WEBVTT - Invention: The Turnspit Dog 0:00:03.000 --> 0:00:04.840 Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:13.840 I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, welcome to Stuff 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.120 to Blow your Mind. My name is Robert lamp and 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:19.280 I'm Joe McCormick, and today we're bringing you a special 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.800 bonus episode that is not not an original Stuff to 0:00:22.800 --> 0:00:25.120 Blow your Mind episode, but an episode of the other 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:28.120 show that Robert and I do, Invention, which is an 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:31.760 exploration of human techno history. Uh, stories about like the 0:00:31.760 --> 0:00:34.280 things they made and how they in turn shaped our 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:37.519 lives and the development of our species. And you know 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:40.159 there's a reason we're doing this today is because we 0:00:40.280 --> 0:00:42.839 checked in with the machine and it turns out there 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:45.159 are some of you that listen to this show but 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:48.400 have not gone to check out Invention yet. What's wrong 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:51.519 with you? No, no, we know everybody's time is precious. 0:00:51.680 --> 0:00:53.239 There's a lot of shows to listen to. We put 0:00:53.280 --> 0:00:55.040 out a lot of shows. Some of you just haven't 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.360 gotten around to it yet. But hey, here you are. 0:00:57.480 --> 0:01:00.280 You're already listening to an episode of Inventions. Time to 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:03.160 just tuck in and keep going. Don't worry. This one's 0:01:03.200 --> 0:01:05.640 a pretty weird one, that's right. We thought it would 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:07.600 be great for the Stuff to blew your mind, crowd, 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:12.000 because this is an episode about dog based cooking technology, 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:15.840 not not cooking dogs, not cooking dogs to eat, but 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:19.720 using dogs in order to power the technology that cooks 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:23.640 your food. Yes, dog powered machines that help you cook 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.400 you know, other animals, not dogs. We can't stress that enough. 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:29.560 No dogs are going to be eaten in this episode. 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:32.600 So obviously we hope you enjoyed this episode of Invention. 0:01:32.680 --> 0:01:35.440 We also really hope you go over to check out 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:39.000 the separate Invention feed. The podcast is called Invention. If 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.000 you don't already listen, hit the subscribe button, and then 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:43.840 if you really want to do us a favor, if 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.120 you're like, oh, Robert and Joe bring me these episodes 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:47.960 every week, I really enjoy them. I want to help 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.280 them out. You know what you can do. It's quite easy. 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:54.000 Just download like every episode of Invention, get them all, 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.920 listen to all of them, set our numbers on fire, 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.360 and you benefit in the process. Yeah. I mean we 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:02.520 we did a several different episodes over the holidays about toys, 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:04.520 and each episode is kind of a grab bag of 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.120 different toys. So we discussed Legos for instance, and one 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:09.400 of them talk about the history of Lego Blocks, how 0:02:09.440 --> 0:02:12.280 those Lego bricks came together, and sort of a brief 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:15.240 history of that company, as well as other inventions like 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:17.480 the Yo Yo, and we mentioned the Chinese Yo Yo 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:20.960 and one of those episodes the Uh the Apola and 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:23.520 I got to use one just last weekend and at 0:02:23.520 --> 0:02:26.200 a Chinese New Year celebration they had some on hand. 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:27.960 There was somebody there to to show me how to 0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:30.360 use one, and I have to say they are hypnotic. 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:34.120 Do you want to be hypnotized with knowledge and fascination 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:38.760 of the technology of ages past? If so, check out Invention. Subscribe, 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:42.480 download like every episode you can find, get on it, 0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:45.280 help us, help yourself. We think you're gonna love it. 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:50.880 All right, let's jump right in. Welcome to Invention, a 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:58.160 production of I Heart Radio. Hey, welcome to Invention. My 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.480 name is Robert Land and I'm Joe Cormick. And today 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:05.600 we're continuing our trek through human techno history, and we're 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:09.440 going to begin with The flint Stones. Okay, Uh. If 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.000 you've ever watched The flint Stones, the Old Uh in 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:15.959 nineteen sixties American cartoon, you're probably familiar with their over 0:03:16.000 --> 0:03:18.920 the top cartoon world in which you know, you have, 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.120 you have these cavemen, but they're also it's also like 0:03:21.160 --> 0:03:25.720 a commentary to a limited extent on nineteen sixties American culture, 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:29.200 and they live alongside dinosaurs and they utilize them to 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.840 power pretty much every aspect of their society. Is the 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:36.040 satirical element there. If I've only seen the Flint Stones 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:39.480 Viva Rock Vegas, probably yeah, I think so, because they, 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:43.480 if I remember correctly, those live action adaptations did put 0:03:43.480 --> 0:03:47.280 a lot of emphasis on the dinosaur and prehistoric creature 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:50.640 based technology. Oh yeah, clearly. That's the big draw of 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:53.360 the series, is the curiosity what kind of dinosaur is 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.080 going to be playing the role of a toilet today? Yeah, 0:03:56.240 --> 0:03:59.840 because well, they didn't use dinos to power everything for it. 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:03.160 They did insist on footing their own ridiculous stone cars 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:06.240 around town. I love that they had a typewriter that 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:09.600 was a mere stone machine, kind of like a cross 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:13.880 between a typewriter and a stone xylophone or something. But 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.400 they also used of course that would be what is 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:18.840 it a lithophone. Actually it's not a there is a 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:21.359 name for a stone xylophone, but but it was of 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.640 course more complicated, ridiculously complicated uh, in the flint stones. 0:04:25.920 --> 0:04:28.839 But then they also used, just to name a few inventions, 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:32.200 the following uh. And let let's go back and forth 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:37.000 on these jokes. A sauropod powered construction crane device, a 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:43.679 stegosaur based fire truck, theropod based mobile stairs like the airport. Yeah, okay, 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:46.839 a small dinosaur that they used as a can opener. Yeah, 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:49.680 this one's really famous. And I know they used this 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.200 one in the live action film. A garbage disposal dinosaur 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:56.479 that just lives underneath the counter. I remember this. Actually 0:04:56.600 --> 0:04:58.960 they were like the garbage disposals acting up and he 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:02.120 opens up the abnets and like yells at it. But 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:06.280 they've also got a record player that's a turtle and hummingbird. Yeah, 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:08.640 it's like the hummingbird is the needle, of course, and 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.520 the turtle was somehow spinning the record. Wait a minute, 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:16.000 where they're hummingbirds? And wait a minute. This is because 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:20.480 they were definitely not humans coexisting with dinosaurs. Uh. They 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:23.679 had a mammoth based uh system of running water, didn't 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:25.640 They also have a tiny mammoth that was like the 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:28.200 vacuum cleaner. They used it to be as the hose 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:30.320 or maybe it's young. I don't know how this worked. 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:32.760 There was also a I'm not sure it was a 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:36.360 bird or terra saar based camera, So like you hold 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:38.920 up the camera to take the picture and the small 0:05:39.040 --> 0:05:43.680 winged creature uses its beak to then a chisel the 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:46.440 image into a piece of stone. That's funny that it's 0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:48.479 some kind of bird as a dishwasher, it was like 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:50.960 a pelican. Yeah, it looked a lot like a pelican. 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:53.119 And then, of course, if you need a kitchen knife, 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:55.240 what are you gonna do? Use a sawfish? Why not 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:58.840 a rock? Why not a like a flint stone. It's 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:01.839 it's there in the name flint hilarious. If it is 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:03.920 an actual sword of fish, I guess, but that defeats 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:06.480 the purpose. I mean why you would use an animal 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:09.440 in place of a machine is that an animal is 0:06:09.480 --> 0:06:12.880 complex and has moving parts and can generate motive power. 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:15.839 If you just need a knife or something that seems 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:18.760 like real stone age technology would work just as well. 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.760 Oh absolutely, um. And then of course there's the added 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.960 fact that they have a pet dinosaur named Dino who 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:29.120 is just there for companionship. Now all of this is ridiculous, 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.520 and even today we watch it and we laugh at 0:06:31.560 --> 0:06:36.760 it because it's a ridiculous exaggeration of animal labor. Each dinosaur, 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:40.919 prehistar creature is highly specialized. So you know, either the 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:44.080 humans of the flint Stones just found the right animals 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:48.040 to perform these very specific functions, or like us real 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:52.040 life humans, they bred them to encourage certain traits, traits 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:56.520 that would make them ideal for highly specific specialized tasks 0:06:56.560 --> 0:06:59.479 such as living under your sink and eating all of 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.880 your wraps. That's right. And to explore this concept further, 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:06.240 today we're going to look at a real historical example, uh, 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:09.080 certainly not the only example of an animal bread for 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:12.640 a certain job within the house of providing some kind 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.960 of motive power. Of course, we know farm animals, draft animals, 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.680 pack animals have been doing this kind of thing for millennia. 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:20.960 But today we're gonna be looking at a very strange 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:25.320 specific case from history. The turnspit dog, a breed of 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:29.200 domestic dog that is bred to run around a small 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:33.320 wheel to power e rotisserie. Yes, and this is this 0:07:33.360 --> 0:07:35.720 is this is amazing. I was I had not heard 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:38.640 of this before, so this was like suddenly, It's like 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.520 suddenly realizing the flint Stones were real to a certain extent. 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:44.480 But but this is gonna be a great episode as well, 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:46.320 because it's not just going to be about this dog. 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:49.280 It's going to be about sort of two or three 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:53.920 additional technologies that factor in to this period in time 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:57.800 in which dog labor was used to help cook big 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:01.360 chunks of meat. Right, So I guess first we always 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:04.280 asked the question here what came before this invention? So 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:07.200 obviously we should look at the dog itself, and the 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.480 dog in a way, if you sort, if you sort 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:14.000 of squint, it is sort of a human invention. I mean, 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:16.440 obviously it's a product of nature. So we like, we 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:20.440 didn't create you know, canines generally, but the domestic dog 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.960 and the domestic dog breeds that exist have in many 0:08:24.000 --> 0:08:27.520 ways been guided by human hands to greater and lesser extents. Yeah, 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:29.400 I mean it's not you know, it's not necessary a 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:34.560 situation where a prehistoric h you know, number of human 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.440 society said that is a good wolf creature out there. 0:08:38.000 --> 0:08:40.080 I have a few pointers for what we might change 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.000 in it, but that is essentially the process that ends 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:45.600 up taking place. So yes, before you can have a 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:49.000 dog powered meat spinning grill machine, you have to have 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:52.280 a domestic dog, and in brief, the domestic dog dates 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:57.000 back an estimated twelve thousand years to the Near East, 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:00.880 before the cat, before the sheep, before a goat, and 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:04.240 before the horse. The dog maybe man's best friend, and 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:08.240 it is certainly one of his oldest non human friends. 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.520 It is the oldest recognizably domestic animal. And we know 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:16.400 they were used some eleven thousand years ago in post 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.760 glacial Europe by hunter gatherers, and they were almost certainly 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:24.600 used in hunting. Interestingly enough, it's sometimes questioned why humans 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.160 didn't actually domesticate the dogs sooner than this, and one 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:33.079 idea is that there was even more incentive to domesticate these, 0:09:33.120 --> 0:09:35.960 you know, the wild wolf like creatures into the domesticated 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:39.760 dog in the post glacial world, because you increasingly then 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:43.040 had to track wounded animals that you've wounded during the 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:47.600 you know, the hunt through wooded regions. Increasingly wooded regions 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.559 is the forest return and a dog's superior sense of 0:09:50.600 --> 0:09:53.679 smell could make a huge difference in that task. So 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.600 the dog was a pre farming domestic species, and that's 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.719 something that's really essential to note because the at I 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:02.840 think we've touched on this before. If not an invention, 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:04.360 then unstuff to blow your mind. You know, the cat 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:07.280 comes about as an investigated species in the post farming 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.760 world because of the post farming surplus of food. Right, 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.079 So in the in the post farming world, you might 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.160 have say stores of grain or other foods in a 0:10:16.240 --> 0:10:19.440 settled location that you're not moving around from, and those 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:22.400 might attract to say rats or something like that that 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:24.720 would get into your grain, And then the cat can 0:10:24.760 --> 0:10:27.439 follow the rats. Right. And then these areas other species, 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:29.520 many of them of course our food species that we 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:33.720 domesticated so so as to uh control them and not 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.520 have to hunt them anymore. They live with us, and 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:39.400 we kill them when we desire to kill them. But 0:10:39.480 --> 0:10:42.600 of course, as great as dogs can be and continue 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.240 to be, and in the in aiding the hunt, we 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.920 know that they can be bred to specialize in a 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.640 number of key tasks. And I have a short list 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:53.240 here that I thought we might go back and forth 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:55.800 on again, much like we did with the dinosaurs of 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:59.600 the Flintstones. So you can of course breed a dog 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:03.640 of many generations to fetch felled foul. That's kind of 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:05.760 a tongue twister, but yeah, you can see maybe you 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.000 shoot down a bird, you don't know exactly where it went, 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:10.200 but the dog can find it. Essentially, the dog is 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.720 still aiding in the hunt, but it's a more specialized 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:14.680 version of aiding in the hunt. Now, the other thing 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:16.640 would be playing more of a role we think of 0:11:17.280 --> 0:11:20.840 with cats these days, are ridding the home area or 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.920 the food storage areas of rats and other vermin. Right. 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.839 Another one is to aid in fishing specifically, and this 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:29.240 is one of the breeds you see this with is 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.880 the Newfoundland dog, which is a you know, a kin 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:36.360 to the Labrador retriever. The Labrador retriever fetches felled foul, 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:40.319 but the traditionally but the Newfoundland dog is there to 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:44.760 retrieve floats and ropes from dangerous icy waters. Now, of 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:47.560 course we see lots of shepherd ng dogs in world 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:50.319 traditions that they can help control the movements and direction 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:53.720 of flocks. Right, Um, a big scary dog with a 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:57.720 loud bark has long been used and uh and and 0:11:57.800 --> 0:12:00.400 is still used to as as protects and either to 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.839 protect an individual or to protect property. Yeah, and I 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:05.640 guess this would be part of a bigger thing. Is 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:08.600 just sort of like using dogs for violence or the 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:11.720 threat of violence. So dogs used in war or fighting, 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:15.920 or in in in combat dogs. Unfortunately, sometimes dogs you 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:20.560 used to fight each other purely for sport, which is terrible, 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:25.600 or in other equally egregious kinds of bear baiting. Yeah. 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:30.560 Another area, though that is not dark, or not not 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:34.040 intrinsically dark, is tracking, because dogs made dogs could be 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:37.319 used to track somebody or something for nefarious reasons, certainly, 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:39.800 but dogs can be used to track people, to say, 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.640 to find uh say, fine individuals who have been buried 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:45.760 in an avalanche, that sort of thing, right, And then 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.000 of course you've got the final version, the version that 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:49.920 many of us today probably know the best, which is 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:52.920 just pure companionship. Dogs are a good friend, they're a 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:55.520 good buddy. And this is where we get the final 0:12:55.600 --> 0:12:59.600 form of the dog, the pug. Right. But while we 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:03.400 offer think of other animals like horses, donkeys, cattle and 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:07.480 stuff like this clearly as draft animals, animals that are 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:10.079 used to pull loads, or as pack animals, animals that 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:13.120 are used to carry loads, animals that are there to 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:16.800 provide motive power, we don't often think of the dog 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:20.040 this way. And yet nevertheless, the dog has been used 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:22.920 for these purposes in many ways around the world all 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.280 throughout history. And one of those ways is what we're 0:13:26.280 --> 0:13:29.880 going to talk about today, pairing dogs for motive power 0:13:30.280 --> 0:13:34.560 with a specific type of cooking technology, which is the turnspit, 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.640 the practice of using a dog to turn a wheel 0:13:37.800 --> 0:13:41.520 like a hamster wheel to turn a rotisserie in a kitchen. Right. 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.719 I mean, but before we really started researching this, the 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:46.760 only example that would have come to mind would be 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:49.560 sled dogs, where the dog is used for locomotion to 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.360 pull a sled across snow. Yeah. I mean, there are 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:55.000 plenty of examples of people using dogs to uh, to 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:58.600 pull carts and things like that. Uh and there carry 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:02.080 a pack, yes, us exactly. But later in the episode 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.840 we'll also talk about other types of more treadmill based 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:07.800 motive power that come from dogs. Another important thing to 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:10.920 note when we're talking about all these different things that 0:14:11.040 --> 0:14:13.400 dogs have been bred for, and and this is kind 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:15.400 of this is one of those sort of overstatements of 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:21.040 the obvious, but the role changes the form of the dog. 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:23.680 So like when we're talking about these dogs that are 0:14:23.960 --> 0:14:26.600 that were bred to, you know, to catch rats and 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.920 to chase vermin, we're often dealing with dogs that are 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:32.680 that are small in stature that can chase the rat 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:36.760 into its hiding places. Likewise, the dogs that are used 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:40.320 for tracking and in many cases involving the hunt as well, 0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:44.440 are often some of the absolute best smellers and are 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:47.880 just you know, ideal for tracking and and in all 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:49.520 of this too we get into the problem of the 0:14:49.560 --> 0:14:52.880 modern world sometimes where someone will have a pure bred dog, 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:56.440 a dog that has been whose evolution has been hijacked, 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:59.800 uh to you know, for the specific function, and then 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:03.040 it signs itself as a pet without a without necessarily 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:06.640 having an avenue for that special power that it has 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:09.600 been given through selective breeding. I mean a lot of 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.160 times it's funny that people will have a dog for 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:14.720 a pet and they don't even realize what the that 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:18.200 dog breed that their pet is was was originally bred for. 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:22.400 And so they may notice behavioral characteristics of the dogs 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:26.360 that come through without knowing why that dog is like 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:31.040 so attuned to chasing after my certain moving objects, or 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:35.360 why that dog has to sniff everything. Yeah, I've I've 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:39.880 heard though of specific cases where especially urban dogs um 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:42.480 have you know, their owners will make an effort to 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:44.760 find outlets like find a place where they can herd 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.520 a single sheep around and use that energy, or these 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:50.480 groups that will go through I think it's New York. 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:54.000 I heard a radio I think it's an NPR story 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:58.480 about this, where people with traditionally vermin hunting dogs will 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:00.880 get together and basically to go on a big rat 0:16:00.960 --> 0:16:04.120 chase the streets, you know, because that's that's what the 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.880 dog wants. Right. So we've bred plenty of breeds for 0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:09.040 different tasks, but I guess we should turn to the 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:12.320 other half of the equation here, leading to the turnspit dog, 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:15.880 which is the rotisseriy. Yes, the rotissory. So if you've 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:18.320 been to the supermarket, I think you know the basic 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.720 idea here because you've probably seen rotisserie chickens, right, but 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.520 this this, uh, it's a chicken on a spit, and 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:28.360 usually they're like multiple spits creating this whole carousel of 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:33.280 rotisserie chickens. And they're moving under some sort of heat source, 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:35.720 you know, being a lamp or some sort of actual 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:39.080 you know, heating element. But you've probably also seen it 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:42.680 if you've ever seen like the spit for donor kebab 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:47.760 or for euros. These are traditionally done where there's a 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:50.240 heat element on one side and there's a bunch of 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:53.400 you know, seasoned meat that's on a spit that constantly rotates. 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:56.360 And the idea what the constant rotation is to provide 0:16:56.440 --> 0:17:01.040 even heat right meat is skewered and emplaced over or 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:04.800 adjacent to a heat source. But then what happens if 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:06.639 you don't turn it. You're gonna get one side of 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.520 the meat that's hideously burned and one side of the 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:13.440 meat that is perhaps undercooked even you, but it's not 0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:17.119 what you want. You want uniform heating around the meat 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:20.080 and within the meat. And this method actually still works. 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:23.879 One of their Robert, do you ever encounter steak world? 0:17:24.880 --> 0:17:28.440 You know, this whole world world wisdom and false wisdom 0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:30.960 about what you're supposed to do or not do with steaks. 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:33.000 It can be it can be a treacherous pass So 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:35.960 used to when I when I still ate beef, and 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.440 I would grill sometimes I had I had, I would 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:39.800 look in a grill book and there would be a 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.000 lot of wisdom there about how to do it. And 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:43.600 then you go on the line and the would might be, 0:17:43.960 --> 0:17:46.560 you know, wisdom that set the opposite. Yeah, exactly. There's 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:48.760 also a lot of like you know, dad wisdom kind 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:51.240 of stuff that about this. One of the one of 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:54.359 the steak myths that people often say is you should 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:56.359 only turn your steak once. You know, you put it 0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:58.600 on the grill one side, let it go halfway on 0:17:58.640 --> 0:18:00.880 that side. Flip it once and let it go halfway 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:03.919 on that side. Uh. That is not good wisdom. You 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.000 can turn a steak as many times as you want 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.280 if you're grilling it, and that actually helps the steak 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.520 cook more evenly. Um. You know, by constantly turning it, 0:18:11.600 --> 0:18:14.040 you are not letting the heat build up too much 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:16.760 on one side and overcook that side. Okay, Well, like 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:18.800 a similar thing I do when I do grill, I 0:18:18.840 --> 0:18:21.159 tend to do veggie grilling, and so I'll do like 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:23.119 a grill basket and I'll just make sure I I 0:18:23.160 --> 0:18:25.440 stir it up. Yea. And the same principles actually, I 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:27.840 think would apply pretty well to vegetables. Probably the more 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:30.159 you stir them, the more evenly cooked they're going to be. 0:18:30.320 --> 0:18:32.879 But in this case, we're continuing to talk about big 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:37.760 hunks of meat. The bigger the better on a spit turning. Uh, 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:40.440 So as to have that uniform cooking. But here's the thing. 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:43.400 You've got to turn that spit, and the most basic 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:47.600 way to do that is to turn it by hand. Now, 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:50.320 of course, later it's no spoiler to say that eventually 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:51.919 machines are going to come into play and do it, 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:54.040 because again, you've been to the grocery store, you've seen 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:59.760 machines turning rotisserie chickens. You know that that is coming. Um. However, 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:02.600 the tissory, you know, it was very much in vogue 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:05.280 in the medieval world, and we see plenty of illustrations 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.040 of their use, both both in you know, their terrestrial 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:14.280 setting depictions of everyday medieval humans engaging in rotisserie cooking. 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:17.280 But then you also see lots of these imagined realms 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:20.680 of hell, to where if you see a big, elaborate 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:25.199 depiction of eternal damnation, there's almost certainly going to be 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:29.199 some individual spitted on a on a long skewer and 0:19:29.240 --> 0:19:32.240 then turned over a fire. Right, the culinary traditions of 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:35.240 the time come through in our imaginations of torment. Right. 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:38.720 And now the word rotissori. The rotisserie concept itself, of 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:42.080 course is not too complicated, but the word comes goes 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:45.320 back to France in around fourteen fifty years so, which 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:50.000 is ironic because while there were versions of turnspit roasting 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:54.119 or rotisserie all over Europe from the medieval period and 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:56.679 probably some earlier than that, but especially beginning in the 0:19:56.680 --> 0:19:59.439 medieval period, I've read that it is most common in 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:03.960 Great that is where spit roasting was an extremely popular 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:06.960 form of cooking. That like in the European continent and 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:08.960 elsewhere in the world, people would be more likely to 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.719 use like ovens enclosures to cook inside if they were 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:14.600 going to do a roast of meat at all or 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:18.800 anything like that. Apparently, for some reason, English culture was 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:21.639 just not into the ovens for roasting. They liked the 0:20:21.680 --> 0:20:26.600 open flame and the constantly turning spit. Yeah, yeah, absolutely both. 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:29.000 I think the main sources we turn to in this, Yeah, 0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.720 they center almost exclusively on England. Uh, that's where we 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:36.119 look at the documentation of the of the spit and 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:39.959 all of these additional details about how the practice changes. Well, 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:42.959 I think that's for two reasons. Number One, spit roasting 0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:45.800 in general seems a more popular form of cooking in 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:49.680 Great Britain, and then beyond that, where spit roasting is done, 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:52.440 it seems like the dog was a more popular way 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:55.440 of doing it in Great Britain than it was elsewhere. Now, 0:20:55.560 --> 0:20:58.560 one of the sources that I I used in in 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:02.320 my research here is an excellent book by one B. 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:06.200 Wilson called Consider the Fork, a History of how We 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:08.920 Eat and uh. And you know, one thing that's important is, 0:21:08.960 --> 0:21:11.879 even though we have this cartoony and perhaps even flint 0:21:11.920 --> 0:21:15.840 Stonian idea of meat spitted above a fire and roast 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:18.120 in turned, I think this is how the Ewoks were 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:23.080 attempting to to to consume the heroes in Star Wars, 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:25.880