I bought an unglazed claypot a few months back as it was on offer at A101. I was excited at the prospect of using it for claypot noodles, chilli beans, claypot rice and etc. But I did not really know how to use it. I googled and watched YouTube videos on how to 'season' or cure it before using it for the first time. There were several different ways to do it but I opted with the one that says rub garlic cloves all over the pot, then rub margarine or olive oil, fill it with water and put in the oven (not a preheated oven as the sudden heat can crack the pot) at 200 degrees celcius for two hours.
And every time before using the pot I will have to fill it with water and wait for 15 minutes, to not put it on high fire and to not wash it with detergent as the pot is porous. Oh, a lot of work for a pot isn't it?
I somehow managed to screw it up. The first time I used it, I made lamb stew. Apparently that was my first mistake. I saw on a cooking group in Facebook that Turkish moms/grandmas will only cook veggie based food for the first 4 or 5 times to properly seal the pot before putting meat. And I saw on some Indian cooking website that they will first cook rice in the pot.
After the second usage I noticed a long crack at the side of the pot running to the bottom. So I searched the net again, they said I can reseal with a bit of wet flour. I did that and yes the crack was covered and the pot was no longer leaking. That was when I used it for the third time, to make claypot egg noodles. There was a slight different smell coming from the food, but I just brushed it off as 'earthen smell'. I enjoyed my claypot egg noodles, my stomach was a bit uneasy after that, but I am usually lactose intolerant anyway so I didn't think anything much about it.
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| Yup this was my claypot egg noodles in the making |
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| Ignorance is bliss |
So only the fourth time of using the claypot, it unleashed the KRAKEN. Yup, it attacked me to a 3 day diarrhea and vomiting and stomach cramps. The worst I have ever had. I had to sleep with plastic diapers because the diarrhea just kept coming without me realizing. But I didn't know that the pot was the culprit! That day I had made chicken soup in the pot, and used the soup to make chicken rice, and had another helping the next day when I reheated them. When I got the food poisoning, I thought it was because I mishandled the chicken - thought I defrosted and refreezed them and bacteria formed. But nooo...
I only realized the pot was the culprit when I made chilli beans. I was excited as usual, I bought kidney beans, ground beef, checked the recipe and cooked it. But it was at night so I didn't eat it straightaway and decided to eat the next morning. It was winter in Turkey and there is no heater in the kitchen so I didn't bother putting it in the fridge. The kitchen itself was as cold as the fridge. But when I wanted to reheat the beans the next morning, I saw weird bubbles forming all around the beans. It was not normal at all. It definitely seemed like something was wrong. But I had to get confirmation, so I sent a photo to my family group and asked my mom. My sisters were like THROW IT AWAYYYY!! But I was still in denial, see. I have been craving kidney beans and ground beef. But after a while I accepted the fact - bubbles means bacteria has formed in the food. No other reason. I have to throw it out. When my mom said claypots are porous, it hit me - the POT CAUSED MY FOOD POISONING! So lesson learnt - I won't be using unglazed claypot for a while now, until I get over my trauma. Or I will buy the Japanese donabe pot, one day.
If you want to see the bubbles in my chilli beans, scroll down....NSFL
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| Eeeee.... |
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