Syzygies Posted December 23, 2007 Report Share Posted December 23, 2007 Is there any benefit/difference with these cazuelas? Honestly, not huge. They have special initial break-in instructions, basically soak for a day, rub with garlic to ward off evil spirits. Spaniards use them over direct flame. As not all nonstick surfaces are created equal, same with glazed surfaces. These work well. Cazuelas come in monumental sizes well suited to ceramic cooking. Spain is the country, after all, known for making paellas 10' across. It's hard to find these larger sizes in other cookware. I'm in a minority here (and elsewhere ) for not being overly concerned about my lost (2004 RJ) Kamado tiles; I like my black retexturing job. I don't really accept objects as mine till I've reworked them, this helped. But the Spanish authenticity of a cazuela means something priceless to me, it helps me feel like Concord, CA is my little corner of the Mediterranean. (Three half wine barrels growing Genovese basil also helps.) This thread is logging cravings for a stone pot that costs nearly $200. A cazuela is a cheap and useful fix for this object lust. I also fully appreciate the romance of appropriation, finding free or nearly free objects that simply work. In grad school we used to scour the rich neighborhoods of Cambridge MA on trash night, we came up with some amazing stuff. (Let's not forget that the classic shapes of Texas cookers originated as discarded oil industry metal.) Our best haul was lighting and electrical stuff that perfectly set up an indoor growing room (no, just to get a jump on our garden ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trish Posted December 23, 2007 Report Share Posted December 23, 2007 Firemonkey....I believe you can get the Corning pieces at Target, WalMart, etc for an even greater savings than PotteryBarn. Sometimes the cooking stores in outlet malls have them even cheaper. But if looks are important, the soapstone pots are beautiful. A soapstone cooker would be incredible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdbower Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 OK, I broke down and ordered a coffee mug and some of the stone "ice cubes" from TemperatureWare above. For some reason instead of the mug I ended up with a tiny pot about the size of a mug with a lid and two handles (perhaps a new mug style?), whatever the reason I like this better so I'm not complaining. After seasoning everything I decided to torture some of the "ice cubes". Granted they're a bit tougher than a pot would be, but I heated one over a direct flame (don't do this at home without safety goggles!) and then dunked it into ice water, moved from the freezer to boiling water, threw it to the ground, hit it with a hammer (not very hard, granted), scratched it and generally abused it to see if I could damage it. I couldn't. No cracks, but a few chips on the very sharp corners (sharper than the corners on the actual cookware). It scratches easily but rubbing a little oil on it hides it well. I scorched it pretty good in the open flame but a few strokes of ordinary sand paper and some oil repaired this instantly. Why couldn't they be brittle, now I have to weigh the benefits of getting a gorgeous set of pots, mugs, and other stuff with the issue of having no place to store it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygies Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Soapstone -vs- metal stoves After seasoning everything I decided to torture some of the "ice cubes". ... I have a good buddy with a ski house in Vermont. The two Vigilant woodburning stoves are famously efficient, but alas, metal. They're known to be fragile in the face of extreme shocks, like finding them at - 20 F and getting an 800 F fire going. I'm keenly aware how heavy they are, as I helped move one he found sold used hours away at an absurdly low price. This guy is like "The dude" in The Big Lebowski, such road trips are always a joy. The seller had a forklift to get it onto our truck, but it took some serious imagination to get it off the truck and into place. I felt like we were building the pyramids. The main stove is monumental, cut from immense slabs of Vermont soapstone. It's indestructible, it seems the fire never goes completely out inside, and even when it does, the stove gives off heat for another day. For soapstone object lust, this stove rules! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trish Posted December 25, 2007 Report Share Posted December 25, 2007 Syzy...would you want a soapstone tiled BBQ for Christmas? * *Just a little humor...not intended to start anything here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saucier Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Soapstone In the soapstone pot, is it possible to fry/brown something? Like could you do a one pot coq au vin, like you can with a dutch oven in where you brown the chicken, and then the veggies, then load the rest of the recipe and pop in the oven? (my recipe is best of course ) Just didnt know if the stone/ceramics would allow for frying?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygies Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Yes, Brazilians use these for everything, and as long as they don't go from freezer to high flame, they don't crack. (Being a natural material, there can always be surprises, and anyone who sells them warns against direct flame. Yeah, and you'll go to jail if you take the tag off a pillow...) One needs to distinguish here between the romance of such a pot (I use one when I can), and its technical strengths. As fancy restaurants know well, most people need to be told that what they're eating is special, and soapstone does that job nicely; this theatre even works on the cook. I think of soapstone as having sluggish thermal properties, but it transfers heat too rapidly to make a suitable material for the floor of a pizza oven; synthetic pizza stones are tuned to transfer heat more slowly. Nevertheless, I view soapstone as often my best choice for going into the oven or a ceramic cooker. I don't own a slow cooker, I improvise one as needed by putting a soapstone pot on a high quality electric hot plate, and I view this "component stereo" combination as vastly superior. For actual frying surfaces, one can saute first in a soapstone pot, and it will do a decent job and save cleaning a pot. For e.g. softening onions, no need to read on. Nevertheless, this is nearly always a technical missed opportunity. For frying, I decide between a nonstick pot (Look Cookware is nice but no longer made; other expensive European options perform well and dodge the chemical safety issues of overheating cheap nonstick pans), and a surface optimized for browning, then making a sauce from the film stuck to the pan. Paul Bertolli has an outstanding discussion of this process in Cooking by Hand; his chicken is one of the best indoors versions I know. His recipe is pure technique: Chicken, salt, pepper, a bit of water to deglaze the pan, and a cook that is buck-naked totally on the spot. (This is my favorite kind of recipe; our favorite spareribs are salt, pepper, apple smoke, no foiling in mid-cook, and it has taken me years to get the hang of them.) I like the matte black surface of Staub cookware (think Le Creuset, but with a surface optimized for frying rather than just protecting the cast iron interior) and their paella pan makes a nice pan for Bertolli's chicken. The Calphalon One Infused Anodized surface is the best I know for this particular technique. Several of their pans are roughly half-priced as introductory offers. I own these, now roughly $100 each, or $80 at Bedmo with their ubiquitous 20% off coupon. 7qt. Sauteuse 8.5 qt. Dutch Oven The former presents such a large surface area, it can literally save you time, e.g. sauteing a slew of chopped veggies in one batch without steaming them. Any stew that says "brown meat in two batches" then make a sauce for the stew, can be done in one batch in this pan. The latter is a compromise that can go on to make a large quantity of stew in the same pot. It's my indoor gumbo pot; it can make a flawless roux, brown the veggies, then simmer the stew all in one pot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanny Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 ooh, Syzy! Who knew cookware could be so sexy! Good old Bed Bath and Cash Register. Their trick is to get you in there and force you to buy everything in sight! I have to stay out of there, for that reason. Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeDJ16 Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 ooh, Syzy! Who knew cookware could be so sexy! Good old Bed Bath and Cash Register. Their trick is to get you in there and force you to buy everything in sight! I have to stay out of there, for that reason. Oh well. Some folks may not know, but Bed Bath & Beyond will take expired coupons and allow multiple coupons during the same purchase (provided one coupon per item). I have daisy chained coupons there many times. Like you Sanny, I cannot stumble in there often as too much stuff tends to leave with me. So I usually go with purpose and don't stay long. -=Jasen=- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firemonkey Posted January 4, 2008 Report Share Posted January 4, 2008 Some folks may not know' date=' but Bed Bath & Beyond will take expired coupons and allow multiple coupons during the same purchase (provided one coupon per item). I have daisy chained coupons there many times.[/quote'] As does their competitor, LNT - and they are happy to take each others coupons in the same fashion, too. Just this week we were in one of the two, and used as many coupons as we had items. My wife keeps all those coupons in the car, otherwise they would just pile up at home and always get left behind. This way, they are always there when we decide to stop for something on a whim. One comment on Calphalon, that Szygies mentions above; their warranty is rock solid. I have an old set of the commercial hard anodized stuff, and a few pieces have seen enough use to actually wear the anodized surface down to shiny aluminum. A couple of other larger saute pans vea slight bow to the bottom surface, probably from seeing the faucet too soon after use. One call to Calphalon, they provided me an address to send "anything you think needs replaced" to them. Though the style of the hard anodized has since changed, and some is now made in China (with a 10 year warranty), they said they would replace my pieces with Calphalon One, as it is now the equivalent of my USA made pieces (with a lifetime warranty). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saucier Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 Crackpot I got one of those sexy Brazilian pots, and seasoned it as per the instructions. The first time I used it, I put it over a very low flame to start and get it warm, and then inched it up a bit, and put some olive oil in to get warming up for a chicken browning. I stepped away and when I turned back, my oil was gone? I then noticed a micro crack in the bottom of the pot I have emailed the company and we will see how they do customer service wise here. It does say on their website that it is ok to use them on the stove top, so it will be interesting to see what they say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanny Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 Oooh, Heartbreak, Saucy! That's a very sad story. I didn't order any of that beautiful stoneware. Nope. Got a couple pieces of All-Clad instead. What was I thinking?? It's beautiful, but I coulda bought a car, you know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saucier Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 Car Sanny, I think you need to buy dog food, not a car! Besides, its just 200 bucks, sneak another "billable hour" on to one of your corporate clients, and buy two of em! Thats what my lawyers do! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sanny Posted January 21, 2008 Report Share Posted January 21, 2008 Re: Car Sanny, I think you need to buy dog food, not a car! Besides, its just 200 bucks, sneak another "billable hour" on to one of your corporate clients, and buy two of em! Thats what my lawyers do! Saucy, I don't play the billable game anymore. Chucked it for a 50% pay cut and the pleasure of gov't work. Fortunately, I drive a Prius, so I don't have to buy gas as often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saucier Posted January 23, 2008 Report Share Posted January 23, 2008 Well It took a bit to get a response from my email, but they replied and said they had sent my photo to the owner, and he said it was a vein, not a crack. My response was that call it what you may, the pot wouldn't hold liquid, and I wanted it replaced. (Also let em know we are chatting about this on the forum). They emailed back asking the size and what type of ring was on it, so I assume they are fixin to send another. I might not have explained it clearly enough in the first email.. so maybe my fault ? I will keep the masses informed as to the status of this customer service issue, should you be contemplating buying one of these! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saucier Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 New Pot They wrote yesterday and said they would send another pot... Can't wait! (again) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saucier Posted February 3, 2008 Report Share Posted February 3, 2008 10-97 Pot arrived, and I am in the midst of round two of the seasoning process.. They didn't even ask me to send the old one, so nice on them.. I guess it would be expensive to ship back.. The busted one is still too beautiful to throw out, so it will become a flower pot in the garden, and we will let that copper band take on a nice patina.. I really hope this one holds up!! So thus far their customer service gets a 10... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syzygies Posted February 4, 2008 Report Share Posted February 4, 2008 Re: 10-97 The busted one is still too beautiful to throw out' date=' so it will become a flower pot in the garden, and we will let that copper band take on a nice patina...[/quote'] Sorry to hear about your troubles. The flower pot use is an awesome idea. It reminds me, back in the day, of visiting the Sacramento location of that other cooker company, where all the busted K's were used as planters. Before I textured my once-tiled K, David and Kim were briefly working for them, and put in a order for a new tiled K body for me, attempting to honor the warranty. Their advice for the old pieces was to use them in my garden. (I would have paid shipping. I didn't hold my breath to see if the order would go through, and big picture, I would rather have seen David and Kim get paid. Wonderful people. Oops, wrong forum. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saucier Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 Fix? One would think that there would have to be some method that you could seal the bottom of the pot so it would be usable. I don't think liquid seeps out until the pot gets hot and expands, its that small.... Any of you genius types think of anything?? More advanced than a piece of foil in the bottom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firemonkey Posted February 9, 2008 Report Share Posted February 9, 2008 I would get on the phone to your local purveyor of stone countertops. Not the guys who just take orders and then install it, but the guys who have big slabs stored int he back lot. They have all manner of tricks and materials for fixing cracks/joints/seams in all different kinds of stone. If they know how to work with soapstone, they will likely have the material on hand and be willing to help you out if you carried your pot in to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
