I cooked a whole chicken in one of my clay pots for last night's dinner, and shared a post on Facebook. It generated comments about cooking in clay...I thought I would share some of my 'learnings' about the use of clay pots for cooking.
I have two different sizes of clay pots. The smallest is made in Italy by a company name of National Silver and it is called a Tuscan Oven. The inside of this one is glazed.
The other is a Römertopf ("Roman pot"), a German company but actually made in Mexico and is the larger of the two. The inside of this pot is not glazed. It has a #113 stamped in the clay on the bottom.
I prefer the non-glazed one, even if (sometimes) I have to scrub a little bit more to loosen food particles that stick. It seems to cook better, although the glazed one is more convenient sometimes. My use of either actually depends on the size of whatever I will be cooking in it.
Here are some tips about using a clay pot, regardless of the brand:
Before each use, immerse them in water so the clay can absorb as much of the water as possible. This helps keep the meat juicy. The way I do this, is I invert the lid in the sink or in a small tub in the sink, fill the sink or tub with water, then start filling the lid with water and place by nesting the bottom of the pot inside the inverted lid. Both top and bottom will then start absorbing water at the same time.
There is no need to add liquid for cooking, only what you need for flavoring; usually splashes of wine, beer, Sherry or sometimes the juice of one big lime and a few dashes of soy sauce...sometimes liliko'i juice (passion fruit), Worcestershire sauce or hot sauce...it all depends on what flavor I'm looking for.
Have all your ingredients mise en place - pronounced [mi zɑ̃ ˈplas] a French kitchen term that means to put in place or have all ingredients ready before you start, this is so the waterlogged pot does not start drying out while you're filling it with the food to be cooked.
Place the filled pot in a cold oven, turn it on to desired temperature and cook until done. It all depends on the contents, but I usually check after one hour.
To clean after each use, scrub with either a sponge made specially for them or a rough plastic scrubby (I don't like to use a stainless steel scrubber because I don't want any microscopic metal residue to be left behind)
If food sticks to the bottom or sides, just fill the pot with water and let it sit a bit to loosen up; then scrub as mentioned above. Rinse well.
Never use soap in them since the clay will absorb it.
Important, and bears repeating, rinse well.
Do not store it while wet or damp. Let it dry completely before storing. If stored damp it will encourage mold to grow.
My kitchen is small and storage is at a premium, so to save room in my cabinets, I invert the lid of the larger one and nest the bottom inside it, then I do the same with the smaller and sit the smaller inside the larger one. This way I store both pots in the same amount of space.
For last night's dinner, I placed the whole chicken on a bed of fresh rosemary sprigs, with potatoes, onion and garlic , lime juice and soy sauce, salt & pepper...I also stuffed some rosemary inside the cavity.
Here are earlier posts with 'recipes'
December 2008 - Cornish Hen in the Clay Pot
August 2015 - Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!
Dec 2014 - Chicken in the (Clay Pot)
I always save whatever juices accumulate in the bottom, plus the bones and skin to make a fresh batch of chicken stock, which I can later use to make soups or stews or anything else calling for chicken stock.
After I get the flavor I'm looking for, I pour it through a sieve, let it cool, skim off the hardened fat (which can be stored in a lidded container in the refrigerator and used for cooking!...makes a great roux), and save the liquid in 1 cup measurements in freezer bags. Lay them flat in the freezer shelf and stack them after they freeze. This way they barely take up room in the freezer...or if you prefer, pour into glass pint jars, cover tightly and freeze.
