Earthenware, clay pot, donabe cooking - surprisingly versatile!
 

Another of my 2020 lockdown slowdown discoveries, just hadn’t realised how incredibly versatile and convenient earthenware cooking pots are.

I bought one a few years ago as a way of making the kind of rice dishes that would damage/reduce the life of a dedicated electric rice cooker. Am not sure why it took me so long to look at making more things with it, but I finally did last year and am really surprised at what it can do and how well.

The one I have currently is quite small, just big enough to make three cups of rice with vegetables - perhaps a litre/2 pounds. The walls are very thick, so once it becomes hot (which takes 10-15 minutes) it stays hot for a further 20 minutes without requiring further fuel. The thick walls also distribute the heat inside well so the food doesn’t scorch easily. The other quality I value in this particular pot is the VERY heavy lid with no steam holes - steam is released eventually, but only if it gets hot enough to build up pressure.

What I did not know it could do - foods that usually require a Bain Marie (steam bath in an oven). Créme Caramel/Flan/Purin/Egg Custard or whatever you call it is incredibly simple to make in thick earthenware with a lid. No need to put it in the oven. Cook it over a flame for about 5-10 minutes and then leave it for 20 minutes in the residual heat.

“Chawan”mushi - egg “tofu” or savoury egg custard, same thing, no steam bath needed.

Bread - leave it to prove in the pot and then stick it in the oven (best if lined with parchment paper).

Curry or stew - the heavy lid means that no steam/liquid escapes when you cook it gently, so you can add loads of vegetables and there’s no need for water as the vegetable’s own liquids are retained. Makes the results really tasty.

Have just ordered another clay pot, this one has a less heavy lid with a vent hole in it, but it’s also much wider and with a bigger capacity (roughly 2.5 litres/5 pounds). I’m looking to make more stove to table meals (particularly Japanese nabe) and like the idea of making bread in it with a lid, like a cloche. Perhaps even baking chicken inside (I’m sure I saw another Flyertalker mentioning this as a cooking technique).

Would love to hear more and learn about other people’s recommendations for earthenware cooking. I still don’t think I have fully grasped their potential but my eyes have been opened!

Intriguing. I would love to try bread in a clay pot.

I cook a whole chicken in this and it comes out wonderful. I usually add several lemons and lots of garlic and some rosemary. It does not brown in this unless you take off the lid for about 10 minutes at the end but it comes out super moist with tons of juice.
https://www.williams-sonoma.com/prod...xoCMsAQAvD_BwE

I frequently see Roemertopf vessels at thrift shops, sometimes in unused condition.

One can also buy Chinese clay pots which are good for oven as well a gas burners.

Wow I feel tempted despite lack of space. I always enjoyed clay pot dishes in Asian restaurants, esp during childhood.

Big things come from small beginnings! Perhaps I can tempt you into starting with a very modest sized pot.


A clay pot is the ideal way to get that delicious crust onto rice that children love so much:


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My "fingernails on a chalkboard" is unglazed pottery. Even just skimming this thread makes me shiver. Next restaurant in Chicago has some unglazed dishes in their collection, and my customer profile now includes "no unglazed dishes" along with my bell pepper sensitivity. The first time I got a dish served on one of those plates, there was an artistically placed sauce that would have required me to scrape my fork over the plate...I had to ask them to replate it for me. I can't touch it and I definitely can't stand the sound of pieces of unglazed earthenware touching one another. Ugh, even just writing this is making my skin crawl. Needless to say, no earthenware cooking pots for us!

This is the first thing that comes to my mind when claypot is used for cooking. There are quite a few restaurants in Singapore, HK, and Malaysia specializing in claypot rice, with cured suasages (lap cheong) and more exotic ingredients like frog legs, though the rice crust at the end of the meal is inevitably a delight for many diners. This is also the case when one have Korean bibimbap. Many Korean dishes are also served in claypots like their tofu soup (sundubu) and ginseng chicken.

While I visited Chile a couple of years back, the dish Pastel de Choclo is served in a claypot bowl, and it kept the corn pudding warm for the duration of the meal, which is nice when having it in the winter time.

My daughter is with you on this, but with any metal-ceramic scraping at the table - on the plus side it has motivated her chopstick skills! My intention for this thread was about using pots for cooking, not eating except for serving from. Red hot individual stone bowls at the home table are terrifying; quite natural having spent the past ten years nurturing an infant.

There is a quite different problem with unglazed pots that makes me tend towards avoiding them. Unglazed earthenware, unless it is scrupulously dried AND stored in a way it can be ventilated has a tendency to collect mould. It means you can’t store some pots with the lids on, and others you need to be careful in case you find it blooming on the underside base. My mother suggests storing these with some dry rice in them (but I dislike the idea of wasting rice this way). Where the utensils come into close prolonged contact with the food, I like them to be glazed. Then again, I’m a novice.

I have one that I've been using regularly for things that start on the stove and move to the oven. This includes dishes where I sear meat, then add other ingredients. I used it for shepherd's pie yesterday. I cooked the ground meat, onions, and carrots, added sauce, and then topped with mashed potatoes to bake.

Any particular type? I've always been afraid that they'd crack. The Chinese ones are very thick so not sure how durable they are with repeated heating and cooling (though cheap). Closest I have are some very cheap ones acquired in Egypt that's used to make the equivalent of moussaka. Do have some Pampered Chef stuff (picked up at thrift shops so the 4 pieces I have cost less than any one piece new) but they're not stove-top safe.

Of course, earthenware doesn't work on induction.

It's a Pampered Chef Rockcrok. It is both stovetop and oven safe.

That’s a problem that has been solved. The bigger donabe makers in Japan release IH versions of their earthenware. Here’s a consumer panel putting a selection of them to the test: https://my-best.com/782
They tend to cost a bit more because of the added elements needed to allow the pots to work on an induction heater, but they are well established in Japan.

My most lusted after earthenware pot has IH versions also:
https://www.bestpot.jp/lineup_ih/

Many of the Japanese donabe come from Mie and use a famous lake bed clay which is known for being able to withstand very high temperatures. So long as it isn’t empty, and so long as the temperature change isn’t sudden, they cope well with stove top to oven. An example I’ve used mine for has been Normandy style rice pudding - Teurgoule. Cook on the stove to begin with, then into the oven for 3 hours.

Thanks. Had no idea PC made such a beast. Will have to keep an eye out in the thrift shops

I am concerned about how many thermal cycles they can take and how the magnetic iron is embedded in the clay (or however it is done). Haven't got the induction cooktop yet anyway (still have 2 weeks to hum and haw over it).

They have a few different sizes of it.

There doesn’t seem to be a single technique for adapting earthenware to IH, some are embedded, others seem to have removable components. I imagine that amongst all of them there’ll be something to suit you, but figuring out which and how to obtain it could present a difficult stumbling block. Running the “my-best” consumer test link through a translation tool might be the best first step down this route should you decide to head this way.

Still have the gas part of the cook top that I will be keeping. Burns me that the product in Germany costs €1318 (and actually less in Spain with the optional warranty) but will run me the equivalent of €500 more (though I will get a 10 yr warranty that's worth €349) here. I can get a Frigidaire (a.k.a. Electrolux.range (full-sized 30" cook top and oven) for ~ half the price as a 2-ring induction cook top.

this thread feels very inspiring because I really love Japanese donburi rice bowl dishes although I’ve only had them in Japanese restaurants. Plus certain Chinese clay pot dishes from past dining experiences in sf Chinese restaurants throughout these past two centuries...

is this related to physical health, taste, food safety, or mental health? I’ve heard that cracks & chips on plates are not healthy.

Passed a big test on Friday. I put together a batch of rice, whole milk, sugar and cinnamon at 8am and left it to cook until 12am in a low oven so that it would turn into Teurgoule, the Normandy style rice pudding where a dark crust forms and keeps the other ingredients moist, the rice loses its integrity and becomes more like pudding whilst the cream in the milk separates from the rice forming a velvety custard. My kid is having her school lessons at home, so I masked up and delivered a piping hot portion to her friend so that they could FaceTime their lunch break together and share the same dessert. The test is that my kid’s friend’s family are from Normandy. The dish passed!

It’s basically 1 litre full cream milk (not semi skimmed), this is heated until near boiled, add to this 75g round rice (I use Japanese) which has been rinsed and drained. Stir the hot milk and rice together for 5 minutes. Take off the stove, pour in 100g of sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder which has been mixed together and stir (a whisk will help the cinnamon become incorporated but don’t froth up the liquid into bubbles). Some vanilla at this point is optional AS IS A PINCH OF SALT. Then, without the lid, put the pot into the oven at 150C.
3 hours later the result will be a delicious rice pudding, but if you leave it for 4 hours or longer the rice loses its consistency and becomes more “puddingy”. My Japanese partner prefers the transformation, says it reminds him of Ohagi (a not overly sweet dessert made with glutinous rice that has been pounded to half-mochi half-rice texture).
If you make a bigger batch you might need to cook it for another hour or so for the rice to take on this special texture.
Teurgoule is an extraordinarily good rice pudding, I made it for the first time on the request of my daughter who is extremely interested in the French Revolution, it dates back to then when rice was only just becoming introduced. The smell whilst it’s cooking is glorious.

EDIT TO ADD - ADVICE ON ADDING SALT

Omg omg I am screenshotting this recipe because I want to try it. This is so exciting. I have to really get such a clay pot and figure out where to put it.

we did buy a ceramic bowl in Provence - I should really study it and take a photo.

I learn so much about COOKING from this Dining Buzz thread, especially from LapLap and corky. I’m just so pleased!!!!

Here’s the recipe I based mine on. My own earthenware pot easily makes the transition from stove to oven, but if you have a French pot it might not. In the video (where the quantities are doubled) she uses warm water to rinse the rice and a separate metal pot is used to heat the milk and stir the rice then sugar. The cinnamon is placed in the earthenware and the liquid ingredients poured over.
It is incredibly simple, much easier to do than rollppang. Even the cleanup isn’t so bad, once soaked for a bit the crust shifts away easily. The hardest part is the patience needed especially with the aroma taunting you!

Just had Teurgoule for breakfast. Made it at 11pm, turned off the oven at about 3am and it was still gently warm when I took it out.
So good...


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What time did you take it out of the oven, since you turned your oven off at 3a?

At about 8am. It was baked for 4 hours (11pm - 3am) and then continued to cook in the residual heat as I didn’t open the oven when I turned it off. I was curious about what it would be like after a long cooking process, traditionally Teurgoule is baked for a minimum of 5 hours.

I learned, in my own thick walled 1.5litre capacity pot, that there isn’t a huge difference between a teurgoule of that smaller size baked for 4 hours and one that is baked for longer. The rice changes (loses its integrity) somewhere after 3 hours and doesn’t continue to change after the 4 hour point. If you have a timer on your oven, overnight is an ideal time to bake this dish, you can’t really overcook it unless you actually keep the oven on for longer than 4-5 hours. Residual heat won’t ruin it.

fun! I don’t think that my timer will turn off the oven only because I’ve never tried it. I still have to see what I actually have for equipment :-)

To be honest, making it at 8am so that it’s ready at lunch time might suit you best as the cream “custard” changes considerably from when it’s hot to when it cools down.