The Culinary Institute of America

The Chuck Williams Culinary Arts Museum, located at The Culinary Institute of America at Copia, in Napa, CA, is home to more than 4,000 culinary artifacts from the Williams Sonoma founder’s personal collection. The exhibit includes a copper and iron daubiere, dating from 1780 – 1810 in France, when people used to cook their meals in a hearth.

A daubiere is a type of rectangular pot that has a unique lid with an ingenious purpose. The lid allows the cook to nestle the pot into an open flame in the hearth and place hot embers on top. The embers simulate the surrounding heat of an oven to braise food for hours in a gentle cooking process. Today, daubieres have been replaced with cast iron Dutch ovens and braisers, which serve a similar function.

Learn more about the museum and visiting hours: https://www.ciaatcopia.com/chuck-williams-culinary-arts-museum/

Watch videos about a selection of museum artifacts: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVtTKvDDq_huEOZFb2GNC3ybFk_WnGFyX

Special thanks to Williams Sonoma Inc. Corporate Archives for sharing photography for use in this video series.