Cooking with clay on an electric cooktop

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, rancho_gordo said:

Did you see this video I made awhile ago? (It's tongue in cheek about the Magic part.)

 

I had seen this, thanks.  Nice music, by the way.

 

However, I had followed Kennedy's suggestion just to simmer.  No rapid boil.  (Admittedly as much for the safety of the pot as anything.)  So far I've enjoyed beans three days in a row with no adverse consequences.  Each day the beans have gotten better.  But now I know next time to add the salt much earlier.

[Maison Rustique]

Steve, in your video I see you handling the pot with bare hands. It doesn't get hot? I haven't broken mine in yet (still have the glass-top electric thing to deal with and no diffuser yet), but was assuming it would be hot to pick up by the handles.

[haresfur]

On 12/22/2015 at 7:50 AM, rancho_gordo said:

 

 

 

This reminds me - Pottery 102:

 

I said above that to make earthenware more waterproof, you have to glaze it. Not entirely true, these pictures illustrate that you can reduce water seepage by burnishing the pot. Clay particles are shaped like microscopic plates. Rubbing the surface of a pot with the ideal stone, a hard stick or the back of a spoon, aligns the clay particles with the flat sides along the surface so they form a barrier to water movement:

 

_  _  _  _  _ _ _ _ _

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The burnishing also makes the surface beautifully shiny and we tend to forget it is functional. You can also paint the surface first with a slip made out of pure very fine clay particles that the Romans called terra sigillata for an even shinier and waterproof surface. The Santa Clara, San Ildefonso Pueblo potters as well as some Mexican potters are masters at making shiny black pots. If you fire the pots too hot, the clay particles start to recrystalize and the terra sig loses its sheen.

 

Bonus lesson: The Greek pottery painters painted in clay slips and then controlled the oxygen in the firing so precisely that the slip reduced to turned black while the rest of the clay remained oxidized and stayed red.

 

[rancho_gordo]

On 1/10/2016 at 7:14 AM, Maison Rustique said:

Steve, in your video I see you handling the pot with bare hands. It doesn't get hot? I haven't broken mine in yet (still have the glass-top electric thing to deal with and no diffuser yet), but was assuming it would be hot to pick up by the handles.

Sorry, missed this. 
I have somewhat asbestos fingers but not completely. The handles stay somewhat cool. 

[rancho_gordo]

After I fully stocked (crammed really) my kitchen with all my favorite clay cooking pieces, this is what I had left. 
Yes, I am an addict. And yes, each one is different and cooks differently. And no, you can't have any of them. 

[rancho_gordo]

It's funny. The photo is from a few years ago and several of these have managed to sneak back into the house!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I've taken my pot to more than medium heat, so far with no problems.

[haresfur]

9 hours ago, rancho_gordo said:

After I fully stocked (crammed really) my kitchen with all my favorite clay cooking pieces, this is what I had left. 
Yes, I am an addict. And yes, each one is different and cooks differently. And no, you can't have any of them. 

 

I just want to hug the round red one with the black smudge near the back (then cook something in it).

[Anna N]

13 hours ago, rancho_gordo said:

It's funny. The photo is from a few years ago and several of these have managed to sneak back into the house!

I bet they have. There are some gorgeous specimens there.  I can see how easily one might become addicted to collecting them.