WEBVTT - Invention Playlist 4: The Turnspit Dog 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:09.720 Welcome to Invention, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey, 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:12.880 welcome to Invention. My name is Robert Lamb and I'm 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:17.320 Joe McCormick. And today we're continuing our trek through human 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:22.360 techno history, and we're going to begin with The flint Stones. Okay, uh. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:24.760 If you've ever watched The flint Stones the old uh 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:28.920 in nineteen sixties American cartoon, you're probably familiar with their 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:31.960 over the top cartoon world in which you know, you 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:34.200 have you have these cavemen, but they're also it's also 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:38.960 like a commentary to eliminated extent on nineteen sixties American culture, 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:42.440 and they live alongside dinosaurs and they utilize them to 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:46.080 power pretty much every aspect of their society. Is the 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:49.280 satirical element there. If I've only seen The flint Stones 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:52.720 Viva Rock Vegas, probably yeah, I think so, because they, 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.680 if I remember correctly, those live action adaptations did put 0:00:56.720 --> 0:00:59.920 a lot of emphasis on the dinosaur and pre star 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:03.760 creature based technology. Oh yeah, clearly. That's the big draw 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.479 of the series, is the curiosity what kind of dinosaur 0:01:06.520 --> 0:01:09.320 is going to be playing the role of a toilet today? Yeah, 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:13.360 because well, they didn't use dinos to power everything. For instance, 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:16.400 they did insist on footing their own ridiculous stone cars 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:19.480 around town. I love that they had a typewriter that 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:22.840 was a mere stone machine, kind of like a cross 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:27.119 between a typewriter and a stone xylophone or something. But 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:29.640 they also used, of course, that would be what is 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:32.080 it a lithophone? Actually it's not a there is a 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:34.600 name for a stone xylophone. But but it was of 0:01:34.600 --> 0:01:38.880 course more complicated, ridiculously complicated. Uh, in the flint Stones. 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:42.080 But then they also used, just to name a few inventions, 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:45.440 the following uh. And let let's go back and forth 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:50.240 on these jokes, a sauropod powered construction crane device, a 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:56.920 stegosaur based fire truck, theropod based mobile stairs like the airport. Yeah, okay, 0:01:57.120 --> 0:02:00.200 A small dinosaur that they used as a can opener up. 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:02.920 This one's really famous. And I know they used this 0:02:02.960 --> 0:02:06.440 one in the live action film. A garbage disposal dinosaur 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.720 that just lives underneath the counter. I remember this. Actually 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:12.200 they were like the garbage disposals acting up and he 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.360 opens up the cabinets and like yells at it. But 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:19.520 they've also got a record player that's a turtle and hummingbird. Yeah, 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:21.880 it's like the hummingbird is the needle, of course, and 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.760 the turtle was somehow spinning the record. Wait a minute, 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:30.200 where they're hummingbirds? And wait a minute. They were definitely 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:34.400 not humans coexisting with dinosaurs. Uh. They had a mammoth 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.360 based uh system of running water, didn't They also have 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:40.000 a tiny mammoth that was like the vacuum cleaner. They 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:42.280 used it to because the hose or maybe it's young. 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:44.960 I don't know how this worked. There was also a 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:47.280 I'm not sure it was a bird or terra saar 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:50.240 based camera. So like you hold up the camera to 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:54.080 take the picture and the small winged creature uses its 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:57.919 beak to then a chisel the image into a piece 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:00.440 of stone. That's funny that it's some kind a bird 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:03.080 as a dishwasher, it was like a pelican. Yeah, it 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:05.160 looked a lot like a pelican. And then, of course, 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:06.840 if you need a kitchen knife, what are you gonna 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:09.960 do use a sawfish? Why not a rock? Why not 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:12.720 a like a flint stone. It's it's there in the 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:16.080 name the flint. Hilarious If it is an actual sword fish, 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:18.240 I guess, but that defeats the purpose. I mean, why 0:03:18.320 --> 0:03:21.000 you would use an animal in place of a machine 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:24.440 is that an animal is complex and has moving parts 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:27.600 and can generate motive power if you just need a 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:30.760 knife or something. It seems like real stone age technology 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.720 would work just as well. Oh absolutely, um. And then 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:35.880 of course there's the added fact that they have a 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:40.480 pet dinosaur named Dino who is just there for companionship. Now, 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.880 all of this is ridiculous, and even today we watch 0:03:43.960 --> 0:03:46.120 it and we laugh at it because it's a ridiculous 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:52.520 exaggeration of animal labor. Each dinosaur prehistar creature is highly specialized. 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:55.560 So you know, either the humans of the flint Stones 0:03:55.680 --> 0:04:00.000 just found the right animals to perform these very specific functions, uh, 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:03.440 or like us real life humans, they bred them to 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:07.160 encourage certain traits, traits who would make them ideal for 0:04:07.400 --> 0:04:11.720 highly specific specialized tasks such as living under your sink 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.560 and eating all of your scraps. That's right. And to 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.240 explore this concept further today we're going to look at 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:21.040 a real historical example. Uh. Certainly not the only example 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:24.080 of an animal bred for a certain job within the 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.120 house providing some kind of motive power. Of course, we 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:30.440 know farm animals, draft animals. Pack animals have been doing 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:32.760 this kind of thing for millennia. But today we're gonna 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:35.640 be looking at a very strange specific case from history. 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:40.479 The turnspit dog, a breed of domestic dog that is 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:45.239 bred to run around a small wheel to power e rotisserie. Yes, 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.800 and this is this is this is amazing. I was 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:50.880 I had not heard of this before. So this was 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:53.560 like suddenly, It's like suddenly realizing the flint stones were 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.680 real to a certain extent. But but this is gonna 0:04:56.680 --> 0:04:58.520 be a great episode as well, because it's not just 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:00.480 going to be about this dog. It's gonna be about 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:05.560 sort of two or three additional technologies that factor in 0:05:05.560 --> 0:05:09.360 to this period in time in which dog labor was 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:12.760 used to help cook big chunks of meat. Right, So 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:15.640 I guess first we always asked the question here what 0:05:15.760 --> 0:05:18.800 came before this invention? So obviously we should look at 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:22.680 the dog itself, and the dog in a way, if 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:24.800 you sort of, if you sort of squint, it is 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:28.039 sort of a human invention. I mean, obviously it's a 0:05:28.040 --> 0:05:30.760 product of nature. So we like we didn't create you know, 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:34.839 canines generally, but the domestic dog and the domestic dog 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:38.160 breeds that exist have in many ways been guided by 0:05:38.240 --> 0:05:41.080 human hands to greater and lesser extents. Yeah, I mean 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:43.599 it's not you know, it's not necessary a situation where 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:48.600 a prehistoric uh you know, number of human society said 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.400 that is a good wolf creature out there. I have 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:53.680 a few pointers for what we might change in it, 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:58.040 but that is essentially the process that ends up taking place. So, yes, 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:01.200 before you can have a dog powered meat spinning grill machine, 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.080 you have to have a domestic dog. And in brief, 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:09.239 the domestic dog dates back an estimated twelve thousand years 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.719 to the Near East, before the cat, before the sheep, 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.279 before the goat, and before the horse. The dog maybe 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:18.919 man's best friend, and it is certainly one of his 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:25.080 oldest non human friends. It is the oldest recognizably domestic animal. 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.560 And we know they were used some eleven thousand years 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:32.000 ago in post glacial Europe by hunter gatherers, and they 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:36.640 were almost certainly used in hunting. Interestingly enough, it's sometimes 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:40.880 questioned why humans didn't actually domesticate the dogs sooner than this, 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:44.240 and one idea is that there was even more incentive 0:06:44.640 --> 0:06:48.279 to domesticate these, you know, the wild wolf like creatures 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:51.800 into the domesticated dog in the post glacial world, because 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:55.480 you increasingly then had to track wounded animals that you've 0:06:55.520 --> 0:06:59.400 wounded during the you know, the hunt through wooded regions. 0:06:59.440 --> 0:07:02.560 Increasing a wooded regions is the forest return and a 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.719 dog's superior sense of smell could make a huge difference 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:09.240 in that task. So the dog was a pre farming 0:07:09.320 --> 0:07:12.680 domestic species, and that's something that's really essential to note. 0:07:12.720 --> 0:07:15.160 Because the cat, I think we've touched on this before. 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.120 If not an invention, then unstuff to blow your mind. 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.640 You know, the cat comes about as an investigated species 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:22.040 in the post farming world because of the post farming 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:25.240 surplus of food. Right, So in the in the post 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.440 farming world, you might have say stores of grain or 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:31.239 other foods in a settled location that you're not moving 0:07:31.280 --> 0:07:34.400 around from, and those might attract to say rats or 0:07:34.480 --> 0:07:36.920 something like that that would get into your grain, and 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.560 then the cat can follow the rats. Right. And then 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:41.640 these areas other species, many of them of course, our 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:45.520 food species that we domesticated so so as to uh 0:07:46.040 --> 0:07:48.920 control them and not have to hunt them anymore. They 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:51.120 live with us, and we kill them when we desire 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:54.720 to kill them. But of course as great as dogs 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:56.880 can be and continue to be and in the in 0:07:57.040 --> 0:07:59.640 aiding the hunt, we know that they can be bred 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.600 who specialize in a number of key tasks. And I 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:05.720 have a short list here that I thought we might 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:08.280 go back and forth on again, much like we did 0:08:08.280 --> 0:08:11.240 with the dinosaurs of the Flintstones. So you can of 0:08:11.280 --> 0:08:16.160 course breed a dog over many generations to fetch felled foul. 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:18.440 That's kind of a tongue twister, but yeah, you can see. 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:20.720 Maybe you shoot down a bird, you don't know exactly 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.040 where it went, but the dog can find it. Essentially, 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.040 the dog is still aiding in the hunt, but it's 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:27.520 a more specialized version of aiding in the hunt. Now 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:29.400 the other thing would be playing more of a role 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:32.880 we think of with cats these days, are ridding the 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:36.000 home area or the food storage areas of rats and 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:40.880 other vermin. Right. Another one is to aid in fishing specifically, 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:42.200 and this is one of the breeds you see this 0:08:42.240 --> 0:08:44.880 with is the Newfoundland dog, which is a you know, 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:48.400 a kin to the Labrador retriever. The Labrador retriever fetches 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:53.280 felled foul, but the traditionally but the Newfoundland dog is 0:08:53.320 --> 0:08:57.880 there to retrieve floats and ropes from dangerous icy waters. Now, 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:00.120 of course we see lots of shepherd ng dogs in 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.120 world traditions that they can help control the movements and 0:09:03.160 --> 0:09:06.839 direction of flocks. Right. Um, a big scary dog with 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:10.880 a loud bark has long been used and uh and 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.599 and is still used to as as protection, either to 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.079 protect an individual or to protect property. Yeah, and I 0:09:16.120 --> 0:09:18.880 guess this would be part of a bigger thing. Is 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.840 just sort of like using dogs for violence or the 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:24.960 threat of violence. So dogs used in war or fighting 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:29.160 or in in in combat dogs. Unfortunately, sometimes dogs you 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:33.800 used to fight each other purely for sport, which is terrible, 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:39.679 or in other equally egregious kinds of bear baiting. Yeah. 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:43.800 Another area, though that is not dark or not not 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:47.280 intrinsically dark, is tracking, because dogs mad dogs could be 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.559 used to track somebody or something for nefarious reasons, certainly, 0:09:50.960 --> 0:09:53.040 but dogs can be used to track people to say, 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.880 to find uh say, fine individuals who have been buried 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:59.000 in an avalanche, that sort of thing. Right, And then 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:01.240 of course you've got the final version, the version that 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.160 many of us today probably know the best, which is 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:06.160 just pure companionship. Dogs are a good friend, They're a 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.760 good buddy, and this is where we get the final 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:12.840 form of the dog, the pug. Right. But while we 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:16.640 often think of other animals like horses, donkeys, cattle, and 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:20.720 stuff like this clearly as draft animals animals that are 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:23.319 used to pull loads, or as pack animals, animals that 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:26.240 are used to carry loads. Uh, animals that are there 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:29.679 to provide motive power. We don't often think of the 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:32.960 dog this way. And yet, nevertheless, the dog has been 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:35.960 used for these purposes in many ways around the world 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.320 all throughout history. And one of those ways is what 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:42.680 we're going to talk about today, pairing dogs for motive 0:10:42.760 --> 0:10:46.880 power with a specific type of cooking technology, which is 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.920 the turnspit to the practice of using a dog to 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:52.920 turn a wheel like a hamster wheel to turn a 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:55.920 rotisserie in a kitchen. Right, I mean, but before we 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:59.240 really started researching this, the only example that would have 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:01.520 come to mind would be sled dogs, where the dog 0:11:01.559 --> 0:11:04.520 is used for locomotion to pull a sled across snow. Yeah, 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:06.839 I mean there there are plenty of examples of people 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:10.760 using dogs to uh to pull carts and things like that. Uh, 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:14.800 and there carry a pack, yes, yes, exactly. But later 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:16.920 in the episode, we'll also talk about other types of 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:20.320 more treadmill based motive power that come from dogs. Another 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:22.600 important thing to note when we're talking about all these 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.200 different things that dogs have been bred floor and and 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:27.640 this is kind of this is one of those sort 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:33.199 of overstatements of the obvious, But the role changes the 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:35.880 form of the dog. So like when we're talking about 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.880 these dogs that are that were bred to you know, 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:42.000 to catch rats and to chase vermin, we're often dealing 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.880 with dogs that are that are small in stature that 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:49.000 can chase the rat into its hiding places. Likewise, the 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:51.760 dogs that are used for tracking and in many cases 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:55.120 involving the hunt as well, are often some of the 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:59.440 absolute best smellers and are just you know, ideal for 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:01.920 tracking and and in all of this too, we get 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:04.840 into the problem of the modern world sometimes where someone 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:07.199 will have a pure bred dog, a dog that has 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:11.480 been whose evolution has been hijacked too, you know, for 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:13.960 the specific function, and then it finds itself as a 0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:18.360 pet without a without necessarily having an avenue for that 0:12:18.520 --> 0:12:22.079 special power that it has been given through selective breeding. 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:24.200 So I mean a lot of times it's funny that 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:25.920 people will have a dog for a pet, and they 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:29.040 don't even realize what the that dog breed that their 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:32.600 pet is was was originally bred for. And so they 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:37.360 may notice behavioral characteristics of the dogs that come through 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:40.880 without knowing why that dog is like so attuned to 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:44.800 chasing after my certain little moving objects, or why that 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:49.280 dog has to sniff everything. Yeah, I've I've heard though 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:54.360 of specific cases where, especially urban dogs, um have you know, 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:56.600 their owners will make an effort to find outlets, like 0:12:56.640 --> 0:12:58.800 find a place where they can herd a single sheep 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.439 around and use that energy, or these groups that will 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:04.960 go through. I think it's New York. I heard a 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.079 radio I think it's an NPR story about this, where 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:12.720 people with traditionally vermin hunting dogs will get together and 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.040 basically go on a big rat chase the streets, you know, 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:18.920 because that's that's what the dog wants. Right. So we've 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.560 read plenty of breeds for different tasks, but I guess 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:24.120 we should turn to the other half of the equation here, 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:27.960 leading to the turnspit dog, which is the Rotisseriy. Yes, 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.720 the rotissory. So if you've been to the supermarket, I 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:32.880 think you know the basic idea here because you've probably 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:36.640 seen rotisserie chickens, right, but this this, uh, it's a 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.520 chicken on a spit, and usually they're like multiple spits, 0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:43.800 creating this whole carousel of rotisserie chickens. And they're moving 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:47.360 under some sort of heat source, you know, being a 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.400 lamp or some sort of actual you know, heating element. 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:53.240 But you've probably also seen it if you've ever seen 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:58.839 like the spit for donor kebab or for euros. These 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:02.120 are traditionally done where there's a heat element on one 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:04.560 side and there's a bunch of you know, seasoned meat 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:07.560 that's on a spit that constantly rotates. And the idea 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:10.760 what the constant rotation is to provide even heat. Right, 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:15.160 meat is skewered and then placed over or adjacent to 0:14:15.640 --> 0:14:18.360 a heat source. But then what happens if you don't 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:20.200 turn it. You're gonna get one side of the meat 0:14:20.240 --> 0:14:23.520 that's hideously burned and one side of the meat that 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:27.120 is perhaps undercooked. Even you but it's not what you want. 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:31.480 You want uniform heating around the meat and within the meat. 0:14:31.680 --> 0:14:35.560 And this method actually still works. One of their Robert, 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:38.920 do you ever encounter steak world, you know this whole 0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.640 world world wisdom and false wisdom about what you're supposed 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:44.640 to do or not do with steaks. It can be 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.040 it can be a treacherous pass So used to when 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:50.080 I when I still ate beef and I would grill. 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.040 Sometimes I had I had, I would look in a 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:53.680 grilled book and there would be a lot of wisdom 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:55.760 there about how to do it. And then you go 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:57.920 on the line and there might be, you know, wisdom 0:14:57.960 --> 0:15:00.320 that set the opposite. Yeah, exactly. There's also a lot 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:02.680 of like you know, dad wisdom kind of stuff that 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:05.800 about this. One of the one of the steak myths 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:08.240 that people often say is you should only turn your 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:10.040 steak once. You know, you put it on the grill 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.560 one side, let it go halfway on that side. Flip 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.720 it once and let it go halfway on that side. Uh, 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:17.960 that is not good wisdom. You can turn a steak 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:20.000 as many times as you want if you're grilling it, 0:15:20.040 --> 0:15:23.160 and that actually helps the steak cook more evenly. Um. 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:25.880 You know, by constantly turning it, you are not letting 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:28.200 the heat build up too much on one side and 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:30.680 overcook that side. Okay, Well, like a similar thing I 0:15:30.720 --> 0:15:33.360 do when I do grill, I tend to do veggie grilling, 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:35.600 and so I'll do like a grill basket and I'll 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:37.520 just make sure I I stir it up. Yeah, and 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:39.800 the same principles actually, I think would apply pretty well 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.080 to vegetables. Probably the more you stir them, the more 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:44.200 evenly cooked they're going to be. But in this case, 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.840 we're continuing to talk about big hunks of meat. The 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:51.520 bigger the better on a spit turning, uh, so as 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.080 to have that uniform cooking. But here's the thing. You've 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:56.880 got to turn that spit, and the most basic way 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:00.840 to do that is to turn it by hand. Now, 0:16:00.840 --> 0:16:03.560 of course, later it's no spoiler to say that eventually 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:05.200 machines are going to come into play and do it, 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:07.320 because again, you've been to the grocery store, you've seen 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:13.000 machines turning rotisserie chickens. You know that that is coming. Um. However, 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.880 the rotisserie, you know, was very much in vogue in 0:16:15.920 --> 0:16:18.600 the medieval world, and we see plenty of illustrations of 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:21.720 their use, both both in you know, their terrestrial setting 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:27.960 depictions of everyday medieval humans engaging in rotisserie cooking. But 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:30.640 then you also see lots of these imagined realms of 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:34.360 hell to where if you see a big elaborate depiction 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:38.640 of eternal damnation, there's almost certainly going to be some 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:42.680 individual spitted on a on a long skewer and then 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:45.600 turned over a fire. Right, the culinary traditions of the 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:49.200 time come through in our imaginations of torment right now. 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:52.320 The word ROTISSERII. The rotisserie concept itself, of course, is 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.720 not too complicated, but the word comes goes back to 0:16:55.960 --> 0:16:59.200 France in around fourteen fifty years so, which is ironic 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:03.240 because while all there were versions of of turnspit roasting 0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:07.520 or rotisserie all over Europe from the medieval period and 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:09.919 probably some earlier than that, but especially beginning in the 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.719 medieval period, I've read that it is most common in 0:17:12.800 --> 0:17:16.600 Great Britain, that is, where spit roasting was an extremely 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:20.080 popular form of cooking. That like in the European continent 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:22.080 and elsewhere in the world, people would be more likely 0:17:22.119 --> 0:17:25.840 to use like ovens enclosures to cook inside if they 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:27.680 were going to do a roast of meat at all 0:17:27.760 --> 0:17:31.440 or anything like that. Apparently, for some reason, English culture 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.760 was just not into the ovens for roasting. They liked 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:38.520 the open flame and the constantly turning spit. Yeah, yeah, 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.320 absolutely both. I think the main sources we turned to 0:17:41.440 --> 0:17:45.400 in this yeah, they center almost exclusively on England. Uh, 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:48.200 that's where we look at the documentation of the of 0:17:48.240 --> 0:17:51.160 the spit and all of these additional details about how 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:54.320 the practice changes. Well, I think that's for two reasons. 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.800 Number one, spit roasting in general seems a more popular 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:01.160 form of cooking in Great Britain. And then beyond that, 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.240 where spit roasting is done, it seems like the dog 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:06.840 was a more popular way of doing it in Great 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:09.680 Britain than it was elsewhere. Now, one of the sources 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.960 that I I used in in my research here is 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:18.280 an excellent book by one B. Wilson called Consider the Fork, 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:21.040 a History of how We Eat and Uh. And you know, 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:23.040 one thing that's important is even though we have this 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:27.719 cartoony and perhaps even flint Stonian idea of meat spitted 0:18:27.760 --> 0:18:30.280 above a fire and roast in turned, I think this 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:34.040 is how the Ewoks were attempting to to to consume 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:37.960 the heroes in Star Wars, right, maybe, I mean they've 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:39.680 got them hanging from a stick. It would be kind 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:42.639 of awkward actually spitted. I guess they weren't spitted there 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.120 would be a lot of like tumbling and falling around 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:47.360 the ropes they were hanging from. So I'm not sure 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:49.520 how well that would work for somebody I thought they 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:51.159 were going to eat somebody. I thought that they were 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:52.959 going to eat them. Yeah, I just don't know if 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:54.720 they would have turned to them. I think they probably 0:18:54.720 --> 0:18:56.640 would have just burned them on one side and then 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.480 they do all right. Well. Well, one thing that that B. 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:03.520 Wilson points out is that the spit was typically located 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:06.040 next to a fire and not over it for most 0:19:06.080 --> 0:19:08.840 of the cooking. You would only position it more over 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:11.679 the fire towards the end to toast it, sort of 0:19:11.720 --> 0:19:15.040 like in an oven. Now you might you know, you 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:17.920 might bake something and then broil it to the last 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:19.840 you know, few minutes to get it a little crispy 0:19:19.840 --> 0:19:22.040 on top. Right, then that makes sense putting it next 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:23.960 to the fire. I think you could get gentler, more 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:26.399 even heat throughout right. And a lot of times in 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:30.119 England we're talking about open hearth cooking too, so that 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:32.159 just makes more sense. Right the fire is in the 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:36.480 fireplace and then your eu rotisserie is positioned in front 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.040 of the fireplace. But for open hearth cooking. You have 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.119 to understand that this means the kitchen, especially near the fireplace, 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:46.960 is going to be a sweltering environment, and somebody's got 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:49.600 to turn that spit. And according to be Wilson, before 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:52.240 we put the spit dogs to work turning the spit, 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:57.800 we used turnspit boys. Yes, it's it's, it's, it's, it's, 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.200 it's it's hilarious and at the same time it is 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:05.240 so disturbing. So only only during the sixteenth and seventeen 0:20:05.280 --> 0:20:08.440 centuries did the dogs take over the work really, uh, 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:11.199 and they took over the work from human children. She 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:15.840 includes a quote from biography John Aubrey, who said, quote 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:19.080 in olden times, the poor boys did turn the spits 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:23.680 and lipped the dripping pans, Oh boy, the dripping yeah. 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:26.840 And Be describes this as perhaps the worst of the 0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:30.600 many quotes soul destroying jobs in the rich medieval kitchen. 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:34.480 Here's a passage from their book quote by the reign 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:38.480 of Henry the Eighth, the king's household had whole battalions 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:42.560 of turnspits, charring their faces and tiring their arms to 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:47.160 satisfy the royal appetite for roast capin's and ducks. Venison 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:50.520 and beef crammed in cubby holes to the side of 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:54.280 the fireplace. The boys must have been near roasted themselves 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:57.400 as they labored to roast the meats. Until the year 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:00.880 fifteen thirty, the kitchen staff at Hampton Core worked either 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:05.360 naked or in scanty, grimy garments. Henry the Eighth addressed 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:08.560 the situation not by relieving the turnspits of their duties, 0:21:08.760 --> 0:21:11.800 but by providing the master cooks with a clothing allowance 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:15.199 with which to keep the junior staff decently clothed and 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:19.280 therefore even hotter. That's horrible, I mean this, this lines 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:23.239 up with everything I've read that the turnspit role was 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:26.800 essentially the lowest rank in the kitchen. It was the 0:21:26.880 --> 0:21:29.880 last job you'd want to have because it's like, it's 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:34.160 not only sweltering hot, hard work, it's also incredibly dull 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:37.000