Rumford roaster

The Rumford roaster is an early cast iron oven, invented by Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford,https://streetsofsalem.com/2013/02/01/rumford-roasters/ around 1800.{{cite web |last1=Radocchia |first1=Jane Griswold |title=Rumford Roasters |url=https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2008/11/rumford-roasters.html |access-date=2 December 2024 |language=en}} It was part of his development of the kitchen range, which gave more control of the cooking and saved fuel.{{cite book |last1=Blake |first1=Anthony |last2=Crewe |first2=Quentin |title=Great Chefs of France: The Masters of Haute Cuisine and Their Secrets |date=1978 |publisher=H. N. Abrams |isbn=978-0-8317-3961-4 |pages=20–21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uCO5p4O736cC |language=en}} He published his research in 1805.{{cite journal |last1=Ferry |first1=John H. |title=Food for Thought: A View Toward a Richer Interpretation of the House Museum Kitchen |journal=CRM: Cultural Resource Management |date=2001 |volume=24 |issue=4 |url=http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/24-04/24-04-3.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040507005432/http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/24-04/24-04-3.pdf |access-date=2 December 2024|archive-date=7 May 2004 }}

The Rumford roaster is a cylinder of cast-iron set into a brick wall. It is heated by a separate firebox below, and the ashes fall into a lower box. Coal or charcoal is burned to get the oven and bricks up to temperature, then the bricks continue to heat the oven after the fuel is burnt.{{cite web |title=Rundlet-May House - Rumford Roaster |url=https://rundletmay.house/content-block/rumford-roaster/ |access-date=2 December 2024 |language=en}} Rumford's invention distributed heat evenly around the food. A system of moisture-venting tubes and blowpipes improved browning.

A similar design, the Reip "Bake Oven and Roaster", was patented by Henry Reip in 1825.{{cite web |last1=Reber |first1=Patricia Bixler |title=Iron wall ovens |url=https://www.angelfire.com/md3/openhearthcooking/aaOven-Iron.html |website=www.angelfire.com |access-date=2 December 2024 |date=1999}}{{cite web |title=Researching Food History : Rumford Roaster - never before seen pieces |url=https://researchingfoodhistory.blogspot.com/2020/02/rumford-roaster-for-sale.html |website=Researching Food History |access-date=2 December 2024 |date=17 February 2020}}

The Rumford roaster was often built next to a Rumford fireplace, in the wall of a kitchen.{{cite web |title=Rundlet-May House - Front Kitchen |url=https://rundletmay.house/location/kitchen/ |access-date=2 December 2024 |language=en}}

The Rumford roaster was ultimately made obsolete by improvements in cast-iron technology. This allowed the development of the closed-fire cooking range, which enabled even more control over cooking.

At the World's Columbian Exposition, 1893, a kitchen design described as the "Rumford Kitchen" was exhibited.{{cite web |title=Ellen Swallow Richards: Rumford Kitchen: Institute Archives & Special Collections: MIT |url=https://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/esr/esr-rumford.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030413085405/https://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/esr/esr-rumford.html |archive-date=13 April 2003 |date=13 April 2003 |url-status=dead}}