What is this cooking vessel?

[Terrasanct]

I haven't posted here for years but I just recently found an interesting thing at a yard sale.  It works as a decorative piece but I want to find out where it's from and what kind of cooking is done in it.  It's a little over a foot tall and about as wide, made of earthenware.  Glazed most of the way up inside.  There is a lid.  The man I bought it from had bought it at a charity auction and had never used it for cooking.  I'm hoping one of the food historians here can help me figure this out.  Thanks.

[Smithy]

It looks to me like a bean pot, or a stew pot, for cooking in the fire.  I'm not a food or cookware historian, though: it just reminds me of earthenware I've seen in Egypt.  I'll be interested to learn more information.

 

What a cool find!

[Terrasanct]

I feel like it should be ideal for cooking in a fire but I'd like to know if it's oven safe, without putting my oven in jeopardy.  I wish the shape were right; I'd love to try baking bread in it.

 

I know someone here must have an idea about what this is and what I should cook in it.  But for $20, I had to buy it.  It's decorative if nothing else.

[rotuts]

well

 

I just looked and your are in Montana

 

 fine State

 

but its not near the SilkRoad nor the SilverRoad etc

 

 

so it more or less lived most of its life in Montana

 

or was brought there by those who sold it in their yard

 

one foot by one foot  is a bit large for a bean pot 

 

at least those in N.E.

 

Im very intrigued  

 

no marking on the bottom ?

 

still  a wonderful find.

 

if you eventually don't get a line on it

 

invent your own

 

why not ?

 

just don't cook with it

 

it might not do well.

 

would you be ably to take a pic of the inside and the inside of the lid ?

Edited June 16, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[blue_dolphin]

I agree that it looks like a pot that could be used to cook beans.  I have this lovely Mexican pot from Rancho Gordo that is not glazed. 

See also the variety of clay pottery bean pots offered at Bram. The Bram website has some very good information about the use of clay pottery for cooking in the Clay Cooking 101 section.  From my experience, they are very nice people and would probably answer additional questions for you. 

[Terrasanct]

Thanks for the links.  I don't think this was made in Montana, the man said something about Romania or somewhere.  It was supposed to be a stew pot for a certain kind of stew.   I measured and it is exactly a foot high without the lid.  It's kind of massive.  It wouldn't fit in my oven and if it did there would be no lifting it out.  I was told it's food safe.

 

I'm attaching photos of the inside and both sides of the lid.

[rotuts]

in the first image of the pot there seem to be two handle like items :

 

 

and 

 

 

they don't seem to be 180 degrees from each other , at lest in the first pic

 

are there more than 2 of these /  a third on the back ?

 

they seem very small to function for picking up the pot , especially it hot. 

 

if there are three , equally spaced around the pot

 

and they have holes in them

 

might then they have been used to hang the pot for some reason ?

[Terrasanct]

There are four, and a hole in the lid handle as well.  I can't imagine trying to lift this while full and hot.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I'd have the glaze tested for lead if you really want to cook in it.  Beautiful pot.

 

[andiesenji]

This looks like one of the Burnay pots (palayok) from a particular area in the Philippines.  I used to have one that a friend sent me while she was visiting family there.  I had seen one at the local Philippine market that was for display only.

Some are glazed and used for cooking, many are larger and unglazed, used to store water because the evaporation cools it.  

 

This is a photo of a Burnay pot, no lid.

 

Edited June 17, 2017 by andiesenji (log)

[liuzhou]

8 hours ago, Terrasanct said:

I don't think this was made in Montana, the man said something about Romania or somewhere.  It was supposed to be a stew pot for a certain kind of stew.   I measured and it is exactly a foot high without the lid.

 

 

This is a wild guess but Romanian (or other European) pot makers are unlikely to make something exactly a foot high.

 

As Vincent says "Nah, man, they got the metric system."

[Norm Matthews]

Having been a potter, I'd say it was unsafe (for the pot) to use it to cook over an open flame.  Being earthenware,it's too big and porous to be evenly heated and thus would probably crack due to heat stress.   It is possible that it was used for hanging storage rather than as cookware. 

Edited June 17, 2017 by Norm Matthews (log)

[Norm Matthews]

It looks like it was made on a potters wheel and it might be stoneware instead of earthenware.  Dip your finger in some water and touch it to a bare clay spot. If the water soaks in, it's earthenware. If it just sits there, it's probably stoneware.  That information could give some clues as to where and when it was made.

[dcarch]

I'd use it for pickling.

 

dcarch

[JohnT]

36 minutes ago, dcarch said:

I'd use it for pickling.

 

dcarch

Yes, or fermenting, I was thinking of sauerkraut!

[Terrasanct]

i do a lot of fermenting and I'd love to use it for that.  It does look very similar to the pot in the photos.  

 

I'll do the water test to see what it's made of.  There are also a lot of ceramists in Missoula I might check with.

[andiesenji]

5 hours ago, Terrasanct said:

i do a lot of fermenting and I'd love to use it for that.  It does look very similar to the pot in the photos.  

 

I'll do the water test to see what it's made of.  There are also a lot of ceramists in Missoula I might check with.

I found a link to the Burnay pots.  They are used for fermenting fish paste, wines and liquors.  

If you Google "palayok clay pots, there are numerous image of the different shapes.

Clay pots are used for cooking in many places, over charcoal braziers, on gas burners.  I have several that are unglazed on the outside, glazed on the inside - like my tagines.  They are designed for cooking.

I emailed a copy of your photo to a friend who is an avid collector of clay pots -  he said it could also be a Japanese "Donabe" clay pot. They were very popular with American tourists and military families in the '50s and '60s.  They always had a vent hole in the lid, unlike pots made by other cultures.  They ranged in size from shallow "rice cookers" to the deeper "stew pots" ...  The early ones are plain, later they were decorated.  

 

[Terrasanct]

That's all very interesting.  I think it looks closest to the burnay pots, especially the ones with a larger opening.  

 

I just remembered visiting a Korean woman in Billings who fermented chili paste in a large clay pot she kept on her deck.  I have a kimchi pot that I make my kimchi in but it's smaller than this one.  I'm also wondering how many heads of cabbage I could fit in there for sauerkraut...

[Terrasanct]

Oh, and no vent hole.

[haresfur]

I'm with Norm - looks more like stoneware to me so do the test. Although either have been used over fire for centuries. It looks like it might have a tin glaze but that's a wild guess. So an even wilder guess would be perhaps Basque.