A huge iron mortar & pestle for ID and comments

[Richard G]

Fernando,
I think the mortar itself is stone, standing on a wooden column, with an iron pestle.
Best wishes
Richard

[fernando]

Oh, i see now. What brought my attention in the first place was that the column looks like having been (deliberately) turned with effects similar the table next to it; perhaps a coincidence. This pestle set however seems to be the only period implement in this kitchen, judging by the shining copperware.
Pity the pictue is not larger. Can you read what is written in that black board, Richard ?; just curious.

[Richard G]

Fernando,
This is the kitchen of Burghley House in the UK. The house and kitchen were constructed in the early 17th Cent. and has not changed a lot since. The implements are all old, early 20th Cent. at the latest. The house is still owned and occupied by the same family but is regularly open to the public

The notice, rather prosaically reads:-
"It is expressly ordered by his
Lordship that no servants shall enter
the Kitchen except on business
or remain longer than is necessary
to perform what they have to do"

Above the sign there are the heads of fourteen turtles that were apparently regularly brought live to the kitchen to be slaughtered to make soup.

Best wishes
Richard

[fernando]

Thanks much for the info, Richard.
I will keep in mind the prosaic notice and will forget about the turtles !

[Helleri]

Originally Posted by Richard G

Fernando,
This is the kitchen of Burghley House in the UK. The house and kitchen were constructed in the early 17th Cent. and has not changed a lot since. The implements are all old, early 20th Cent. at the latest. The house is still owned and occupied by the same family but is regularly open to the public

The notice, rather prosaically reads:-
"It is expressly ordered by his
Lordship that no servants shall enter
the Kitchen except on business
or remain longer than is necessary
to perform what they have to do"

Above the sign there are the heads of fourteen turtles that were apparently regularly brought live to the kitchen to be slaughtered to make soup.

Best wishes
Richard

Additions to the kitchen being 20th c. at the latest does sound about right. On the wall we can see what appear to be fully copper platters. The newest looking implements are the pot atop the cupboard and the various vessels on the table in the foreground (closest to the camera). These appear to be copper-clad-steel. The cladding of steel in copper became a thing around the turn of the last century and became popular in the early 1900's.

The idea behind it is that copper is low impedance whereas steel is high impedance. The steel insulates cold things poured into the vessel. Any amount of heat wants to migrate to an area of lower impedance (the copper cladding). So cold things poured in actually get colder.

But this works as well the other way around. Copper can be heated easier than steel because it has lower impedance. And the impedance differential creates a resistance that heats the steel even more.

So what we end up with are containers that get hotter, faster, with less fuel consumed, when placed over heat. But they also cool off quicker (internally).

So cold things stay cold longer (and get colder once poured in). Things that need to be heated get brought to temperature faster, and stand times are shorter (as they also cool down faster). The wait times in a normal kitchen operations are effectively cut in half by this innovation.

[Rick]

Fernando, you said that the fellow you got this from bought it in a defunct chandelier factory.
If they happened to make glass in that factory it could have been used to prepare the raw glass to make pate de verre or other components needed for making glass.

[fernando]

Excelent reasoning, Rick ; the best one, until further enlightening (ever) comes up.