[Sca-cooks] Clay-Pot Chicken

[Stefan li Rous]

Vincenzo gave a clay-pot chicken recipe:
> I remember doing clay pot cooking and seeing the chicken
> done to perfection, moist and falling apart.
>
> That was with the oven set to 480 for 80 minutes ... but
> I had no way of telling how hot it was inside the clay pot.
>
> Remember that type of cooking starts with an unglazed clay
> pot soaked in water; generally the ingredients all go in
> together; don't preheat the oven; cook for the specified
> time; use heavy gloves to move the pot from the oven to a
> safe non metallic surface.
>
> Here's an example recipe ...
>
> "Roast Chicken with Brown Rice Stuffing" serves 4-6
>
> 1           roasting chicken (4~5 lbs)
>    3/4 cup   sherry
> 1 3/4 cups  chicken stock
> 1     cup   raw brown rice
> 2 tbsp      butter
>              Arrowroot
> <snip>

Thanks for posting this. This sounds like it could be rather 
interesting, leading to a moist, flavorful chicken. I've saved this 
recipe to try sometime.

1) What do you use for this clay pot? Is this something you need to buy 
at a kitchen utensil place? I think I may have seen such an item, but I 
don't remember it being big enough to hold a chicken. Or do you use an 
unglazed flower pot from the nursery? But I thought those had a 
drainage hole in them, and I suspect you want to contain the steam in 
the pot.

2) Could this technique be used over a bed of coals on a fire with more 
hot coals placed around it and on top, rather than an oven? Or will 
that let dirt through the porous pot or keep something (air?) from 
passing through that you want passing through?

3) Any evidence of this technique being used in medieval Europe or the 
Middle East?

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****