[Sca-cooks] Break the Pot

Karstyl karstyl at gmail.com
Fri Oct 30 12:49:20 PDT 2009


> They really do mean to break the pot for hygienic reasons. Soapstone 
> pots, especially, were used only once because they absorb organic 
> residue. Nowadays we overlook this instruction as pots are made of other 
> materials which do not absorb food being cooked in them.
> Suey

Porous pots are not necessarily non-hygienic. Especially if you heat 
them when you cook. There was also a lack of understanding of germ 
theory in period, so this would not be a period reason to not re-use a 
pot. The reason given for using new pots in certain recipes is that an 
old pot would absorb flavors. In something like a tagine this is 
considered a good thing, the flavors transfer from one dish to the next 
and build on each other. In some dishes you would not want the flavor of 
old food, so the instructions would include to use a new pot. Also, if 
they used a new pot for everything, it would probably not be written 
down in a few recipes, it would either be in every recipe or, more 
likely, just assumed for each.

-Hrefna


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