Buyer Beware! Not All Clay Pots Are Equal!

My recent habit has been to make a tomato sauce with fermented green chiles and then poach an egg in it, via a small clay cazuela. I’ve been using my Mexican clay and it’s been working like a charm. Plus, it’s a delicious way to start the day.

I know that not everyone has a Mexican clay mini-cazuela (what kind of world do we live in that this has to be true?) so I thought I’d practice with one of my Spanish cazuelas. I’ve always thought that if the clay were dark and muddy, it should be fine but if it breaks and the inside looks like porcelean, it’s only for low oven cooking, not direct heat.

Well, I was wrong! These Spanish cazuelas are not for direct heat. I used a very low flame and the next thing you know, crack!

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I’m not upset as I have many of these and many more Mexican pieces but I thought it was interesting to note.

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And for good measure, here’s a Mexican mini-cazuela with a poached egg in tomato sauce a few minutes off the heat. It’s still bubbling and still in one piece! We’ll have to look into importing these. They’re very handy and cute, too.

 

Published by

Steve Sando

I dig beans.

3 thoughts on “Buyer Beware! Not All Clay Pots Are Equal!”

  1. Suggest folks get a copy of Paula Wolferts “Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking” and read the first chapter. She got me into flameware pottery and, in doing the research, learned about making and using pottery on direct heat. We’ve put some of it on our website under “flameware”. http://Www.claypot@hutchtel.net

  2. Yes, please please find or encourage through the XOXOC project a product line of authentic safe mexican clay cooking vessels available to us norte americanos. I have requested an email when the pot you have listed on your site becomes available; however the smaller vessel you show in your post would also be fun for cooking and serving. I have a pot found in a mexican market (and it DOES make a big difference in taste); however, the bottom is flat and the true rounded ollas for cooking are not as easily found. I am so looking forward to cooking the items I am purchasing in your pot when it becomes available. Kudos to you and the continued success at Rancho Gordo.

  3. From what I remember from the last time I had people in my neighborhood use clay pots for routine cookik=ng, there are 2 things that were very interesting:
    (1) They used a hearth, called CHOOLHA in the local language, that was fired with cow dung patties & wood, & was used fora lot of cooking.
    (2) Once the cooking was done, the unburnt wood was doused lightly with water to put out the fire, & both the pot & the hearth had both cooled, a thin slurry made with cow droppings, clay, hay & water was used to coat the swept & cleaned hearth & the outside of the base & sides up to the middle height of the cleaned pot were painted/coated with this slurry. It was made just as it was needed. & the pots & heart d=ried overnight & were spanking clean for the new day. I guess it did 2 thinge: It kept the hearth & the pots clean, painting over the soot deposits, & also, it strengthened the pots & the hearth by filling in & repairih=ng any fine cracks that appear on the outside with exposure to heat. Ofcourse, id=f a pot was cracked through & was leaking, it would be discarded. And as far as I can remember, (I may be wrong), the new pots too were coated with it before heating the, & using them for cooking for the first time. Yes, one more thing, the pots we used were NOT GLAZED like the ones shown here. They were unglazed, & those that appeared glazed were usually made of a different kind of clay.

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