Cooking with Clay Pots for Incredible Dishes

Food prepared in a clay pot just tastes better. Lots of ancient cuisines have figured this out: Moroccans have their tagines, South Americas have their special clay bean pots, Indians have tandoor, Japanese make gorgeous donabe, and Southeast Asians rely heavily on clay pots for many of their tastiest dishes.

They're easy to find nowadays -- most Asian markets and many imported goods stores carry these inexpensive and extremely useful kitchen tools. Most can be used over direct flames on the stovetop, and all can be used in the oven. Even better, they excel at going directly from the oven to the tabletop, where they make beautiful centerpieces for cozy, piping-hot meals.

I have three sizes (small, medium, and large), and use them heavily. One of my favorite clay pot dishes is slowly braised pork butt, cooked in a combination of figs, fennel, stock, and vinegar, and served over rice. I also like cooking chicken with it: Heat it up with some butter and olive oil inside, add seasoned chicken thighs and plenty of lotus root (or any other vegetable), pour in a small amount of liquid, and bake in the oven for 45 minutes or so. Heaven!

With this method, meats just don't dry out -- instead, they turn moist and succulent. And because clay doesn't get as hot as metal, you can crank up the oven much hotter than you normally would (450 or 500 degrees), which seems to cook meats better (depending on the cut, of course).

Anyone here cook with clay pots? Let's hear about it!

Photo by Annabelle Breakey 

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