Sand pot

A thin clay casserole bound in wire: soups and clay-pot rice that arrive still rattling.

Also called shāguō, clay sand pot · From China

A wire-bound Chinese sand pot of clay-pot rice with a wooden spoon and scallions.

The journey

A Chinese sand pot is clay mixed with sand, light enough to sit on a flame, often wrapped in wire so a crack does not end the pot. Cantonese and home kitchens still use it for soups, braises, and rice that crusts at the bottom.

A Dutch oven is heavier and quieter. This pot sings when the liquid is right.

A woodblock of the Chinese hearth — the stove that still holds a sand pot beside the wok. — Anonymous Chinese nianhua of the Kitchen God (Zao Jun), public-domain woodblock · Public domain. Source

In the kitchen

Start with liquid already warm if the pot is cold. Do not dry-heat. Serve in the pot — the crust of rice is the prize.

The Chinese volume's clay-pot pages assume this vessel. A small casserole can stand in.

Used in these ComidaTime kitchens

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