British Museum blog  From Parthian chicken to flat breads:
experimenting with a Roman oven  Heat, steam and Roman
cookingSally Grainger, chef and author  In previous posts I
introduced the different types of ancient portable ovens which
are generally called either clibanus or testum. The former term
is the more fashionable Latinised Greek word while testum
represents the Italian tradition for these ovens.  Currently on
display in the Life and death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
exhibition at the British Museum, there is a unique double
casserole/oven with a base and domed top. In this post I will
discuss the results of preliminary experiments I’ve been
undertaking with a replica of this so-called clibanus oven.  A
clibanus oven over charcoal  This oven appears to be designed to
allow fire to be above and below the food being cooked. This
concept is found in recipes in the Roman cookery book known as
Apicius for a dish called a patina which is a thick frittata
cooked in a vessel of the same name. The instructions