WEBVTT - 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 --> 0:00:38.120 like a commentary to a limited extent on nineteen sixties 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:41.960 American culture, and they live alongside dinosaurs and they utilize 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:45.560 them to power pretty much every aspect of their society. 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:48.680 Is the satirical element there. If I've only seen The 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:52.159 flint Stones Viva Rock Vegas, probably yeah, I think so, 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:55.840 because they, if I remember correctly, those live action adaptations 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.400 did put a lot of emphasis on the dinosaur and 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:03.320 prestar a creature based technology. Oh yeah, clearly. That's the 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:05.800 big draw of the series, is the curiosity what kind 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:07.720 of dinosaur is going to be playing the role of 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:11.119 a toilet today? Yeah, because well, they didn't use dinos 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:14.559 to power everything. For instance, they did insist on footing 0:01:14.600 --> 0:01:17.880 their own ridiculous stone cars around town. I love that 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:21.800 they had a typewriter that was a mere stone machine, 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:24.560 kind of like a cross between a typewriter and a 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:29.080 stone xylophone or something. But they also used, of course, 0:01:29.080 --> 0:01:30.959 that would be what is it a lithophone? Actually it's 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.480 not a there is a name for a stone xylophone. 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:37.920 But but it was of course more complicated, ridiculously complicated. Uh, 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:40.840 in the flint stones. But then they also used, just 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:44.399 to name a few inventions, the following uh. And let 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.600 let's go back and forth on these jokes, a sauropod 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:52.919 powered construction crane device, a stegosaur based fire truck, theropod 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:57.559 based mobile stairs like the airport. Yeah, okay, A small 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:01.200 dinosaur that they used as a can opener up. This 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:03.120 one's really famous. And I know they used this one 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:06.560 in the live action film. A garbage disposal dinosaur that 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.000 just lives underneath the counter. I remember this. Actually they 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:12.600 were like the garbage disposals acting up and he opens 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:15.600 up the cabinets and like yells at it. But they've 0:02:15.600 --> 0:02:19.520 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 --> 0:02:29.200 where they're hummingbirds? And wait a minute. This is because 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:33.720 they were definitely not humans coexisting with dinosaurs. Uh. They 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:36.919 had a mammoth based uh system of running water, didn't 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:38.880 They also have a tiny mammoth that was like the 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.640 vacuum cleaner. They used it to because the hose or 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:44.400 maybe it's young. I don't know how this worked. There 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:46.359 was also a I'm not sure it was a bird 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.760 or terra saar based camera, So like you hold up 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.680 the camera to take the picture and the small winged 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:57.320 creature uses its beak to then a chisel the image 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.760 into a piece of stone. That's funny that it's some 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:03.000 kind a bird as a dishwasher, it was like a pelican. Yeah, 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.160 it 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 --> 0:03:16.040 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 0:04:14.680 --> 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 necessarily a situation where 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:48.600 a prehistoric uh you know, member 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 --> 0:07:44.760 food species that we domesticated so in so as to 0:07:45.320 --> 0:07:48.240 uh control them and not have to hunt them anymore. 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:50.640 They live with us, and we kill them when we 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:54.200 desire to kill them. But of course as great as 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:56.720 dogs can be and continue to be, and in the 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.320 in aiding the hunt, we know that they can be 0:07:59.320 --> 0:08:03.400 bred who specialize in a number of key tasks. And 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:05.480 I have a short list here that I thought we 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.080 might go back and forth on again, much like we 0:08:08.120 --> 0:08:11.040 did with the dinosaurs of the Flintstones. So you can 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:15.240 of course breed a dog over many generations to fetch 0:08:15.320 --> 0:08:17.960 felled foul. That's kind of a tongue twister, but yeah, 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.040 you can see. Maybe you shoot down a bird, you 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:21.960 don't know exactly where it went, but the dog can 0:08:22.000 --> 0:08:24.480 find it. Essentially, the dog is still aiding in the hunt, 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:27.200 but it's a more specialized version of aiding in the hunt. 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:29.120 Now the other thing would be playing more of a 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.640 role we think of with cats these days, are ridding 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.920 the home area or the food storage areas of rats 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:39.200 and other vermin. Right. Another one is to aid in 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:41.880 fishing specifically, and this is one of the breeds you 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.560 see this with is the Newfoundland dog, which is a 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.280 you know, a kin to the Labrador retriever. The Labrador 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:52.720 retriever fetches felled foul, but the traditionally but the Newfoundland 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:56.319 dog is there to retrieve floats and ropes from dangerous 0:08:56.480 --> 0:08:59.400 icy waters. Now, of course we see lots of shepherd 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.439 ng dogs in world traditions that they can help control 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:06.079 the movements and direction of flocks. Right, Um, a big 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:09.560 scary dog with a loud bark has long been used 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:13.280 and uh and and is still used to as as protection, 0:09:13.360 --> 0:09:15.920 either to protect an individual or to protect property. Yeah, 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:18.719 and I guess this would be part of a bigger thing. 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.720 Is just sort of like using dogs for violence or 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:24.480 the threat of violence. So dogs used in war or 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:29.040 fighting or in in in combat dogs. Unfortunately, sometimes dogs 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:32.920 you used to fight each other purely for sport, which 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:38.840 is terrible, or in other equally egregious kinds of bear baiting. Like. 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 --> 0:10:50.320 the turnspit, the practice of using a dog to turn 0:10:50.360 --> 0:10:53.559 a wheel like a hamster wheel to turn a rotisserie 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:56.160 in a kitchen. Right. I mean, but before we really 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:59.400 started researching this, the only example that would have come 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.640 to mind would be sled dogs, where the dog is 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:04.520 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 --> 0:11:20.360 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 0:12:49.320 --> 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 0:12:58.840 --> 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 --> 0:13:15.520 basically go on a big rat chase through the streets, 0:13:15.800 --> 0:13:18.480 you know, because that's that's what the dog wants, right. 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:21.280 So we've read plenty of breeds for different tasks, but 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:22.920 I guess we should turn to the other half of 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.240 the equation here, leading to the turnspit dog, which is 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.320 the Rotisseriy. Yes, the rotissory. So if you've been to 0:13:29.360 --> 0:13:32.120 the supermarket, I think you know the basic idea here 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:36.360 because you've probably seen rotisserie chickens, right, but this this, uh, 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:38.520 it's a chicken on a spit, and usually they're like 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:43.120 multiple spits creating this whole carousel of rotisserie chickens, and 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:46.800 they're moving under some sort of heat source, you know, 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:49.560 being a lamp or some sort of actual you know, 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:52.679 heating element. But you've probably also seen it if you've 0:13:52.720 --> 0:13:58.640 ever seen like the spit for donor kebab or for euros. 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.920 These are traditionally done where there's a heat element on 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:04.360 one side and there's a bunch of you know, seasoned 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.160 meat that's on a spit that constantly rotates. And the 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:10.760 idea 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 0:14:23.680 --> 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 grill 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, 0:15:20.000 --> 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 --> 0:16:07.280 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 --> 0:16:30.880 then you also see lots of these imagined realms of hell, 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:35.000 to where if you see a big, elaborate depiction of 0:16:35.280 --> 0:16:39.280 eternal damnation, there's almost certainly going to be some individual 0:16:39.320 --> 0:16:43.080 spitted on a on a long skewer and then turned 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:45.840 over a fire. Right, the culinary traditions of the time 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:49.280 come through in our imaginations of torment right now. The 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:52.440 word ROTISSERII. The rotisserie concept itself, of course is not 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:56.440 too complicated, but the word comes goes back to France 0:16:56.480 --> 0:16:59.600 in around fourteen fifty years so, which is ironic because 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:04.320 while there were versions of of turnspit roasting or rotisserie 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:08.200 all over Europe from the medieval period and probably some 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:10.639 earlier than that, but especially beginning in the medieval period, 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:13.480 I've read that it is most common in Great Britain, 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:17.200 that that is where spit roasting was an extremely popular 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:20.200 form of cooking. That like in the European continent and 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:22.199 elsewhere in the world, people would be more likely to 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.959 use like ovens enclosures to cook inside if they were 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:27.840 going to do a roast of meat at all or 0:17:27.840 --> 0:17:32.040 anything like that. Apparently, for some reason, English culture was 0:17:32.119 --> 0:17:34.879 just not into the ovens for roasting. They liked the 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:39.840 open flame and the constantly turning spit. Yeah, yeah, absolutely both. 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.240 I think the main sources we turned to in this yeah, 0:17:42.240 --> 0:17:45.960 they center almost exclusively on England. Uh. That's where we 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:49.359 look at the documentation of the of the spit and 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:53.199 all of these additional details about how the practice changes. Well, 0:17:53.200 --> 0:17:55.680 I think that's for two reasons. The number one, spit 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.520 roasting in general seems a more popular form of cooking 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.280 in Great Britain. And then beyond that, where spit roasting 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:04.840 is done, it seems like the dog was a more 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:07.479 popular way of doing it in Great Britain than it 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:10.320 was elsewhere. Now, one of the sources that I I 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:14.119 used in in my research here is an excellent book 0:18:14.920 --> 0:18:18.960 by one B. Wilson called Consider the Fork, a History 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:21.239 of how We Eat and Uh. And you know, one 0:18:21.240 --> 0:18:24.000 thing that's important is even though we have this cartoony 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:28.040 and perhaps even flint Stonian idea of meat spitted above 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:30.439 a fire and roast in turned, I think this is 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:34.600 how the Ewoks were attempting to to to consume the 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:38.080 heroes in Star Wars, right, maybe, I mean they've got 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:39.720 them hanging from a stick. It would be kind of 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:42.960 awkward spitted I guess they weren't spitted, there would be 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:45.879 a lot of like tumbling and falling around the ropes 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:47.720 they were hanging from. So I'm not sure how well 0:18:47.720 --> 0:18:49.720 that would work for somebody I thought they were going 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:51.359 to eat somebody. I thought that they were going to 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:53.320 eat them. Yeah, I just don't know if they would 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:55.000 have turned to them. I think they probably would have 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:57.120 just burned them on one side and then they do 0:18:57.720 --> 0:18:59.879 all right. Well. Well, one thing that that B. Wilson 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:03.960 points out is that the spit was typically located next 0:19:04.000 --> 0:19:06.159 to a fire and not over it for most of 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:08.960 the cooking. You would only position it more over the 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.840 fire towards the end to toast it, sort of like 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:15.320 in another and now you might you know, you might 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.119 bake something and then broil it to the last you know, 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:20.640 few minutes to get it a little crispy on top. Right, 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:22.440 then that makes sense putting it next to the fire. 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.520 I think you could get gentler, more even heat throughout right, 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:27.480 And a lot of times in England we're talking about 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:31.400 open hearth cooking too, so that just makes more sense. Right, 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.399 the fire is in the fireplace, and then your eu 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.720 rotisserie is positioned in front of the fireplace, but for 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:41.000 open hearth cooking, you have to understand that this means 0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:43.919 the kitchen, especially near the fireplace, is going to be 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:47.800 a sweltering environment, and somebody's got to turn that spit. 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:50.640 And according to be Wilson, before we put the spit 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:55.760 dogs to work turning the spit, we used turnspit boys. Yes, 0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.119 it's it's, it's, it's, it's it's it's hilarious and at 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:03.680 the same time it is so disturbing. So only only 0:20:03.760 --> 0:20:06.760 during the sixteenth and seventeen centuries did the dogs take 0:20:06.800 --> 0:20:09.199 over the work really, uh, and they took over the 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:13.199 work from human children. She includes a quote from biography 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:17.440 John Aubrey, who said, quote in olden times, the poor 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:20.879 boys did turn the spits and lipped the dripping pans, 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:25.240 Oh boy, the dripping yeah. And Be describes this as 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:29.120 perhaps the worst of the many quotes soul destroying jobs 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:32.400 in the rich medieval kitchen. Here's a passage from their 0:20:32.440 --> 0:20:36.080 book quote by the reign of Henry the Eighth, the 0:20:36.160 --> 0:20:40.960 king's household had whole battalions of turnspits, charring their faces 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:44.760 and tiring their arms to satisfy the royal appetite for 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:49.199 roast capin's and ducks, venison and beef crammed in cubby 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:52.600 holes to the side of the fireplace. The boys must 0:20:52.600 --> 0:20:55.600 have been near roasted themselves as they labored to roast 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:59.119 the meats. Until the year fifteen thirty, the kitchen staff 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:03.560 at Hampton Core worked either naked or in scanty, grimy garments. 0:21:04.200 --> 0:21:07.159 Henry the Eighth addressed the situation not by relieving the 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:10.560 turnspits of their duties, but by providing the master cooks 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:13.240 with a clothing allowance with which to keep the junior 0:21:13.320 --> 0:21:18.480 staff decently closed and therefore even hotter. That's horrible, I 0:21:18.480 --> 0:21:20.600 mean this, this lines up with everything I've read that 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:26.159 the turnspit role was essentially the lowest rank in the kitchen. 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:28.880 It was the last job you'd want to have, because 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:32.680 it's like, it's not only sweltering hot, hard work, it's 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:36.119