Energy usage in the kitchen: heat and material culture in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Dutch cookbooks

This chapter investigates the potential use of culinary texts to study domestic fuel consumption practices. Specifically, it will focus on domestic fuel use mentioned in cookbooks published in the early modern Low Countries, with a focus on the Dutch Republic from the start of the sixteenth to the end of the seventeenth centuries. By studying these culinary texts, I aim to infer the fuel types used for (daily) cooking and the way fuel was put to use, the (potential) relationship between fuels and culinary material culture and the dishes prepared in and over them. In
sum, I want to answer the question: what can we learn from cookbook recipes as a useful source for better understanding (potential) changes in domestic culinary fuel consumption practices and their relationship to food preparation practices?