The image of you holding an Easy Bake Oven gives me serious doubts that I'm actually awake.

This may seem off topic, but as someone with hearing difficulties, I greatly appreciate the volume and clarity in these videos. I don't have to turn on the subtitles to understand and enjoy them. Thank you. And this was great!

Biggest thing the raised hearth did, was take the back-ache out of stooping in a fireplace!!

A video over apartment living throughout the centuries would be interesting. Cooking, eating, how they were setup.

We see examples of ancient Roman "stew stoves" as Jon describes along outdoor boulevards. This is how ancient Roman street food was generally cooked.

As a little kid in 90' I still remember there was cast iron stove when my family moved in to the old apartament.

We got Townsends holding an easy bake oven before GTA6

Free range, organic, sourced locally, farm to table, eating according to the seasons. They sure were 18th century foodies.

The thumbnail for this video is perfection

The raised hearth looks like my ideal outdoor kitchen lol

In addition to the water jacket, my stove had drying racks so if you came in with wet small items you could warm or dry them. Great for frozen socks and gloves.

Would love to see a comparison video making the same recipe with modern vs historic equipment and how the flavor/cooking experience changes

The raised hearth must have reduced back pain by 80%.

The Easy-Bake Oven was introduced in 1963 by Kenner. The original used a pair of ordinary incandescent light bulbs as a heat source; so our ancestors had it rough. By 1997, more than 16 million Easy-Bake Ovens had been sold. I do so enjoy learning ancient history --- don't you?

In the Deep South, we just always had an outdoor cooking shack.

The precursor to the easy bake oven was a mini cast iron stove. Toy versions were first created in the mid 19th century. Unfortunately, children were seriously injured and killed using the working models.

"With our modern kitchens we cook less and less." I got a good chuckle out of that one! I can't help but think of the commercials I'm seeing lately (I won't mention the brand!) for a certain pre-prepared meal-in-a-box with a push-button robo-oven that the consumer needs very little effort on their part to use. "OK," I say to myself, "And just WHAT are you gonna do if there's a power failure?" Hey, if all else fails I've got my sterno stove and last-resort fireplace. It's wouldn't be fun but I'd manage. Great show Jon! And a FAST 16 minutes!

Having not yet watched the video, i expect to hear 18th century settlers had easybake ovens.

An interesting variant is the tile stove. Basically a masonry oven with small fire in it. Useful in winter as the masonry would retain the heat and help warm the house at night.

I'll never think of "Hickory Smoked" anything, the same way again. Wonderfully eye-opening, as always.

Even in the 1950s, many people in rural North America didn't have power in their homes. Wood stoves, or cooking over fire was the only way people could prepare meals. Drying and canning were also essential for food preparation. Long ago, learning to cook was essential for survival. There were no fast food outlets around back then. This was very interesting. Cheers!

Just want to thank you for making interesting videos for such a long time. That recent onion pie with the apples and hard-boiled eggs was intriguing. Just downloaded this video to watch later offline so I just wanted to give you a general appreciation.

The farm my folks retired to had a big Kalamazoo wood stove with a plate/food warmer box on top, four lids, with one being a three ring, 9" one, a stove with a dial heat indicator on the door and a water heater on the right side. Although in perfect shape and beautiful with its white and blue enamel decorations, my Mom had always cooked on a gas stove and disliked all the fuss involved with burning wood. So the stove went in the barn and we got a bottle gas stove from Sears...Dad had to install a radiator in the kitchen so it wouldn't get cold in winter...

For everyone who missed the original thumbnail 😢

REALLY enjoyed this video.

The remarkable thing about the thumbnail is that the same story has played out with the Easy Bake Oven over the years (see Weird History Food's video) as tastes in food change, safety concerns have increased, and the technology it was originally based around (the incandescent light bulb) has been phased out.

This was a great episode, with information presented differently than I have heard it before. Thank you, Jon, for being willing to do all that research and share it with us. You deserve your success.

Ironically with our exceptionally convenient gas and electric hobs etc., in the UK one of the most desirable things for a country house is an Aga - the cast iron range cooker that's the direct descendant of the earliest metal wood stoves.

This is a great video. I learned so much! Didn’t know that I’ve been cooking on a stew stove for the past thirty years and gave me a more in depth understanding of cooking interpretation.

Hearing you say East Anglia really got my attention as that's where I'm from! I much prefer cooking the old fashioned way over modern ways, the old ways are just so much more comforting.

I love these summaries. Hopefully it's a promise of more deep dives into these cooking methods.

I was 27 when we bought our home and it came with a 1941 chambers stove. They were supposed to take it but they were unable to move it. So I was upset by it and ate fast food and microwave meals for a couple weeks then I decided to learn it. omg it's amazing and I love ot so much. Its double Insulated with with a griddle, broiler, and a well. It makes me so happy and I learned to cook, really cook, on it. Over 20 years now. When we cook at others homes and spaces we can tell the amazing difference of the simple device we have vs even the best technology solves. It's helped Andy desire to learn about older cooking adlifestyles and how to implement them into ours. This was a great video

Albion's Seed is a great book. So much useful information about early N. America.

I grew up in an old house in rural Australia. We had an old wood fired stove/oven that also heated the water for the hot water system. It was great in winter. It would warm the front rooms of the house, heat the water and be the cooking place. Cooking cakes was a bit hit and miss because there was no way to regulate the heat other than add more wood or light it early in the day to cook a cake in the evening. Sometimes the water was so hot you could hear bubbling in the pipes. We were taught from a young age to be extra careful when turning on the hot water taps. Wood stoves are a lot of work to maintain and there is always a fine layer of soot building up somewhere.

Hello Townsend clan members! Greeting from Missouri. I have only been watching your fascinating channel for about 6 months but I love the content you folks produce. I am an avid history buff and am very interested in how humans have adapted and innovated with food, cooking methods, food preservation methods and all the clever hardware being used through the years to prepare meals. I want to remind all your viewers that the techniques you teach us are just as valid today as they were then. There are wars being waged all over the globe and the human beings involved often lose all of the modern conveniences we take for granted when preserving and cooking food. They are reverting to these older methods to stay alive in war torn cities and towns. Keep up the good work, Townsends!

Just made cookies in my Coleman oven to practice no power cooking

Absolutely love your content. You guys are awesome.

Thanks for so meaningful and valuable video as always ❤❤❤

A superb presentation of our past times cooking means. I grew up with much of these methods of the 18th and 19th century, as a small child and when visiting my grandparents. I recall exactly the open fireplace cooking in their Lounge room, and a cast iron fire/oven in the Kitchen, my parents had what was called a slow combustion stove in the kitchen which was wood stoked and hot plate above and an oven off to one side and a water reservoir on the other. All great memories of off our past times as we age in the 21st century. Thank you

The simple 16th century cook has nothing on my easy bake oven 😎

Fantastic overview of the timeline of cooking technologies! Too true about cooking less and less! Wonderful work and much thanks to all the Townsends Team! 😃✨

Thanks Jon , great video and information . I love your raised hearth for cooking .

When I was a child I could bake a cake in one of those cast iron stove/ovens at my grandmothers house. With no thermostat, I just knew how much wood there had to be in there and when to refill. I've totally lost that skill and couldn't do it again today.

There was a bread oven in the fireplace of the house I lived in as a little kid! I remember being fascinated by it. It’s interesting to know you’d actually build a fire INSIDE of it to preheat it. I rarely bother to preheat my oven now (unless baking), and that’s just pressing buttons. The amount of physical labor required to cook in the past is hard to imagine. But i love a bread oven. I love old vestiges of history you can find in older buildings.

I look forward to every week’s episode! This was great.

Your video was informative, interesting, and brought back long forgotten memories of getting to visit a historical/pioneer village as a kid in school. Thank you for doing what you do.

The rocket stove is like the stew stove, but as a stand alone unit.

And to think that when I go back country hiking, I still cook on a wood burning stove 🙂

I've always appreciated how much this channel goes into detail about the importance of cooktops and heat surfaces. And how much that affects the types of dishes that get made. It sure makes one appreciate one's big stainless pots and pans and fancy electric and gas ranges!

Thanks Townsends. Your team of excellent people provide us with fantastic videos after another.

time travelers do exist

I often watch these videos just before bed, they're so relaxing!

I am one of the Smokey-taste lovers🔥

My grandmother had a hundred year old wood stove in her kitchen and she used to bake in it quite regularly. I wished I'd learned how to use it, as we just holidayed at an old home in New Zealand that had a very similar unit. I managed to get the firebox going long enough to cook on the stove (and get the water in the heater hot) but not enough to bake in it.

Gosh I love this channel

Thanks Jon, always enjoy these glimpses into the past. ❤

Thank you for this.. Very interesting

Another great video Townsends

We have a "Heartland Oval" wood cook stove !!! Like you described with oven and water jacket !!!!!

I bet the oven grille would have been a significant innovation back in the day since you could bake the food without having it be in contact with burning embers or soot.

Love that thoughtful video. Thanks for it❣

Thanks John! This channel makes such a difference in my day. I appreciate you taking the time to cover all these diverse topics.

Loved this deep dive! More, please!

oh god the thumbnail really made me laugh so loudly it scared my cat

Methinks that Townsends is indeed a time traveler.

Best way to cook is to is your make up some story about being royalty and make others cook for you

You guys are one of my favorite channels. Thank you for being one of the most hard working, and authentic channels :) My day is made whenever you post a video that shows me the true definition of passion.

Exceptionally well done! Informative, educational and fascinating!

Great video as always

One of your best videos. The research, script, presentation and production made this video very interesting and informative.

My mother, who was born in 1930, was reminiscing about her youth on a farm in Kansas and the old wood-burning stove that her mother would bake bread with twice a week and it had a reservoir on top for heating water for the Saturday night bathes for the family. One tub-full for the children, cleanest goes first, then a fresh tub-full for papa to relax in while the children went to bed. By the way, my mother was one of 13. Her father was born in 1887. I am in awe of how much he'd seen in his lifetime. He made it to 102 years old, my mother made it to 93.

You didn't mention it, but the smoke was also in their lungs. The disappearance of open fires from homes has saved vast numbers of lives.

This channel is like a warm hug, Thanks.

Are there any primary source documents that claim that in the 18th century anyone tried cooking on top of an active mechanical steam engine? Specifically the 18th century NOT the 19th century.

This was a great video! Thank you!

Excellent video! 😊

I love this channel so much. I love it.

I don't understand how bro is wearing a long sleeve shirt, overshirt, and vibing with a lot fire. There's a literally heat wave here!

Such a great video! Thanks!

Learning history always invokes intense gratitude in me for the blessings I have today. Thanks, Townsends!

I absolutely love this channel. So much historical information and recipes. And I still want to make it up to the store.

This was a great video. Townsend you're on point more than ever

Absolutely fascinating, and brilliantly presented. Thank you! 👌👌👌

Another excellent video. 😊

Depending on where I've lived, I have gone back and forth between gas and electric ranges. There's a significant adjustment to heat control between the two, and some difference of types of cooking that can be done. But there is such a great difference between any modern range and the cooking equipment of the days of yore. There must be some lingering genetic memory that makes us make a campfire and cook on it now and then.

This was fantastic!

Hi Folks, I really found this article fascinating. Thank you so much!- Brent,VT

An excellent post, loved it.

outstanding video as always

Very cool to see the old methods of cookery. I’m from Vermont and it was actually a very large industry here castings stoves in the 1800’s. If I recall the first actual cast iron stove foundry was somewhere in the Connecticut valley!

Thanks Jon, A Very Informative and Interesting Video!

Yay i love townsemds!!!!

Watching from South East England. Great video. We have a 6' x 5' fireplace in our home but it has a pot belly stove in the middle. We love cooking stews, curry's, chilli & slow cooked meats on it in the winter. We couldn't imagine life without a fire but with environmental laws I don't know for how much longer.

In Howl's Moving Castle there is a huge walk in fireplace. A very small fire is burning on one side and a rocking chair on the other side. So you can sit inside the walk in fireplace and enjoy the heat. There is also a raised hearth for cooking. Very similar to the one in John's kitchen.

I have a Treagar Smoker so I can get that smoke flavor on my pork and beef but I also have a crane setup over my outdoor fire pit so I can cook in cast Iron for stews, breads, and other baked items. I get lots of ideas from your channel.

Great video! 😍 loved it

Fun fact: singer Linda Ronstadt's grandfather invented the electric stove.

Beautiful history lesson, thanks Townsends team.

The smoke in clothing, bedding, and foods is a plus fir me!

Hearing Sears be used as a historical reference is incredible, especially since I had worked at a Kmart store (before it closed) not long after Kmart bought Sears