With the vague idea of importing bean pots for resale on the website, I’ve been really going through all my pots and assessing their virtues. I really have never met a clay pot I didn’t like, but I enjoy pretending to be objective.
This pot was part of the crop that my friend Christopher Ann brought back from the Texas border. It’s very big and really needs an entire pound of beans to do it’s thing. Originally, like a lot of things from Mexico, it had a strong soap perfume smell to it. I soaked it overnight in cold water, followed by filling it with water and smashed garlic until the water almost evaporated and then I left outside for two days. Now the smell is neutral and I hope to really break it in this week and make it now that beans are its master!
I think it looks great. It looks a bit glossier in the photo than in real life and I think it will look really good on a barbecue this summer.
on the bbq???? really???? that is very cool – I was going to ask how these pots do on electric stoves because I always see your pics with gas stoves. I would be soooooo the first person to buy one if you sold them.
My understanding is you need one of those heat diffusers or simmer mats to do this on electric. The BBQ is great because you pick up all the flavors from the fire and the pot.
If you want to just test, I know Sur le Table has an inexpensive Portuguese line of clayware that works on the stove. Paula Wolfert’s next book is about clay pot cooking but it doesn’t come out until next year.
The Italians even make beans in the fireplace!
I’ve used the black chambra cook pot directly on an electric stove, one of those ceramic flat top stoves. No problem, and no diffuser. Just be sensible and do slow heat adjustments.
That’s good to know. I would think heat is heat so what’s the big deal but you always hear to use a simmer mat or heat diffuser. How would cooking with electric on low be any different than placing the pot on some smoldering embers? Thanks, Judith!
thank you both! when i someday own a house, it will be gas cooking, but for now, renting means whatever comes.
I got quite into the Sur le Table website (I didn’t even KNOW I needed a mussle pan!) but couldn’t find the portuguese pots you mention – but it does inspire me to do a bit of web surfing to maybe find another source.
You may want to test your pots for lead, as a lot of more inexpensive glazes contain lead. And cooking with acidic ingredients might leach the lead out of the glaze into your food. My mom buys pottery in Mexico to use/cook with/ display and some of it is lead-free and some is not.
Thanks for the tip. I take lead testing kits to Mexico with me. It’s pretty much impossible to tell without them. Some look like they’d be fine and they test positive. And vice versa.