Cooking with Clay Pots
Cooking with Clay Pots
Clay pot cooking is my favorite way to cook food. Clay pot cooking is also the way my mother cooked food as my father loves foods which are stewed and poached or boiled. It is my favorite cooking utensils aside from rice cooker and wok as the food I cooked are suitable for the clay pot cooking. We call it "palayok" or "banga" in my native tongue Filipino. My father always wanted soup so it is like shooting birds with one cooking for my mother, you have soup and your favorite dish cooked in a clay pot. Back then, it was easy to buy it (available in fresh markets everywhere) and every household in the village has clay pot for cooking, favorite dishes like pork or beef stew or poached seafoods. Clay pot cooking is considered an ancient method of cooking but then it is gaining popularity because of the quality of the food that is cooked with it becomes succulent, savory and tender as it is cooked with steam cooking. it brings the best in pork, beef and poultry - as well as other foods. You can almost anything with a clay pot. They come in various sizes as well.
Claypot chicken rice famous food cooked with clay pot cooking --
Basic clay pot which comes in different sizes
Roast with clay pot -- Romertopf clay pot
bamboo utensil for perfect combination with clay pot cooking
Why claypot cooking?
Clay pot cooking is as old as the Roman times that is why the Romertopf clay pot which is popular in some European countries literally mean -- Roman pots. Our ancestors used this type of cooking as I have said the food is more flavorful and tastier as it is cooked slowly by steaming process wherein the juice and flavor of the food is not lost. If anybody of you who tried this one already can attest to this.
I usually put the clay pot it in the oven when I cook unlike what my mother does in which cooking is done with a direct heat from cut woods. Even when we have oven my mother will still prefer the woods for cooking, the food preserve the flavor more and tastier when you use firewood she will say, but of course I cant do that here anymore, with the fast life and everything is done in a jiffy here in the US.
The basis of clay pot cooking is cooking with steam as the food is slowly cooked and seeped through the main food which is being cooked (achieving the tastier and more flavorful food).
- Clay pot cooking is best for food with liquid used for cooking like stews -- pork stews, beef stews, seafoods poached or boiling.
- For caseroles and lasagnafor example you can use the Romertopf clay pot for better result as the shape is designed for it
- For roasting beef, pork and other meat products clay pot cooking ware is also best like the Romertopf clay pot
- You can also cook rice with clay pot, following the steps on how to prepare the clay pot for cooking discussed below here (submerging the clay pot first with water for twenty minutes). It makes the rice still warm after cooking it.
- You can boil anything with clay pot like corn, potato, eggs and fishes
- You can steam anything by using clay pot.
The food cooked with a clay pot retains its high temperature for a long period of time, so you don't need to worry if you eat later or visitors will arrive later
Traditional outdoor claypot cooking
Where to Buy Clay Pot for Cooking
There are many places to buy clay pot, I bought mine online including the Romertopf clay pot. They are available at big supermarkets as well. When I migrated here in the United States, I found a clay pot at supermarkets but I bought one at amazon. I compared the prices and the size i want. I cooked with oven plus my rice cooker and wok, but actually you can also cook rice in a clay pot so when I am not rushing I use the clay pot for rice cooking and mainly meat stews-- pork, seafoods and beef and other meat.
Clay pot cooking
How do you cook with clay pot cooking?
- Before you put the food in the oven, let the clay pot submerged in water for twenty minutes, this is done so that the clay pot will absorbed more the heat for prolonged cooking as it is steaming and cooking the food with steam
- The clay pot can stand heat because it absorbs the heat more in the utensils making the food cooked by the heat of the steam alone
- This is deemed nutritious as it slowly cooked the food and the nutrients are not lost in water as it is cooked with steam with the clay pot
Cleaning the Clay pot
- To clean the clay pot don't use soap as this will affect the taste of the food you will cook with the clay pot later on, as it seeps the soapy taste. It is best to wash the clay pot with water ad salt or baking soda.
Bamboo utensils (spoons) or bamboo ladle good for stews and soup is a good combination for clay pot cooking.
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Always choose the unglazed clay pot for cooking not the pot used for collections or displays
Clay Pot Cooking -- Romertopf clay pot
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