Raked Across the Coals

Throughout human history man has consumed meat.  Not only do we consume meat, we love to consume meat. Humans have consumed meat for a very long time. Archaeologists have found animal bones all over the world with striations on them that indicate some pre-historic, carnivorous, chest-beating, free-ranging, life-loving caveman chowed down on some juicy steak from whatever animal he managed to catch, kill, and eat. The circle of life has been turning round and round for millennia. The bones don’t lie, and who are we to try to re-write history?

Some time ago, having few matters of significant importance and no other suitable diversion to entertain myself, I elected to embark on a journey that theoretically wouldn’t land me in an institution. At least that was the theory and it’s worked out so far. Being a student of culinary wonders and ever curious about the workings of the humans around me I endeavored to combine the two interests and come up with the answer to a question that vexed me. I wanted to know how humans cooked their food before they had grills and other such utensils. My purpose in this narrative is to discuss some of the techniques I have tried to answer these questions.

I need to start with a disclaimer. I had a vegan friend who affirmed and attested men didn’t eat meat and were never meant to. She was adamant that was a modern thing and our systems weren’t meant to be able to digest such sources of protein. Ergo, the first part of my disclaimer is that she, along with most other vegans, are wrong. Look at the archaeological evidence, case closed. Part two is that I really don’t know if anyone can be right about when humans started consuming and cooking meat.

So now that the disclaimer is out of the way I can begin by asking a question. Have you ever tried to cook something without a frying pan? How about a rack or grill? Have you ever tried to do a roast in your oven only to have it turn out somewhat resembling shoe leather? If we can’t get consistent, positive results the how did primitive humans manage to cook their food with no oven, or any other utensils for that matter? The answer to this question is not easy at all and there are a few possibilities I would like to address.

I’ve looked high and low and burnt holes in google. I’ve read a lot of really good theories, and some that were hell and gone past ridiculous. Ironically, half of the most ridiculous ones were seemingly written by vegans. So, for all intents and purposes, this is simply going to be some theories that I can’t lay any professional credentials behind. I did a bunch of research, learned a bunch of facts, and did some really cool experimental cooking, that’s it. Aside from proclaiming the vegans as being wrong, I make no promises otherwise.

The first common theory I encountered in my research is that early humans only ate raw meat. I can’t bring myself to subscribe to this theory because it is too broad in spectrum. We have to remember that not all humans, or any of their predecessors, were living under the same conditions at any given time in Earth’s history. Different conditions and environments would mean people were doing different things according to the resources available to them.

That being said, I would have to speculate there was definitely a lot of raw meat consumed by the ancient skinflints of planet Earth. Yes, ancient people were skinflints too. They had to get the most amount of calories out of their food while expending the least amount of calories to get their food. This maximum return-on-investment methodology dictates the best way to sustain yourself with animal protein is to feed a tribe rather than a single hunter. With primitive weapons and tactics a single hunter could easily spend more calories catching dinner than could be replenished by eating said dinner. A pack of hunters bringing down a large animal could easily turn those tables.

These notions can be validated by any modern hunter who has gone afield only to return with one or two squirrels. We can contrast this to any pack animal who takes down a larger beast to feed a group, such as we see with lions and wolves. When we consider the intensity of the hunt we can see ancient man, modern man, lions, and wolves all burning a lot of calories. If every meal was cooked by ancient man we would also have to factor in the massive amount of calories expended to build a fire with no modern means. Studied closely, the likelihood of raw protein consumption seems reasonable at some point in history.

Going to back to the consumption of raw protein, it stands to reason it was done quite often. Nevertheless, the notion of raw meat consumption continues to this very day, and is a wonderful part of the culinary tradition of the world as a whole. Steak Tartare is a fantastic example of this manner of preparation. There are many variations and peoples who claim this iconic meat dish. One theory is the Mongols would place pieces of meat under their saddles to tenderize as they rode. Many dispel this theory, but it makes perfect sense. The salt in the horse sweat and the constant abuse would cure and tenderize the meat during the duration of their trip. This would yield a source of protein that could provide calories for nourishment while not requiring many calories to prepare.

We would be hard-pressed to talk about raw applications without taking a brief moment to discuss parasites and other nastiness that would make a raw piece of meat on the ancient hunting scene. Even with our modern refrigeration it is most wise to make sure you implicitly trust your butcher. As far as ancient meat consumption, we all know the infant mortality rate was higher and the average life expectancy was lower. There’s not a lot else that can be said for the matter. It was a part of life and nobody left any evidence on a cave wall indicating there was a problem with it. Ancient hominids had to have something of a tolerance established or we would’ve died out long before we had the opportunity to even invent the wheel.

The raw part of this crazy little string of theories is pretty simple. Hunter sees beast, hunter tracks beast. Hunter is hungry and needs to feed his pack of man-beasts so hunter kills beast. Stone knives and hatchets are then employed to eviscerate and prepare the newly acquired protein. The knives will easily cut the meat and the blunt edge of the hatchets could’ve been used to pound out and tenderize the meat. That could conceivably be very similar to a modern meat mallet. We can also theorize that every part of the animal would’ve been utilized and we can further determine that the danger of pathogens and parasites would be reduced as the resulting protein was probably consumed on the spot so there would be less need to defend it from other predators.

Moving right along, we see man begin to use fire. Again, there is no shortage of scholars and peoples who claim to know where this began, somewhere on the African continent seems to be the most agreed upon assumption. More importantly, we can now see man cooking his protein. It does make sense that early hominids would’ve made this advancement. We have evidence that shows there was some very basic knowledge of germs as far back as ancient Egyptian time. So it is fair to say that rather than intending to cook their protein ancient man may have been trying to dry their meats for storage or to avoid spoilage. However, the idea of cooking large pieces of meat has led a few authors to conclude that early people simply skipped the cooking because it would be too intensive to cook the meat through.

This would be accurate by our modern ideas associated with cooking larger pieces of meat, such as you would find in a bar-b-q setting where the protein is cooked low and slow and requires a large amount of fuel. But it isn’t so unreasonable when we go primitive. Certain pockets of humanity have been noted to bury whole animals wrapped in large leaves for as much as two days to cook it through, which is partially where we got some of modern practices for making bar-b-q. But that’s a topic for another time.  Still other primitive practices could’ve include cutting off cooked sections so the raw protein beneath can get more direct heat. Using these forms of primitive cookery will allow a tribe, group, village, or family to cook larger quantities of meat with less fuel.

There is also archaeological evidence that smaller animals were packed in clay and roasted on the fire. In these cases the animal was packed in clay, fur, viscera, and all. The cooking process would render out all the fat and fluids from the viscera and other areas of the animal which would in turn flavor the meat and help the cooking process. After the clay vessel was done cooking it could be broken off, during which process the hide would lift off the animal, leaving only the editable portion for consumption. The key factor in when different pockets of humanity began using fire to cook their meat depends greatly on the availability of wood to make the fires necessary for cooking.

Then we get to one of my favorite applications. In the absence of a pan or over there needs to be a way to cook meat. You see chefs do this still today and the process works perfectly. You simply cut the appropriate piece of protein and lay it directly on the coals. This is probably the simplest means of cooking meat in ancient times. It requires very little fuel, it eliminates the issue of bacterial conjugation on the surface of the meat, and it is fabulously tasty.

The modern chefs I have seen do this begin with a generous application of salt to the surface of the meat. This draws moisture out of the meat and dissolves the salt, creating an environment that is most inhospitable to many strands of bacteria. I lay the protein flat on a plat, elevated by a few bamboo skewers so that room temperature air can move all around the meat. Let this rest art room temperature for sixty to ninety minutes while you get a fire ready.

The fire is crucial to any cooking. Any tree, such as evergreens, that have a sap can give a very off flavor to food so you’ll want a hard-wood variety. Not only will you avoid the sap but it will burn slower and hotter, eliminating the need for a huge pile of wood to chop. When you get the fire going you’ll need to fan it so you can have a bed of super-heated coals. The idea behind this method is to sear your protein at temperatures in excess of a thousand degrees. These high temperatures will cook the meat adequately and eliminate any and all bacteria on the surface of the meat.  

Any steak can be used for this method, but I have found flank steak to be the best. It’s a more durable cut and cooks perfectly. When the fire is ready and the meat has rested at room temp it’s time to get cooking. Take your steaks and simply lay them on the hot coals. Leave them there for as much time as you determine you’ll need based on the thickness of the cut. When you flip the meat you will have a few coals that stick to the meat. This isn’t a problem, simply use your tongs and knock them off.

After you flip your steak you can have your landing zone ready. For us modern humans that translates into a large piece of commercial grade aluminum foil. For ancient epicureans it may have meant a piece of banana leaves, corn husks, wet animal hide, or anything that will allow the now cooked steak to rest so residual heat can do its magic and finish the cooking. I tend to leave mine rest for fifteen minutes.  

The final part I considered when using primitive means to cook protein is the cut. Ancient peoples weren’t the naive cavemen we so often think they will be. Even then they knew that the cut of the meat was what made the meat chewable and by extension, properly digestible. A stone knife, blunt instrument, or hatchet could’ve then be used to further break down the portions for consumption. So long as the cut ran against the grain of the meat it will be tender enough to chew properly. This is important because digestion actually begins when the food is chewed. More dense foods that aren’t chewed as well will not yield as many calories.

Calories are the name of the game. In a world where so many of our children are obese we seldom think that humanity went through a time where nothing was wasted or taken for granted. This point is relevant because we so often think the gourmet applications we see on the cooking shows are new ideas for our enjoyment. After some careful research we begin to see many modern techniques are adapted from ancient practices designed to provide as many calories to one of nature’s animals, more so than palatable enjoyment.

At the end of the day, humans cooked their food because it is more satisfying and allows for better digestion. Better digestion allows for more calories to be introduced to the body. We often think this is important for building muscle but we also have to provide energy for the human brain. The human brain is one of the most impressive things biology has ever produced, but takes a lot to run like all great machines. We could spend weeks talking about the power of brains, man controlling fire, and caloric synthesis, but who really wants to? Let’s keep it simple and save all that for another day.

Now we can think about some of our theories. If you’re still reading there must be something you found interesting. I need to reiterate, the only fact here is the vegans are wrong. Everything else is a theory. If you love to hunt and cook then hopefully there is some ideas here for you to go out and do some experimental archaeology of your own. Make sure you trust your butcher. Be careful consuming raw or undercooked meat. Be careful playing with fire, especially if you’re going to get your youngsters involved with a crazy little project like this.

Do some extra research and see what really interests you. Tartare and steak on the coals are my favorites, but we can’t forget sushi, poke, yookhwe, carpaccio, and any in the number of different ideas. Don’t forget to check out the alternative means of grilling that may stray far from the standard culinary path. I also encourage you to look into the variety of raw and curiously cooked seafood options I didn’t even begin to touch. Consider this your skinflint crash-course to a different world of cooking and eating. Be cheap and enjoy.