Clay Pot Cooking

I picked up this clay pot cooker from freecyle. OMG, it's amazing!

On my first attempt to use it I soaked for for way longer than the 10 minutes they recommend. Then I put a whole chicken rubbed w/ 21 Seasoning Salute from Trader Joe's and some butter, threw it on top of some potatoes and carrots. Then it goes in a cold oven set to 425 for an hour. I think I left it in for closer to an hour and a half. I took the lid off (holy crap was there a lot of liquid in there) and let it sit for ten minutes to crisp up the skin. I make an amazing roast chicken, but this was easily the juiciest, most amazing chicken I ever made.

I've also done a beef stew (I shouldn't have added any stock, it wound up boiling over, hence the stains on the bottom) and a rump roast. Both were awesome!

When I first got it, I was searching for recipes online. There's a lot of variance in temperatures and times. What I will say is don't stress it. This is like slow cooker cooking, but faster. Probably a great solution for those of us who forget to plug in the slow cooker and come home to cold food...not that I ever do that...

Soak it. Dump the stuff in. Put it in the oven. Turn it on and go about your day. So far everything I've put in has been fully cooked in 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Temperature...I've been sticking with 425 and that's been working for me. It has an enamel coating inside, which makes clean up easy. I would definitely recommend picking up one of these.