Reconstruction of Iron Age cookery with iron trivets over a fire

A trivet is an object placed between a serving dish or

bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom forming a seamless curve. This makes ...

, and a dining

table Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...

, usually to protect the table from

heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is ...

damage. Whilst tri- means three, and -vet comes from -ped, meaning 'foot' / 'feet', trivets often have four 'feet', and some trivets, including many wooden trivets, have no 'feet' at all. ''Trivet'' also refers to a

tripod A tripod is a portable three-legged frame or stand, used as a platform for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of some other object. The three-legged (triangular stance) design provides good stability against gravitational loads ...

used to elevate pots from the coals of an open fire (the word ''trivet'' itself ultimately comes from Latin ''tripes'' meaning "tripod").

Metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...

trivets are often tripod-like structures with three legs to support the trivet horizontally to hold the dish or pot above the table surface. These are often included with modern non-electric

pressure cookers Pressure cooking is the process of cooking food under high pressure steam and water or a water-based cooking liquid, in a sealed vessel known as a ''pressure cooker''. High pressure limits boiling, and creates higher cooking temperatures which c ...

. A trivet may often contain a receptacle for a candle that can be lit to keep food warm. A three-legged design can reduce wobbling on uneven surfaces. Modern trivets are made from metal,

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

, fabric, silicone or

cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. When roasting any meat in an oven, trivet racks - which typically fit into roasting pans - are often used to enable the meat joint to be held above the direct heat of the roasting pan and allow the juices of the joint to drip into the roasting pan for the subsequent making of gravy. A trivet can also be made of freshly cut carrot, celery and onion. This not only raises the meat, it has the further advantage of providing a gravy-friendly liquid when the vegetables and juices are sieved at the end of cooking.

References

Food preparation utensils {{Cooking-tool-stub

See also

References