In colonial times, housewives did not bake meat in an oven; instead they roasted it, fried it, or boiled it at the open fire. This device, sometimes referred to as a “tin kitchen” or “reflector oven,” available in the later years of the 18th century, roasted the piece of meat from the back as well as from the front, by means of reflected heat. The meat was skewered to a spit, which was routinely turned to insure even roasting. The drippings accumulated in the bottom of the oven and could be poured off through the spout at the side.