, periods IV-V.Multi-seriate cooking-pit systems are known from 10 localities on Zealand, Funen and Bornholm, and in Jutland. They are located on hillsides or level ground with small elevations or on flat promontories extending out into wetland areas. The cooking-pit rows are found by bogs, lakes and watercourses. The multi-seriate cooking-pit systems have no fixed orientation and several structures follow a meandering or curved course. At the known localities, there are between two and 15-16 rows of cooking pits, and it seems that systems comprising three to four rows are commonest. Five structures have been dated to the Late Bronze Age, periods IV, V and VI.Concentrations of cooking pits with more than 25 cooking pits are known from 20 localities on Zealand, Møn and Funen and in Jutland (see fig. 2). The concentrations have very diverse locations – some are on or by marked hill tops or on an even plateau, while others occur on sloping terrain as well as on the floor of a valley. The cooking-pit concentrations lie in the vicinity of lakes, watercourses or bogs or close to open water.A cooking-pit concentration at Fårdalgård (fig. 19) lies in undulating terrain, virtually a promontory. On the plateau behind the cooking pits, settlement traces from the Late Bronze Age have been found. Further away, there are burial mounds and only 100 m away lies the find site for the famous Fårdal hoard. The latter is dated to the Late Bronze Age, period V, and the system of cooking pits can, as a whole, be dated on the basis of pottery to the Late Bronze Age; this also applies to other concentrations of cooking pits.ConclusionSystems of cooking pits must be seen in a wider context, where their topographic location and information on the area’s settlements, burial grounds and hoards are included in the evaluation. On the basis of topographic location, it is reasonable to suggest that uni-seriate structures could have had a different function from multi-seriate examples, and that the complexity is further increased if there are both rows and concentrations of cooking pits at the same site.Uni-seriate structures are often located high up in the vicinity of, or pointing towards, burial mounds containing finds from both the Early and Late Bronze Age. These structures should probably be interpreted in conjunction with the burial mounds, and be seen as cultic features employed in connection with burials or other ceremonies associated with the cult. Their physical form, a long row of cooking pits at Frammerslev, constitutes a clear eastern demarcation and the associated row of postholes is a clear western demarcation of the row of burial mounds. The group of burial mounds towards the north could be a form of transverse demarcation of the area. In this way, areas are created within the landscape, each of different significance – outside and inside – a totally ritual landscape.The multi-seriate systems and large concentrations of cooking pits are often conspicuously located in areas with watercourses, lakes or bogs or facing out towards open water. Several sites, such as Brokbakken I-III and Fårdalgård, are located on marked promontories extending out into large river valleys where offerings have been found in the vicinity. It seems obvious to imagine these large concentrations and numerous rows of cooking pits as the result of many people’s activities in connection with great gatherings and cultic ceremonies. The argument can be made for an supra-regional presence of people, and the site can, therefore, be interpreted as a gathering place for a larger area.Figure 20 shows the location of the cooking-pit concentrations relative to the main watercourses in Central Jutland: Gudenå, Skals Å and Nørre Å. There is about 30 km in a straight line from the concentrations of cooking pits in Lynderup to the cooking pits of both Brokbakken I-III and Munkebo. Within this area, with its meandering river systems, and the areas of land they delimit, there are several systems of cooking pits. Their location in the landscape suggests some form of territorial division. We can almost predict the location of the next structure in the landscape!Brokbakken I-III also demonstrates, at a superior level, a form of division of the landscape. High up on the promontory there are cooking pits and traces of metalworking delimited by the slightly lower-lying multi-seriate system of cooking pits. Below the promontory by the Gudenå there is an offering area. On the plateau nearest the promontory there are scattered traces of settlement and in the burial mounds further away the rich graves of important people. If this interpretation of the landscape is correct, the systems of cooking pits can have had a function as markers in the ritual landscape.The investigations of rows of cooking pits show that there are differences in the physical composition of the individual structures, but it is the fill layers which form the basis for a more subtle interpretation of their function. These layers could represent various stages of use and cleaning out. The investigation at Frammerslev shows that the rows of cooking pits were used several times, and it is possible to argue for successive expansion. A form of division into separate sections is also seen at several sites.On the basis of many ethnographic parallels and practical experiments, it has been suggested that the cooking pits were used to cook meat. If we accept that the cooking pits of type 1 were used for cooking, and that food for 10 people can be prepared in a single pit, the systems of cooking pits at Frammerslev could have been used to prepare food for 60-100 people, while those at Brokbakken III could perhaps provide for 800-1000 individuals.Inge Kjær KristensenMuseum SallingSkive Museum

Abstract The objective of this study was to determine the influence of dry heat cookery on beef flavor development of multiple beef muscles. Beef strip loins, top sirloin butts, tenderloins, shoulder clods, and chuck rolls were collected from USDA Low Choice carcasses (Small00-Small100 marbling; n = 20). Subprimals were wet aged in the dark for 21 d at 0 - 4℃. Following aging, subprimals were fabricated into 2.54 cm thick steaks of the following muscles: Gluteus medius (GM), Infraspinatus (IF), Longissimus lumborum (LL\), Psoas major (PM), Serratus ventralis (SV), and Triceps brachii (TB). Steaks were cooked to a medium degree of doneness (71℃) on one of four randomly assigned cooking methods: charbroiler grill (CHAR), clamshell grill (CLAM), convection oven (OVEN), or salamander broiler (SALA). Volatile compound analysis was conducted using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with solid phase microextraction. Data were analyzed as a split plot arrangement, with subprimal serving as the whole plot factor and cooking method serving as the subplot factor. The majority of compounds evaluated were impacted by the cooking method main effect (n = 21), followed by the cooking method × muscle interaction (n = 18), and muscle (n = 12). Charbroiler GM steaks produced the greatest amount of methional, 2,5-dimethylpyrazine, 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine, and 2-ethyl-3,5-dimethylpyrazine compared to all other treatments (P < 0.05). Charbroiler and CLAM steaks produced the greatest concentration of methylpyrazine and trimethylpyrazine, as well as Strecker aldehydes (P < 0.05), indicating that more direct applications of heat increased Maillard product production. Steaks cooked using OVEN and SALA produced more lipid oxidation products, such as alkanes, aldehydes, and lipid derived ketones. Gluteus medius and SV steaks produced the greatest concentration of volatile compounds, with SV steaks producing an increased concentration of lipid derived compounds (P < 0.05) and GM steaks producing a greater concentration of Maillard products (P < 0.05). These data indicate that cooking method has a direct impact on the flavor profile produced by steaks.

This paper is an analytical research of semi-subterranean houses in the Joseon period, focusing on the temporal changes in the structure and artifacts. Total 29 dwellings of the Joseon period were unearthed at Hwanggol site of Majeong-ri in Anseong. The floor plans of the houses were rectangular, square, circular, oval, unclear, and 呂-shaped. Along with pits and postholes, there were fireplaces and floor heating systems as internal facilities of the houses. Total 13 fireplaces were classified into A type and B type according to the structure. Type A, being built with protruding the house wall in a reversed U-shape, was larger than type B being built on the house wall. Considering its quite small size and absence of cooking-related facilities and tools, the fireplace seemed to have performed function of lighting or heating rather than that of cooking. The structure of only 3 was recognizable out of the 6 floor heating systems uncovered at Hangul site. The floor heating systems were reported from only unclear and 呂- shaped floor plan houses. The space of the 呂-shaped floor plan house was separated by heating facility centering on the fireplace. In the flue system consisting of a fireplace, a flue system part, and a smoke control part, a line of flue system was connected to the smoke control part by turning in a circular or square way along the house wall. The floor heating system of unclear floor plan house at the west slope of the site consisted of a fireplace and a flue system part, and the 3 lines of flue system extended to the direction of the contour. Classification of these houses based on heating and cooking facilities yielded 3 main types and 4 subtypes as following: TypeⅠ with no facilities, TypeⅡ only with a fireplace, TypeⅢ only with a floor heating system; TypeⅡ was again subdivided intoTypeⅡ-1 and Ⅱ-2 to the projection of smoke control part or not; TypeⅢ was also subdivided into TypeⅢ-1 and Ⅲ-2 to the structure of floor heating system. Consideration on uncovered artifacts helped to divided houses into two groups. While one group of houses yielded buncheong ware (a grayish-blue-powdered celadon), bamboo - joint foots, and white porcelains with clay support , the other group yielded white porcelains with sand support without buncheong ware. Buncheong ware was popular from the late 15C to 16C, bamboo-joint foot and white porcelain with clay support were popular from the early 15C to the late 16C. Considering the emergence of the sand support technique in the 17C, the date of houses was divided into before and after the 17C. Hwanggol site of Majeong-ri in Anseong, yielding archaeological features including pit houses, sites of buildings, firing features, and drainage facilities can be understood as residential sites occupied from the 15C to 17C and after.

In 2009 during the excavations at the multi-layered settlement of Rovantsi — Hnidavska Hirka near Lutsk in the excavation area 10 the dwellings and household buildings of the Slavic period have been discovered. To the horizon of the tenth century three houses and the building with three earth ovens were attributed. The stratigraphy of the filling of this building (object 3) indicates that the earth ovens were not operating at the same time. Three successive horizons are observed in this structure. The first site was a grain pit which was discovered at the bottom of the building. This pit was covered by two rammed floors, sagged into it. The analysis of ceramics made it possible to connect one house (object 18) with the first horizon of object 3 and the other house (object 16) with the third horizon of object 3. In the ovens of these houses there were fragments of pots, glued to the fragments of pots from the corresponding horizons of object 3. This building is interpreted as the room for cooking. The horizon of the 12th — the first half of the 13th century includes the structure with two clay ovens, pit-cellar, small rectangular building and the ditch that surrounded these objects. This ditch was obviously the part of fence, and the gap in it was the pass. The complex of this ditch also includes two ground fires, located in the pass in one line with the ditch. It has been suggested that the building with large clay oven which was discovered in 2010 in a nearby excavation 12 (object 12 / Ex. 12), is the same cook room. Obviously, it reflects certain stage in development of such buildings, namely the stop of the use of fast-destroying earth ovens and the transition to the construction of large clay ovens. This is evidenced by the following facts: this building is different in shape from all other houses of the 10th century; it is located at the site of the previous building with earth oven; the oven in it had too large sizes relative to other ovens from the houses of the 10th century. The results of the excavations at Hnidavka Hirka help to reject the version that such structures were the manufactories and to consider them not «mini-factories-bakeries» but only the kitchens with one oven in each individual farm.

Basmati (aromatic) rice is premier rice grown in north-western India and Pakistan. This rice is preferred for their long and slender kernels which expand 3-4 times in length and remain fluffy and are well known all over the world, especially in the Middle East and South Asia for their long fluffy grains on cooking. Paddy soils are usually deficient in organic matter because of high temperature and moisture, which causes rapid decomposition of organic matter. The importance of leguminous green manure crops in improving soil fertility, and soil physical properties received increasing attention. Also, the zinc (Zn) deficiency in soils is prevalent worldwide, especially in high pH calcareous soils. No reports were available on combining green manuring crops and Zn fertilization on productivity, Zn content and kernel quality of Basmati rice. Therefore, the current investigation was undertaken to quantify the combined effects of summer green manuring crops and zinc fertilization on productivity, Zn content and kernel quality of Basmati rice in summer green manuring-Basmati rice cropping system. A field study was therefore conducted for two years (2009 and 2010) on a sandy clay-loam soil (typic Ustochrept) at the research farm of the ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India. The experiments were conducted in split plot design, keeping three green manuring crops viz. Sesbania aculeata (Dhaincha), Crotalaria juncea (Sunhemp), and Vigna unguiculata (Cowpea) and one summer fallow treatment as main-plot treatments and six Zn sources viz. control (no Zn application), ZnSO4∙7H2O (21% Zn), ZnSO4∙H2O (33% Zn), ZnO (82% Zn), ZnSO4∙7H2O + ZnO (50% + 50%) and EDTA-chelated Zn (12% Zn) in sub-plots and was replicated thrice. The experiments in both the years were conducted with a fixed lay-out plan on the same site. The results showed that incorporation of green manures along with zinc (Zn) fertilization increased grain and straw yield, enhanced Zn concentrations and improved the kernel quality before and after cooking in Basmati rice ‘Pusa Basmati 1’. The application of EDTA-chelated Zn (12% Zn) was the best in terms of grain and straw yield and Zn concentrations in grain and straw and kernel quality before and after cooking Basmati rice. Application of ZnSO4∙7H2O (21% Zn) was the second-best treatment followed by ZnSO4∙H2O (33% Zn) and ZnSO4∙7H2O + ZnO (50% + 50%). Application of ZnO (82% Zn) had least effect in increasing the studied parameters. The lowest values were observed with control (no Zn application). Among the summer green manuring crops, incorporation of Sesbania aculeata (Dhaincha) was found to be the best over Crotalaria juncea (Sunhemp), Vigna unguiculata (Cowpea) and summer fallow in terms of grain and straw yield, Zn concentrations in grain and straw and kernel quality before and after cooking in Basmati rice. Zn fertilization with EDTA-chelated Zn (12% Zn) lead to 25.91 and 21.26% higher grain yield; 60.66 and 82.14% Zn-denser grains; with 13.33 and 10.92% increase in head rice recovery in Basmati rice over control (no Zn application) during 2009 and 2010, respectively.

The Early Medieval material that occurred during the rescue excavation on the site 6 on Mokhnach hillfort is analyzed in the paper. The site is located in the eponymous village of Slobidska gromada in Chuhuiv region; it occupies one of the capes on Siverskij Donets right bank (fig. 1). The cultural layer of the Early Middle Age (fig. 2) left by the population of the Romny culture in the mid-10th — early 11th centuries was researched (fig. 3). The remains of the defensive structures, remnants of two household complexes and numerous artifacts of the mentioned historical and archaeological period have been discovered there (fig. 4). A significant part of the site is damaged by the cemetery of the 17th—19th centuries (fig. 6) which in a certain way complicated the excavation. The fortifications under research were the remains of a ground rampart and a wide but shallow moat in front of it that was damaged by a trench in World War 2. One of the household complexes («A») was the remains of a trash pit, while another one («Б») was the remains of a small household building that turned into a pit for domestic waste over time (fig. 5). The discovered artifacts are mainly the fragments of pottery (fig. 7; 8). The Romny culture ceramics are presented by the fragments of handmade vessels; beside sand, small and average fireclay pieces were widely used in its composition. These are the fragments of cooking pots. However, there are also separate remnants of frying pans and remains of the furnace. The ornamentation is traditional: a serrated stamp or a wooden stick with a wrapped rope was made on the shoulder of a vessel. Also, it could be non cross-cutting deepenings made by an end face of a stick. The top edge was decorated by similar prints of serrated stamp, inclined lines or by a finger. The Saltiv culture ceramics differ in top quality of pottery clay and great firing. Tare cookware is presented by amphorae fragments, kitchenware — by pieces of pots with traditional horizontally drawn lines. Tableware (remnants of jugs, mugs and hydrias) is more extensively decorated with flutes and various polished ornaments. Obtained materials indicate the coexistence of the Slavs-Siverians sites (the Romny archeological culture) and the ones of the population represented cultural and technological traditions of the Khazar Khaganate (the Saltiv cultural and historical community). This is confirmed by the analysis of the findings of our predecessors (fig. 9).

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan (1) keberadaan kerajinan cor kuningan di Desa Cindogo, Kabupaten Bondowoso, (2) alat dan bahan yang digunakan dalam pembuatan kerajinan cor kuningan di Desa Cindogo, Kabupaten Bondowoso, (3 proses pembuatan kerajinan cor kuningan di Desa Cindogo, Kabupaten Bondowoso. (4) Jenis kerajinan yang dihasilkan dari kerajinan cor kuningan di Desa Cindogo, Kabupaten Bondowoso. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian deskriptif kualitatif. Teknik pengumpulan data yang digunakan adalah observasi, wawancara, dokumentasi dan kepustakaan. Hasil penelitian ini menujukkan (1) Keberadaan kerajinan cor kuningan yang merupakan kerajinan turun – temurun. Awal pembuatan kerajinan masih sangat sederhana dan pengerjaanya menggunakan alat tradisional. Pada tahun 1990 hingga sekarang perajin kuningan di Desa Cindogo Bondowoso mengalami kemajuan, alat yang digunakan sudah mengalami perubahan (modern), barang-barang yang dihasilkan semakin bervariasi.(2) alat dan bahan yang digunakan dalam pembuatan kerajinan cor kuningan antara lain: cetakan, penjepit, pengasah, saringan, tungku api, palu, gerinda, kowi, blower, kikir, pahat kuningan, spidol, mesin las listrik, mesin poles, mesin bor tangan, kompresor, kuas lukis, blender, tang, gunting kuningan, ampelas, lem kuning, batu hijau, gelput dan bahan yang digunakan adalah logam kuningan, malan, tanah liat, pasir halus, cat minyak, arang halus, serbuk brown, thinner, dan clear. (3) proses pembuatan kerajinan kuningan meliputi pembentukan cetakan, pelapisan, pemopokan, penjemuran, pembakaran dan peleburan, pengecoran, perbaikan, pengikiran, pembuatan motif (sketsa), mengukir, pemolesan, pewarnaan, dan finisihing. (4) jenis kerajinan kuningan yang dihasilkan antara lain: (fungsional) cetakan kue, nampan, kinangan (tempat menyirih), pot bunga, lampu tidur. (non fungsional), miniature kereta kencana, guci jumbo, vas india, garuda pancasila, hiasan dinding kepala kuda, patung ayam jago, patung angsa, patung harimau, patung bebek, patung burung merak dan patung rusa. Kata Kunci : Kerajinan cor kuningan, jenis produk, fungsi. This study aims to describe (1) the presence of brass casting in Cindogo Village, Bondowoso Regency, (2) tools and materials used in the manufacture of brass casting in Cindogo Village, Bondowoso Regency, (3 processes of brass casting in Cindogo Village, Regency of Bondowoso (4) The type of craft produced from the brass casting in Cindogo Village, Bondowoso Regency This research is descriptive qualitative research The data collection technique used is observation, interview, documentation and bibliography. The results of this study indicate (1) The existence of brass casting craft which is a handicraft hereditary. Early crafting is still very simple and the pengerjaanya using traditional tools. In 1990 until now the brass craftsmen in Cindogo Bondowoso Village progressed, the tools used have undergone a change (modern), the goods produced more varied, (2) tools and materials used in the manufacture of brass casting crafts, among others: mold, Clamps, sharpener, strainer, fireplace, hammer, grinder, kowi, blower, miser, brass chisel, marker, electric welding machine, polishing machine, hand drill machine, compressor, paintbrush, blender, pliers, brass scissors, Yellow, green stone, gelput and materials used are brass metal, malan, clay, fine sand, oil paint, fine charcoal, brown powder, thinner, and clear. (3) the process of making brass handicrafts including mold formation, coating, pitting, drying, burning and smelting, casting, repairing, thinking, making motifs (sketches), carving, polishing, coloring, and finisihing. (4) types of brass handicrafts produced, among others: (functional) cookie cake, tray, kinangan (place menyirih), flower pots, sleeping lights. (Non functional), miniature carriage, jumbo jar, vase india, garuda pancasila, horse head wall decoration, statue of rooster, goose statue, tiger statue, duck statue, peacock sculpture and deer statue. keyword : Brass casting, product type, function.

KoustrupA medieval thorp in Western JutlandIn the mid-1980s, a farmer ploughed up stones and clay on some fields adjoining an old road in an area known as Koustrup in the parish of Velling near Ringkøbing (fig. 1). Following this, amateur archaeologists investigated the area and located five medieval farm sites. Four farm sites were on the southern side and one was on the northern side of an east-west running road, which may go back to the Middle Ages. Some of the farm sites were visible on aerial photos (fig. 2).The farms were built on a moor in the early Middle Ages, and the settlement was probably inhabited until the 14th century. Ringkøbing Museum investigated the westernmost farm site in 1992 without recovering definite house remains. The second farm site from the East was excavated in the summers of 1994 to 1996.This paper presents the results of these in vestigations.The area to be excavated was divided into two large areas, I and II. A dwelling house and its surroundings were excavated in area I (fig. 3), and the remains of farm buildings and other structures in area II.The dwelling house first appeared as an oblong clay area: the clay floor (fig. 4). Along the edges of this floor, some large stones appeared. They were arranged in a row, and although some were missing, it was clearly the remains of a sill. In the middle of the northern row of sill stones there was a bay-like projection (fig. 5). There were only a few post holes in the house, and although some were following the axis of the house, the house did not seem to have had central roof-carrying posts. More likely, the walls were carrying the roof. Some postholes aligned across the house towards each end may indicate partition walls that divided the house into a large middle room and two smaller gable rooms. The gables were difficult to distinguish, but two oval pits containing stones may be the remains of the western gable (fig. 6), whereas a very deep posthole towards the south-east marked one corner of the eastern gable. The oldest fireplace in the house was a pit, which may have had a wooden superstructure, perhaps a spark-catcher (fig. 7). Along the inside of the northern wall east of the projection were the remains of an oven, which had had a mud-built vault. This oven belongs to the latest phase of the house. There were also traces of a couple of fireplaces on the clay floor. Postholes outside the house indicate a couple of light wooden buildings close to the dwelling house. Traces of another oven were found at the middle of the southern house wall. In the eastern end of the house was a 3-m long stone-lined pit (fig. 8), which is interpreted as a low cellar. Two stone-paved areas were excavated at the east end of the house. They may be connected with entrances in the eastern gable.The majority of the finds from the dwelling house are potsherds of the local brown/grey, coarsely tempered ware also known from the oldest layers of Ringkøbing (fig. 9). The numerous rimsherds with flanged rims indicate that the clay vessels are mainly of the gloular type (fig. 10). The rimsherds could be divided into three main groups: A, with a curved flanged rim (fig. 11); B, with a rim bent outward in an almost right angle (fig. 12); and C, with a pronounced bend between the neck and the rim and a wide rim meant to support a lid (fig. 13). Apart from sherds from globular vessels, there were sherds of unglazed jugs, dishes, and bowls (fig. 14). Only a few sherds from glazed jugs were found, one with a twisted handle (fig. 15). Other artifacts from the dwelling house were whetstones made from Norwegian micaschist (fig. 16) and some rusty iron objects, mainly nails and spikes.The dwelling house remains in area I are well preserved, although marked by cultivation in modern times. The house had a width of 5.5 meters and a length of 18 meters. Charcoal from the cooking pit and from a waste layer outside the projection were C14-dated. The result shows that the house was in use in the decades around 1250. Together with the artifacts, this point s at the 13th century as the function period.The knowledge of medieval country houses in Western Jutland is sparse, as it is limited to just a few finds. The dwelling house of an excavated medieval farm by Fjand also had a row of sill stones, but in this case, the sill was supporting massive turf walls, and the roof was supported by central roof-carrying posts. Turf walls in combination with central roof-bearing posts were common in areas with sparse timber. However, in Koustrup there was enough timber available for building, and the walls were probably half-timbered and fixed in a sill beam resting on the sill stones. The small projection in the north wall is unusual in the Danish material.Area II was situated south east of area I. It was laid out in order to locate the farm buildings of the medieval farm. Aerial photos showed faint house silhouettes in th is place. However, very little was preserved (fig. 17).The northern part of the area was characterized by a large peat layer, which had been filled into a 60- cm deep hole dug into the hill from the east – perhaps a store for house building, or for bedding in the stables. Later, a small peat-wall building with an oven (C, fig. 1 8) was erected on top of the layer. The surface had traces of two more fireplaces: A, by the western edge of the area, and B, some four meters from the western edge. In and around these structures were several medieval potsherds (fig. 19).South of the large peat blotch were the traces from a building running north-south. Unfortunately, only traces of the western wall were found, but enough of this was left for three building phases to be established. The older phase was represented by a row of postholes, which could be followed for 15 meters. The southernmost 9.5 meters consisted of six pairs of double posts. When the building was altered, these walls were replaced by peat walls resting in foundation trenches. When these walls were later replaced, new foundation trenches were dug into the old ones. However, this time stones were placed in the ditches before the peatwalls were erected on top (fig. 24). In the middle of the long wall was an interval without stones, perhaps indicating a door.Area II did not provide as much pottery as area I. Some sherds from globular vessels with the rim forms A, B, and C were collected, but just a single glazed sherd. A quern stone of garnet micaschist originates from Norway (fig. 21). Several rusty iron items were found in the area, mainly nails.The most interesting single find was a small Romanesque bronze cross (fig. 22). It was found using a metal detector and measures 3.6 x 2.8 cm. The weight is 7 g. The cross is from c. 1200 and has an ornamentation of engraved lines with traces of gilt. A missing cross arm may indicate that the cross was broken off a casket or other item.Although there were no instantly recognizable house sites, we have established medieval activity in area II. Whether the structural remains are from the farm’s stables and barns, or the remains of an older croft settlement is unknown.Aerial photos and investigation of the two areas showed trenches and ditches that may have been part of the demarcation of the medieval croft (fig. 24). A ditch running along the northern side of the dwelling house in area I may indicate the northern end of the croft. In area II, the structural remains were cut by two succeeding north-south running ditches, the assumed eastern end of the croft. Southernmost in area II was a large peat-filled ditch running east-west, which may indicate the southern perimeter (fig. 23).The early Middle Ages were times of prosperity for North-western Europe, and so the populations grew. New land was put under the plough, and many left their villages in order to found new settlements, the so-called thorps. In Denmark, around 4000 localities with the name ending ”- torp ” or the derivatives ” -tarp ”, or ”-trup ” are known. Around half of these belong to existing settlements, such as Koustrup. This name was supposedly created from the personal name of ”Kok” and ”torp”. The village was first mentioned as ”Coxtrup” in a written source from the mid-15th century.After the good times of the many thorp foundations, Denmark suffered a drastic recession in the first half of the 14th century. Civil wars and crop failure was followed by the plague, and many thorps and farms were deserted. Perhaps the Koustrup settlement was given up at that time. At least the area was uninhabited then, but new investigation has shown that Koustrup was revived in the late Middle Ages some two hundred meters to the south of the 13th century settlement. Some of the farms in this ”new” Koustrup were mentioned in late medieval sources,and three of the farms still exist (fig. 25).The excavations in Koustrup have increased our knowledge of the country settlement in Western Jutland in the late Middle Ages. Many questions have been answered, and new ones have been asked. It is a fascinating thought that the inhabitants of the first Koustrup may have witnessed both the erection of the Veiling Church and so me hundred years later the sprouting up of the market town of Ringkøbing.Helle HenningsenRingkøbing MuseumTranslated by Annette Lerche Trolle

AbstractThe necropolis at Malbork-Wielbark was excavated from 1927 to 1936 and 2008 to 2019. This burial ground is the eponymous site of the Wielbark culture. To date, over 2000 burials, both inhumation and cremation (pit and urn graves), have been recorded at this site, attesting to its continuous use from the Early Pre-Roman Iron Age (phase A1) to the early Migration Period (phase D1), with particular emphasis on the Roman Period. The cemetery site partially overlies and damages an earlier Iron Age settlement of the Pomeranian culture.Laboratory analyses were carried out on 113 pottery sherds. The series of samples chosen for analysis reflected, as far as was possible, all relative chronological phases and vessel shapes. The pottery was analysed using a step by step strategy built on the results of MGR-analysis (i. e. the classification of samples based on their matrix type) and on a macroscopic assessment of clastic material. In addition, an estimation of chemical composition by portable energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) was available for each sample. After they had been classified, samples were selected for chemical analysis by wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (WD-XRF), estimation of physical ceramic properties (open porosity, water absorption and apparent density), Kilb-Hennike analysis (K-H analysis), thin-section studies using a polarising microscope, a study of surface phenomena by RTI (Reflectance Transformation Imaging), thermal analysis (TG-DTG-DTA), X-ray diffraction analysis and functional properties analysis (water permeability and thermal shock resistance), as well as experimental estimation of magnetic properties.The results of MGR-analysis carried out on ceramic samples taken from 113 potsherds revealed that all of the pottery was made from various non-calcareous clays with fine-grained iron compounds homogeneously distributed in the matrix. It was decided not to carry on determining/using MGR-groups, as nearly every sherd represents a different MGR-group. This means that these vessels were made during different production cycles. The differences in thermal behaviour between samples were attributed only to matrix-type groups. It can be concluded that 85 % of the total sherds were made from plastic raw materials of the same provenance, and that the same matrix-type groups occurred in all chronological phases. The percentage of vessels made of particular raw materials indicates a significant difference in the preferences of Pomeranian Culture potters and those of Pre-Roman Iron Age, Early Roman Period and those of the Late Roman Period, when one type of raw material disappears from use. This last period is also characterized by an increase in the number of vessels fired in a reducing atmosphere. Standardization is also evident in vessel-wall thickness, which falls within a narrow range of values, on the other hand combined with a large variety in grain sizes up to very large ones and with a wide range of open porosity values, which in turn points to a lack of care in the preparation of the ceramic body. Vessels that may have been non-local origin are noted in all chronological phases. Analysis of functional properties (water permeability and thermal shock resistance) revealed that the pottery deposited in graves included fully functional wares, such as cooking pots, as well as vessels intended solely as grave goods.More than a few samples evidence the use of a slow-rotating potter’s wheel, and it is also possible that a template was used for forming vessel rims. However, there are very few examples of truly technologically advanced vessels. The technology is generally tailored to the desired type or form of vessel.

Bronze Age cult houses in Thy Thy is renowned for its many burial mounds from the Bronze Age. During the last 150 years, the mounds have yielded numerous finds from both the early and the late Bronze Age. Naturally, the finds from inside the mounds, from the graves, have been in focus. However, recent investigations have made it increasingly obvious that the graves are sometimes just part of the story. In several cases, structures closely related to burials inside the mounds have in fact been found outside them, often built right up to the foot of the mound. In the context of the Danish Bronze Age this is a rather new realization, as demonstrated by the following presentation of cult structures from the late Bronze Age in Thy. It is a common feature of these structures that traces of them can be found next to large ploughed-over burial mounds, where the levelled filling of the mound has completely or partly protected them against destruction caused by ploughing (Fig. 1).The first well-documented structure of this type emerged more than twenty years ago outside a large, ploughed-over burial mound near Thisted in northern Thy, called “Høghs Høj” ( “høj” being the Danish word for mound). The mound had a diameter of 25 metres and was originally constructed over an inhumation grave from period III of the early Bronze Age (Fig. 2, structure N2). However, the mound also contained secondary burials, such as an urn grave from period IV of the late Bronze Age (Fig. 2, structure N5) dug into the foot of the mound towards the southwest. A number of stone-paved areas were uncovered just outside the urn grave, built right up against the row of kerb stones (Figs. 2-4). These stone-paved ­areas consisted of a single or double line of stones surrounding a square area of approximately 6 by 6 metres (Fig. 2, structure N19). Towards the north, another stone paving, separated from the first one by a stone-free area 1.5-metre wide (Fig. 2, structure N17), had a number of oval stone-free areas marked out (Fig. 3). These stone-free areas may indicate the position of posts, although no post-holes in the subsoil confirmed this theory. No other post-holes connected with the structure were found. Part of the construction furthest away from the foot of the mound has been destroyed by modern ploughing. However, the narrow outer stone paving probably continued in a curve, as strongly indicated by marks in the subsoil (Fig. 3).Connected to the stone-paved areas, and inside the square structure, lithic debitage and some late Bronze Age pottery, probably from period IV or V, were found. The finds do not differ from those known from contemporary Bronze Age settlements, yet the connection with the stone-paved areas and the mound placed the finds in a context somehow connected to the grave cult. This interpretation has been confirmed later by finds of a similar character outside burial mounds in Thy and Mors (Fig. 1). Most of those finds, however, had been severely destroyed by ploughing. Apart from Grydehøj and Gramstrup near Vestervig, the three best parallels are from ploughed-over mounds at Nørhå and near Sundby in central and eastern Thy and at Toftum in southern Thy (Figs. 1, no. 5, 6, and 12). In all three cases, the remains were found of a stone-paved area adjoining the foot of the mound, and in each case, one or more secondary graves from the late Bronze Age were found in the mound just behind the stone-paved area. Figs. 5 and 6 show the finds from Toftum and Sundby. Just as was the case at Høghs Høj, the location of the secondary graves is hardly accidental. At Toftum, two out of three graves positively date from period IV, and the Sundby mound contained an urn grave from period IV.Until now, the best example of a cult construction outside a mound is from Grydehøj in southern Thy (Fig. 1, no. 10), where it can definitely be said that an actual cult house was erected in the late Bronze Age. The mound turned out to originate from the single grave period, but it had been extended during the early Bronze Age. Three secondary cremation graves were found just inside the kerb stones, dug into the Bronze Age mound (Figs. 7, 5-7). One was a small stone cist with just a few burnt bones in the filling; the other was a cremation grave, which must have held a small wooden coffin that contained a little heap of cleaned, white-burnt, crushed bones. The third grave was an urn grave with some white-burnt, crushed bones. None of the graves contained datable grave goods. In Thy, the small stone cist and its surrounding gravel filling would normally date this grave to the first half of the late Bronze Age. The two other graves cannot yet be dated.During the first half of the late Bronze Age, two or more structures were erected outside the line of kerb stones on the southern side. Apparently, one replaced the other (Fig. 7, 8-9). The oldest and best-preserved structure is described in the following as a cult house (fig. 7, 9), which was later partly covered by a completely different, ramp-like structure (Fig. 7, 8). Other stone-paved areas lay towards the east, but they were too poorly preserved to allow any essential conclusions to be drawn about their appearance and purpose (Fig. 7, 10).Once the ramp-like structure was fully investigated, the older structure was revealed (Fig. 8). Its central part was a house with an inner dimension of 5.5 by 5.0 m. It consisted of a wall ditch with traces of rather stout posts placed at relatively regular intervals. Towards the south, the house had an approximately 1-m wide and 1.5 to 1.7-m long, funnel-shaped entrance, and outside the easternmost entrance ditch, a dug hole must have held a post or a stone. West and east of the house were narrow stone-paved areas, seven and four metres long respectively, and around 1.25-m wide. Unfortunately, ploughing had destroyed part of the stone-paved areas, which may have continued in front of the house to the entrance. Before the house was built, the terrain underneath and around it seems to have been levelled. This meant that material was added west of the house and removed east of the house, so that the house was constructed on an approximately horizontal plot. This was revealed by the fact that the western wall ditch of the house had been dug into clayey turfs that had been placed on end, and this layer continued under the long, narrow paving towards the west. Under the eastern paving, in contrast, the subsoil had been removed. The just over 1.5-metre wide area between the wall ditch and the narrow areas of paving had held a thick turf wall. This wall had been preserved to a height of 30 to 40 cm between the back wall and the row of kerb stones defining the foot of the mound. Towards the south, the turf wall seems to have continued to the entrance, which explains why the entrance was so long. Ditches were also found between the surrounding narrow stone-paved areas and the turf wall. They probably contained posts which were intended to prevent the heavy peat wall from sliding onto the paving. The stone-paved areas were either exposed or functioned as the base of an earth layer. Perhaps they should be interpreted as procession paths. No artefacts were found underneath, inside, or on top of the turf wall, whereas pottery and flint were found both on the surrounding stone-paved areas and inside the house. Numerous stones found inside the house must be the remains of a structure (Fig. 8). This could not have been a floor, as more often than not the stones were situated on top of the other finds in the house. The distribution of the stones inside the house was concentrated in the ­areas along the walls, especially the well-preserved corners beside the back wall, with a concentration descending towards the centre of the house. This indicates that they could be the remains of a levelled stone bench originally built along parts of the wall.A single, quite deep, post-hole was found in the centre of the house, underneath the stone layer and the floor layer. A post placed in this hole must have carried the roof of the house (Fig. 9, 4). Further in, closer to the back wall of the house, the bottom of a fireplace appeared in the floor layer as an area of reddish-brown burnt clay (Fig. 9, 5). The fireplace was situated at the end of one of two curved ditches which formed a semi-circular construction or enclosure built up against the back wall of the house. The opening in this enclosure was positioned directly opposite the entrance of the house. This construction probably represented the sanctum of the house. The finds from within the house consisted almost entirely of thin sherds from good-quality pottery. Most of them came from relatively small vessels, probably goblets. A preliminary dating of the sherds dates the house to period IV or V of the later Bronze Age. Most of the pottery was found just inside the entrance and in the back third of the house, on both sides of the entrance to the semi-circular enclosure (Fig. 10). A small amount of white-burnt broken bones found in the house has been investigated, but whether they were from humans or animals was not determined. If they are human, these bones may constitute a direct connection to one or more of the cremation graves situated just behind the house. It is therefore possible that for reasons still concealed to us the burnt bones were placed in the house before they were buried.Quite a few cooking-pits, apparently contemporary with the cult structures, were found outside the house and the narrow stone-paved areas (Fig. 7). The cooking-pits outside and the drinking vessels inside the house indicate that ceremonies involving eating and drinking formed part of the grave cult. The ploughed-over mound of Gramstrup is situated only 900 m northwest of Grydehøj. The investigation of this mound began in the same year as the Grydehøj excavations finished. Quite unexpectedly, a cult structure was also found near the foot of this mound. Besides having a number of similarities to Grydehøj, the Gramstrup structures provided opportunities for new observations. As in the Grydehøj case, the mound was erected during the single grave period. All in all, this mound had six or perhaps seven ­phases, the last of which – involving enlargement of the mound to a diameter of c.25 m – was probably not constructed until period II or III of the early Bronze Age. There were no preserved grave-finds from that time, however.The Gramstrup cult structure measured 8 by 13 m. As was the case at Grydehøj, the structure was flanked by narrow stone-paved areas adjoining the eastern foot of the mound (Figs. 11 and 12). The paved areas consisted of stones of a diameter of 10 to 15 cm, arranged in a single layer. The best preserved northern paving, which had a width of 0.5 to 1.0 m and a length of 6 m, continued at a right angle for another couple of metres into the area in front of the structure towards the east, as was probably also the case at Grydehøj. The southern stone paving probably had a similar course originally, but it was poorly preserved. The outer edge of the northern stone paving was made up by a row of somewhat larger stones, carefully arranged (Fig. 13). The distance between the outer edges of the two stone-paved areas was approximately 13 metres. This and other measurements were very similar to what was observed at Grydehøj. However, the Gramstrup structure had traces of a somewhat different construction inside the stone-paved areas. In the Grydehøj case, we were dealing with a square ditch structure, interpreted as an actual house, whereas in Gramstrup there were traces from a circular structure some 6.5 to 7-m in diameter, presenting itself as a border of flat stones preserved in situ, and as stone impressions (Fig. 12,2). The stone border had a width of up to 1 m, and because of its circular course, it was tempting at first to interpret it as a chain of kerb stones surrounding a completely vanished small mound, which had been built up against the Bronze Age mound. This theory, however, is contradicted by a number of circumstances – for instance the complete lack of mound-filling within the circle, and the fact that the stone border is placed exactly in the middle of the symmetrical axis of the entire cult structure. Moreover, the diameter of the circular stone border almost completely matches the inner diameter of the Grydehøj cult house. For these reasons, there is no doubt that the structure should be considered an integrated part of the cult structure; it is an entirely different matter, however, to establish whether or not a house was erected on this site, as was the case at Grydehøj.On the inside of the stone-paved areas (Fig. 12, 5), exactly as at Grydehøj, a c.1.5-m wide turf wall had been built. The turf wall was observed as being stratigraphically later, both to the north and to the south, than some collapsed filling from the mound. This is in keeping with the fact that we are dealing with a structure built onto the already existing mound. Inside the turf wall, the circular stone border may be regarded as some sort of bench or seating construction. The distance from the outer stone border to the turf wall is at least 0.5 m. The shape towards the east, where the entrance to the whole structure must have been, is unknown, as not many traces are left from the stone border in this area. As the turf structure resembles that of Grydehøj, it is possible that a cult house also existed next to the Gramstrup mound. This interpretation is supported by the fact that a post in the centre of the structure (Fig. 12,14) may have supported the roof, and that a few post-holes, perhaps from an inner partition wall, were observed on the inside of the northern turf wall, between the wall and the stone border. In the area between the turf wall and the surrounding stone paving – within the wall, that is – traces were found from a number of rammed-down posts, which probably supported the wall on the outside (Fig. 12, 3). The distance between these posts indicates that they were joined together by interlacing branches. As opposed to the Grydehøj case, no artefacts were found in the central part of the structure. Only a small concentration of pottery sherds of uncertain date was found on the northern stone paving. A strong blade-knife of flint with a retouched back, of a type usually dating from the late Bronze Age, was found close to the northern stone paving.The only Bronze Age grave found in the Gramstrup mound was dug into the mound-filling about 1 m west of the back of the cult structure (Fig. 12, 1). The structure was probably made in connection with this burial. The grave was a cremation grave in a trough-like pit measuring 1.2 by c.0.75 m. At either end there was a rather large stone resting on the bottom of the grave. Between the stones, and about half way down the filling, was a thick layer of burnt, crushed bones. The layer covered a small area of the grave pit measuring approximately 33 by 60 cm and had a depth of 5 cm. As is the case with many late Bronze Age graves in Thy, the grave filling consisted of cleaned pebbles, in this case beach stones worn by being rolled by water. The results of a C-14 dating of the bones are not yet available. The strong likeness between the Gramstrup grave and two of the Grydehøj graves indicates that they are probably closely contemporary. A dating of these graves to period IV of the late Bronze Age fits well with the dating to the transition between period III/IV or period IV of a somewhat larger, but structurally very similar male grave at Vibberstoft, Villerslev parish, which had been placed at the edge of an older mound (cf. Fig. 1, no. 7). Here, the remains of badly damaged stone-paved areas were found outside the grave and up against the foot of the mound. They are interpreted as the remains of an almost completely destroyed cult structure. If a line were drawn through the centre of the cult structure at Gramstrup, through the middle of the two flanking stone-paved areas, and through the centre of the stone border within these, it would hit the middle of the grave in the foot of the mound precisely. This cannot be a coincidence, and it confirms the connection between the grave and the cult structure, as known from other similar structures in Thy.The cult houses from Grydehøj and Gramstrup have provided us with a key to explaining a number of other structures in northwest Jutland – first of all, the structure found at Høghs Høj, which may now be interpreted with certainty as a cult house almost identical to the one found at Grydehøj. Even when it comes to size, the square inner structure from Høghs Høj (Fig. 4) matches with a surprising degree of similarity the inside of the Grydehøj house (Fig. 9). As for the Sundby mound and other finds of stone-paved areas outside mounds in Thy and on Mors (cf. Fig. 1), for the time being we must merely note that they are related to the Grydehøj house, although there is no guarantee that a house was indeed built next to these mounds. Stone-paved areas alone may have indicated a ceremonial area in front of the mounds and may not have been connected with any building.In Kobberup near Skive (Fig. 1, no. 16), an almost circular structure was excavated. It was built up against a mound with a megalith chamber as its primary grave (Fig. 14). In this particular case an inner, semi-circular enclosure had been built onto the older mound, like the examples in Thy. Behind it, inside the foot of the older mound, were two possible cremation graves. This find has both striking differences from the finds in Thy and features that strongly resemble them, but unfortunately the dating of the structure is uncertain.From the rest of Denmark, parallels to the cult structures mentioned here are still few. One find from Zealand is rather similar, though. In Ballermosen near Jægerspris in Hornsherred a small rectangular building built up against the foot of an early Bronze Age mound was interpreted by the excavator as a cult house. In spite of the differences between this find and those from NW Jutland, there are strong indications that the house in Ballermosen was connected to the grave cult in the same way that the houses of the Grydehøj type were. In the case of another site in North Zealand, the house at Sandagergård, there cannot be said to be a connection similar to the one established in Thy between the mound and the cult structure, but the cult house and the contemporary graves within the house there were most probably related. It is this connection between graves – with or without a mound – and cult structures that is no doubt the decisive element, and it can be seen in different versions also in Sweden and Northern Germany. Although the new cult structures from Thy seem to be of a local design, they should no doubt be seen as part of a larger context.There is much to indicate that structures outside the mounds were in fact extremely common, and that at a certain period they were even the rule rather than the exception. The Thy finds have really made evident in earnest the prospects opened up by this fact, as is illustrated by a new structure uncovered next to Høghs Høj.In 2000, the remains of a new cult structure were uncovered next to a hitherto unknown demolished mound, immediately southeast of Høghs Høj (Fig. 15). Although this find is poorly preserved compared with the ones excavated earlier, there is no doubt that this is a structure of the same category. One could hardly wish for a better illustration of the common nature of this type of structure.Bjarne Henning NielsenVesthimmerlands MuseumJens-Henrik BechMuseet for Thy og Vester HanherredTranslated by Annette Lerche Trolle

Humans are exposed to Potentially Toxic Metals (PTMs) through many routes. Cooking foods in cookwares which are prone to material leaching can be an exposure route to PTMs. This study assessed the effect of pH on the leaching of some PTMs from used cooking pots into deionized water. Series of deionized waters were prepared from pH 3 to 7. Each water was brought to boil in clay, non-stick, stainless steel, cast aluminum, pressed aluminum and glass pots respectively. The PTMs leached from each sample pot were determined by Inductively Couple Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrophotometer (ICP-OES) (Agilent nu7m technologies 700 series). The deionized water from the aluminum cast pot and nonstick pot gave the highest concentration of aluminum (2273 µg/L) and Zinc (24.39 µg/L) respectively. While that from the clay pot gave the highest concentrations of Chromium and Nickel, (7.27 and 22.63 µg/L) and that from the stainless-steel pot gave the highest concentration of iron (237 µg/L) and lead (24.39 µg/L). No PTM was found in the deionized water from the glass pot. The results from this study showed more leaching of PTMs into deionized water occurred more at lower pHs (pH 3 to 5) than at neutral pH for almost all the pots. Thus, cooking of acidic foods in pots except when glass pots are used should be avoided. The results of this study therefore reveal the health implications associated with using metal pots for cooking slightly acidic foods as metals can be easily leached from the pots into the foods.

AbstractThere is abundant evidence that cooking reduces the level of nutrients in foods, but the reductions are exacerbated by among other factors the type of cooking pot used. We conducted a research to determine the influence of various cooking pots on macro and micronutrients of cooked foods. Seven pots and five types of food stuffs were used for the study. The cooking pots used included unpitted aluminum, pitted aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, enamel coated, clay (earthen) and iron-cast while the food stuff were chosen from the major classes of food as to include tubers (yam), cereals (rice), fleshy (beef), vegetables (tomato) and legumes (cowpea). Cooking pot forged from titanium offered best (up to 87.7%) protection (retention) of micronutrients while pitted aluminum pot offered the least retention irrespective of the food sample cooked. Significant portions of food micro nutrients namely vitamin C, vitamin A and selenium were mostly affected compared with the macro nutrients. In the course of our investigations we observed that titanium and enamel coated cooking pots required less quantity of water to get food done. The use of less water to cook transmitted to low (69.67%) moisture content of food cooked in such pots compared to values as high as 76.89% when other pots were used. Food cooked with less water may impact better taste to food since the food is expected to be more nutrient-dense; having considerable lower moisture content. Our research evidenced that cooking pot can have a strong impact on people's morbidity since some pots can aggravate hidden hunger, that is, micronutrient malnutrition. Hidden hunger is a subtle enemy that drains away health and vitality unnoticed until it is too late to reverse. It is crucial to state here that our findings may have turned on its head the previous idea of using pressure pot to cook food. Pots that offered low-pressure cooking (80°C/0.48 bar) was found to preserve the most heat liable (vitamin C and volatiles) nutrients probably because of the lower water boiling temperature and reduced level of oxygen. Our conclusion and recommendation, therefore, is the use of titanium and enamel surface coated cooking pots which offered better protection of food micronutrients among other cooking pots tested. This is a piece of information that is quite vital and beneficial to food consumers, manufacturers of cook wares, operators and key players in the food processing industry.

ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to evaluate instrumental measures of tenderness and juiciness of beef strip loin steaks representing four different USDA quality grades cooked using four dry heat cooking methods.Materials and MethodsStrip loins (n = 12/quality grade) were collected from four USDA quality grades [Prime, Top (upper 2/3) Choice, Low (lower 1/3) Choice, and Select]. At 21 d postmortem, strip loins were cut into 2.5 cm thick steaks and stored at –20°C until analysis. The most anterior steak was used for compositional analysis and every three adjacent steaks were grouped and assigned randomly to one of four different dry heat cooking methods [electric clamshell grill (CLAM), flat-top gas grill (FLAT), charbroiler gas grill (CHAR), and salamander gas broiler (SAL)]. Objective measures for raw samples included proximate composition and for cooked samples included cooking loss, pressed juiciness (PJP), and slice shear force (SSF) after the sample was cooked to a medium degree of doneness (70–72°C). In addition, consumers assessed attributes for each sample on an electronic ballot with a 100-point continuous line scale for juiciness, tenderness, flavor liking, and overall liking. Proximate data were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS with quality grade as the fixed effect. All other data were analyzed as split-plot design with quality grade as a whole plot factor, the strip loin as the whole plot unit, and cooking method as a subplot factor.ResultsUSDA Quality grade influenced fat, moisture, and protein percentage (P < 0.01). As expected, there was a fat percentage difference (P < 0.05) between each grade with a decline from Prime to Select samples. Therefore, Select had a greater (P < 0.05) moisture percentage than any other quality grade, and an inverse relationship was observed as there was an increase in moisture between each grade from Select to Prime (P < 0.05). Select and Low Choice had greater (P < 0.05) protein percentage than Top Choice or Prime, which were similar (P > 0.05). As expected, an inverse relationship between increased marbling levels and decreased SSF scores were also observed resulting in a negative correlation between fat and objective tenderness (r = –0.15; P < 0.05). In addition, fat was positively associated with consumer palatability scores (r ≥ 0.21; P < 0.01). Cooking method influenced (P < 0.01) cooking loss, but did not impact SSF or PJP (P ≥ 0.19). CLAM had lower (P < 0.05) cooking loss than FLAT, SAL, and CHAR, which did not differ from each other (P > 0.05). The lower cooking loss of CLAM could be related to the shorter cooking times compared to the other methods. Pressed juiciness percentage was not influenced by quality grade, cooking method, or their interaction (P ≥ 0.19) and was not related to any objective or subjective measures of palatability (P > 0.05). Slice shear force was not influenced by quality grade, cooking method, or their interaction (P ≥ 0.15); however, SSF was related (r ≤ 0.18; P < 0.05) to tenderness, juiciness, flavor and overall liking.ConclusionIn the current study, quality grade influenced the composition of raw samples, yet, quality grade coupled with different dry heat cooking methods did not influence objective measures of tenderness or juiciness.

A field experiment to study the effect of transplanting date and age of seedlings on growth, yield and quality of rice hybrids under SRI and their effect on soil fertility was conducted on sandy-clay loam soil at Varanasi during rainy (kharif) seasons of 2012 and 2013. The experiment on sandy loam soil was laid out in split-split plot design assigning three dates of transplanting (27 June, 7 July and 17 July) in main plot, two rice hybrids (PHB-71 and Pusa RH-10) in sub-plot and three age of seedlings (10, 14 and 18-day old) in sub-sub plot with three replications. Results revealed that higher growth parameters, viz. plant height (104.2 cm), tillers/hill (20.4), leaf area index (5.16) and dry matter accumulation/hill (31.2 g) and yield attributes, viz. effective tillers/m2 (248.2), panicle length (30.5 cm), grains/ panicle (176), weight/panicle (5.08 g) and test weight (23.11 g), grain and straw yield (6.67 and 8.71 tonnes/ha, respectively) and harvest index (43.17) were observed under 27 June transplanting as compared to rest of the two dates of planting. Protein content in grain and kernel length before and after cooking also registered significant improvement in 27 June transplanted crop. The magnitude of increase in grain and straw yield of hybrid under SRI by the early transplanting (27 June) as compared to the late transplanting (17 July) was 19.9 and 15.2 %, respectively on pooled basis. However, soil pH, EC, organic carbon, available NPK, hulling, milling and head rice recovery percentage, kernel breadth (B) before and after cooking, length (L) elongation ratio and L/B ratio remained unaffected due to different dates of transplanting. Among the hybrids, PHB-71 produced markedly higher plant height (104.8 cm), tillers/hill (17.6), leaf-area index (4.91), dry matter accumulation/hill (29.5 g), effective tillers/m2 (236.4), panicle length (30.1 cm), grains/panicle (188), weight/panicle (4.62 g), test weight (22.67 g), grain yield (7.00 tonnes/ha), straw yield (8.95 tonnes/ha) and harvest index (43.87) over Pusa RH-10. Organic carbon content in soil as well as quality parameters viz. hulling, milling and head rice recovery percentage, protein content and kernel breadth before and after cooking were also recorded higher with PHB-71 than the Pusa RH-10. However, maximum available NPK, kernel length before and after cooking, length elongation and length breadth ratio before cooking were recorded with ‘Pusa RH-10’. Younger aged seedlings (10-day old) recorded significantly higher growth and yield parameters, yields and harvest index over older aged seedlings (18-day), whereas maximum available NPK was recorded with older aged seedlings (18-day). The 10-day old seedlings gave 6.4 and 12.9% more grain yield than 14 and 18-day old seedlings, respectively. Interactive effect on grain yield was significant among date of transplanting, age of seedlings and hybrids. Transplanting of PHB-71 hybrid on 27 June having either 10 or 14-day old seedlings resulted in markedly higher grain yield as compared to rest of the treatments.

Sometimes ... we don’t want to feel like a post-modern, post-feminist, overstretched woman but, rather, a domestic goddess, trailing nutmeggy fumes of baking pie in our languorous wake (Nigella Lawson, How to be a Domestic Goddess vii). IntroductionFor today’s female readers, the idea of trailing “nutmeggy fumes” of home-baked pie through their kitchens could be as much a source of gender-stereotyping outrage as one of desire or longing. Regardless of personal response, there seems little doubt that the image Lawson’s words create prevails even in the 21st century: an apron-clad, kitchen-bound woman, cooking for others as an expression of love and communication. This is particularly true of contemporary cookbooks written by and aimed at women. Two examples are Sophie Dahl’s Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights (2010) and Nigella Lawson’s How to be a Domestic Goddess (2000). This paper explores how Dahl and Lawson use three narrative strategies—sequence, description and voice—to frame their recipes; it also analyses how these narrative strategies encourage readers to embrace traditional constructs of domestic femininity, albeit in a contemporary and celebratory light. The authors’ use of these strategies also makes their cookbooks more than simply instruction manuals—instead, they become engaging and pleasurable texts that use memoir, humour and nostalgia to convey their recipes and create distinct authorial personas and cultural ideas about food and femininity. While primary purpose of cookbooks is to instruct, what makes them distinctive—and, arguably, so popular—is their mix of pleasure and utility. The stories they tell, both cultural and personal, are what make us continue to buy and read them, despite bookshelves that may already bend beneath the weight of three hundred different versions of chicken risotto and chocolate cake; as Anne Bower notes, many women read cookbooks for escapism and enjoyment. This concept of escapism and enjoyment is closely tied to the role of narrative. Cognitive narratology, a more recent strand of narrative theory, emphasises what readers bring to a text, and how narrative allows readers to frame and understand texts and the world around them. Therefore, cookbooks that situate their recipes among personal anecdotes and familiar cultural ideals or myths—such as the woman in the kitchen—appeal to our experiences and emotions. Cookbooks thus become engaging and resonant on personal and sociocultural levels: Gvion argues that cookbooks are “social texts” (54), which seems appropriate when considering the meanings we ascribe to food—it remains a fundamental part of our culture and identity (Lupton). Certain cookbooks—those that emphasise the social and emotional aspects of what we consume—can be regarded as a reflection of how we attach meanings to foods in particular contexts (Mintz). The books discussed in this paper combine the societal and personal aspects of this process: their authors blend familiar cultural tropes with their own engaging autobiographical anecdotes using sequence, description and voice. Narrative theory has traditionally been applied to fiction, and cookbooks obviously lack fictional elements such as plot and character. However, cognitivist narratology, which directs its focus to humans’ cognitive understanding and perception of various actions and events (Fludernik, Histories), makes it applicable to a range of texts. Cookbooks’ use of sequence, description, and voice create “storyworlds” for readers, which “can be viewed as [a] global mental representation enabling interpreters to draw inferences about items and occurrences either explicitly or implicitly included in a narrative” (Herman 9). Cookbook authors use memories, anecdotes and imagery to conjure scenes to which readers can aspire or relate, perhaps prompting responses similar to those experienced when reading fiction.Prince characterises narrative as a “representation of events in a time sequence” (82). The sequence of information and anecdotes in a cookbook—its introduction, chapter structure and recipe structure—positions readers to read and interpret the text in a particular way; it is both part of how the texts authors construct a sense of self and of how they encourage readers to construct their own meanings in response. Dahl, for example, arranges her recipes according to season, since she places great importance on seasonal eating. Description is the cornerstone of any successful cookbook, since it becomes impossible to successfully replicate a dish if you cannot make sense of the instructions. However, in a narrative sense, description operates as part of a narrator’s “rhetorical strategy” (Bal 36); it helps construct their narrative persona and enables them to reinforce the associations between food, culture and identity in evocative language. Voice is the final piece of the narrative puzzle. These cookbooks are all “narrated” by their authors, who offer selected anecdotes and stories to support their authorial intentions and position readers to interpret their texts in a particular way. Feminist narratologist Susan Lanser regards voice as the “intersection of social identity and textual form” (14), a definition that recognises the broader social and cultural significance of cookbooks. Since they tend to be narrated “directly” from author to readers, authorial voice serves not only to engage readers, but also to establish authors’ culinary authority. The two cookbooks analysed here are written by—and, arguably, primarily aimed at—women, and this paper contends that their authors use narrative to reclaim a powerful sense of feminine ownership. While they are just two of many contemporary cookbooks that arguably strive to achieve similar ends (Tessa Kiros’s 2010 Apples for Jam, and Monica Trapaga’s 2010 She’s Leaving Home, are two recent Australian examples), Dahl’s and Lawson’s texts are apt case studies: both are commercially successful and their authors occupy a significant space in the public imagination, particularly where women’s identity is concerned. Dahl is a former plus-size model who lost weight “rather publicly” (Dahl xi) and whose book charts the evolution of her complex relationship with food; Lawson’s books and cooking programs have seen her variously characterised as “prefeminist housewife … antifeminist Stepford wife … the saviour of downshifting middle-class career women and as both the negative and positive product of postfeminism” (Hollows 180). Dahl and Lawson narrate the knowledge and skill of their recipes in a context of experiences and memories related to their lives as mothers and/or partners and food professionals, which underscores the weight of their kitchen authority as women while still maintaining that rather mythic connection between the feminine and domestic. Sequence The introductory pages and internal structure of each book reflects both its author’s intentions, and the persona they construct within the text that speaks directly to readers. It also foregrounds the link between women and food. The link between this domesticity and feminine identity is explicit in both texts. Miss Dahl’s Voluptuous Delights is a food memoir as well as a cookbook, and Dahl’s use of narrative sequence makes this clear: in her introduction, she reveals that “the second word I ever spoke was ‘crunch,’ muddled baby-speak for fudge” (viii). Interspersed between the book’s four sections (Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer) are essays that chart Dahl’s evolving relationship with food and cooking, framed particularly in terms of her female identity: they detail her progression from a plump-cheeked teenager unhappy about carrying a few extra pounds to a woman at ease with her body and appetite who cannot “get away from the siren call of the kitchen” (15). Dahl often introduces her recipes with reference to their personal significance, particularly in relation to cooking as an act of love or communication—“Musician’s Breakfast,” for example, is so named because it is a favourite of her boyfriend, jazz musician Jamie Cullum (152). Lawson’s book is ostensibly more practical—her chapters are arranged according to types of dish, such cakes or biscuits. She also explicitly summons the familiar vision of the woman at home in the kitchen. Although she draws on the clichéd image of the domestic goddess, her preface seems aimed at making female readers feel at ease. For example, she writes that she does not want her audience to think of baking as a “land you do not inhabit” or to “confine you to kitchen quarters” (vii); rather, her aim is to make them “feel” (vii) like a domestic goddess rather than be one, an act that might be interpreted as an attempt to put a more contemporary spin on a dated archetype.Nonetheless, throughout Lawson’s book, the prose that introduces her recipes draws on those associations between baking and homely comfort: cake-baking “implies effort and domestic prowess,” (2) but is easy in practice, and baking loaf cakes makes one feel “humble and worthy and brimming with good things” (5). Again, Lawson’s own experience—particularly as a busy mother and career woman—shapes the introductory words for each recipe and establishes a sense of her authorial persona in relation to broader social constructs of food and the feminine. Description Vivid, evocative descriptions of food and food-related memories and experiences are an integral part of what makes these texts narratively engaging, and how they continue to enforce and idealise that connection between the feminine and the domestic. Both authors frequently describe food in terms that create concepts of cosy domesticity: Lawson describes baking as a metaphor for “familial warmth” (vii), and for Dahl, roast chicken “is Sunday ... there’s something about that smell wafting through the house” (53). A distinct sense of nostalgia is at play here; as Linda Hutcheon observes, one can “look and reject” or “look and linger longingly” (online), and this apparent yearning to return to simpler times summons a “mythical past of comfort and stability” (Duruz 57), seemingly embodied in images of wholesome foods cooked for us by mothers or wives. This idea of food as emotionally nourishing is frequently related in terms of the author’s duties as domestic providers and as women who occasionally—and by choice—inhabit traditional female roles. However, Lawson and Dahl reveal the tensions between past and present: while they embrace the pleasures of old-fashioned domesticity, they do not—and cannot—wholly recreate it. Instead, they must balance it with other priorities, making space for a more liberated and contemporary female home cook who can choose to occupy a place at the stove. Of course, the title of Lawson’s book—and the wording of its preface, quoted at the start of this paper—refers explicitly to the old-fashioned idea of the domestic goddess. But Lawson aims to update or demystify the concept for today’s busy women: she expresses the view that many have become “alienated” from the domestic sphere, but that “it can actually make us feel better to claim back some of that space, make it comforting rather than frightening” (vii). While she summons very traditional images—for example, “a pie is just what we all know should be emanating from the kitchen of a domestic goddess” (81)—she also puts a new spin on them, perhaps in an attempt to make them seem less patronising or intimidating while still enforcing how satisfying it can be to feel like a domestic goddess without slaving in the kitchen. She frequently emphasises the simplicity of her recipes and describes food in terms of the pleasure it brings the cook as well as those for whom she is cooking: while baking bread brings “crucial satisfaction, that warm feeling of homespun achievement,” she also notes that “my way of baking bread is designed to fit more easily into the sort of lives we lead” (291). As Hollows notes, the “Nigella cooking philosophy” is that “cooking should be pleasurable and should start from the desire to eat” (182), a concept far removed from the traditional construct of women as “providers of food for others” who have difficulty “experiencing food as pleasurable themselves, particularly in a domestic context” (184). Dahl also emphasises pleasure, ease and practicality, and describes food in terms of its nostalgic and emotional associations, particularly in relation to her female relatives. As a child, Dahl attended boarding school, and on the last night of her holidays—before she returned to terrible school food, with its “gristly stew, grey Scotch eggs and collapsed beetroot” (7)—her mother would cook her a special dinner, and she remembers feasting on “roast chicken wrapped in bacon with tarragon creeping wistfully over its breast, potatoes golden and gloriously crispy on the outside and flaking softly from within” (7). Although Dahl’s mother taught her the importance of “cooking for your man,” this very old-fashioned idea is presented in a tongue-in-cheek way, with the caveat, “woe betide any man who doesn’t appreciate it” (73). Again, the act of cooking is described as something that brings intense domestic satisfaction, and represents a conscious choice to relive the past in a contemporary, and perhaps slightly ironic (albeit still enjoyable), context: making tawny granola “makes one feel very fifties housewife, because as it bakes the house is bathed in a warm cinnamon-y glow” (25). Such descriptions of food and cooking are both evocative and romantic, even while they emphasise convenience and practicality. This perhaps reflects the realities of modern life for busy modern women juggling work and family commitments; it emphasises that tension between the ideal of the past and the reality of the present. While Lawson and Dahl still idealise the correlation between women, food and the domestic, drawing on familiar and perhaps comforting associations, they nonetheless manage to make their cookbooks both narratively engaging and culturally revealing: as Susan Leonardi points out, recipes are an exchange between reader and writer, and they require “a recommendation, a context ... a reason to be” (340). Descriptions of memories, emotions and sensations in relation to cooking and women’s identity help to create a particular narrative “storyworld” (Herman 9) or familiar context; the authors here describe experiences that are likely to resonate with female readers to enforce that connection between women and their kitchens. Since they draw so heavily on their authors’ lives, these cookbooks are almost forms of life narrative; by drawing on their own recollections to appeal to readers and share recipes, their narrators are “performing several rhetorical acts, justifying their own perceptions, conveying cultural information” (Smith and Watson 10). This is a fundamental aspect of narrative voice: who “speaks” in the text (Genette 185). Voice Both authors use their identity as women and home cooks to enforce the feminine/domestic connection and relate to their audience. They each create a distinct narrating voice or authorial persona that speaks directly to readers and aims to win their trust and sympathy. Lawson positions herself as a busy mother and wife; Dahl focuses on her evolving relationship with food, particularly in the context of her former career as a plus-size model and her subsequent weight loss. Both women share cooking anecdotes, and often, significantly, their kitchen failures—Dahl’s recipe for asparagus soup reveals that one of her attempts at trialling the recipe resulted in soup spurting from her blender, “covering me, the walls and floor in a thick slick of green” (168). Both women write as passionate home cooks: what seems most important is a love of food and what it represents, the joy of cooking as much as the culinary skill it may require. Lanser writes that “the authority of a given voice or text is produced from a conjunction of social and rhetorical properties” (6), and both Dahl’s and Lawson’s authority comes from their domestic experience and their roles as women who cook for themselves and for the pleasure it brings them as much as for their families. Although they advocate this sense of enjoyment over duty, there remains in each text a distinctly romantic idea of what it means to cook; specifically, to be a female home cook. This is most explicit in how Dahl and Lawson narrate their texts, particularly in terms of the confidences they share. Both confess their shortcomings in relaxed and informal tones: Lawson writes about an occasion when she found herself in “dire straits” when trying to make marzipan (6), and confesses to being a “negligent mother” because all she does with her children is cook with them (209); Dahl says that she “would plant tarragon in my garden in London, but the neighbour’s cat is partial to peeing on every herb I have” (58). Both imbue their actual recipes, as well as the prose that surrounds them, with a very personal tone, offering tips and advice drawn from their own experience: Dahl advises readers to “go by instinct and taste, adding or taking away as you want” (52) and Lawson suggests leaving “a decent amount of uncooked cake batter in the bowl for scraping-out purposes” (183). Conclusion Pasupathi’s work on constructing identity in storytelling, and how recounting stories becomes a way of establishing a sense of self, is particularly relevant here; a similar concept is evident in cookbooks. Lawson and Dahl choose familiar life stories and situations that readers, (particularly female), might recognise and engage with. As Fludernik observes, narrators are integral to narrative texts, since they help to establish narrative meaning and interest (An Introduction to Narratology). The narrating voices of Dahl’s and Lawson’s cookbooks foreground their identity as women and home cooks to highlight experiences and issues relevant to women. All three of the narrative strategies discussed in this paper contribute to this. Both texts do, to a degree, enforce cultural stereotypes—most obviously, the idea of a woman’s kitchen as a kind of natural habitat—but they also emphasise the pleasures of cooking. Despite the clichéd imagery and heavy nostalgia, Dahl’s and Lawson’s appropriation of the domestic goddess image exposes and reconfigures the contradictions between the idealised past and more liberated present; offering female readers and cooks “beguiling possibilities … for re-enactment” (Duruz 57). Lawson and Dahl’s use of narrative strategies not only makes their texts more engaging to read, but reflects the social and cultural relevance of cookbooks, and how they can embody and reshape our engrained values and ideas. In their own way, they seek to affirm the female domestic experience and position it as something celebratory rather than oppressive. Perhaps no one puts it so aptly as Lawson: “I know the idea of being in the kitchen faffing around with bottles and jars and hot pans might seem confining to many, but honestly, I have found it liberating. The sense of connectedness you get, with your kitchen, your home, your food, is the very opposite of constraint” (334). 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