The contemporary art of open fire cooking is an exploration and discovery of historic foodways. This is demonstrated through the methods of food preparation, development of “receipts"(recipes), and use of various cooking tools. In modern times, whether indoors or out, hearth cooking is not for the faint of heart. In the eighteenth century there were no conveniences of our modern world such as oven
s, hot plates, stoves, dishwashers, microwaves or easily-accessible running water. The goal of most historically accurate hearth cooking groups is to accurately portray our ancestors’ experiences when preparing meals through period-appropriate reenactment and period correct cooking techniques.