Clay pot

A small earthen casserole: caramel fish, rice, and braises that want a pot which remembers fire.

Also called nồi đất, clay rice pot · From Vietnam and the kitchens that caramelize in clay

A small earthen clay pot of caramel fish with a bowl of rice and chile on the side.

The journey

Vietnamese kho is a clay-pot discipline: sugar melted to caramel, fish sauce, coconut water, and a lid. Thai, Brazilian, and Caribbean kitchens know the same small earthen pot for rice and long braises. The pot is cheap, replaceable, and flavored by every meal that came before.

A saucepan can reduce. Clay keeps the caramel from tasting of metal.

A botanical plate of rice — the grain these clay pots still keep warm beside a braise. — Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen (1887) · Public domain. Source

In the kitchen

Melt sugar until it is mahogany, not black. Add liquid carefully. Simmer with the lid ajar. Serve in the pot.

Vietnamese, Thai, Brazilian, and Caribbean pages in the series all reach for this small clay.

Used in these ComidaTime kitchens

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