L. P. Skeen on sun 29 apr 01
I love the Food Network channel on my sattelite dish. Tonight there was =
=3D
a program called=3D20
Tasting Mexico and the two guys who ran the show went to Oaxaca, Mexico =3D
City, and several other states, meeting with famous regional cooks, =3D
going to the market (awesome in itself!) and cooking in their kitchens. =3D
I never considered Mexico as a travel destination before, but now it's =3D
on my list for visitation during cool months.
In all but one of the kitchens these guys visited, there were clay pots =3D
being used ON TOP OF THE STOVE. The stoves were all gas, or maybe wood =3D
(not sure) as far as I could tell. Also, there is a flat disk of =3D
unglazed clay called a Comal where things were roasted. In one outdoor =3D
kitchen, they were making 3 soups, and the pots had very interesting =3D
shapes, which I would not have expected to see.
How are they getting away with all this stovetop clay cooking? Why =3D
don't the pots crack?
L. P. Skeen www.living-tree.net
Living Tree Pottery & Handmade Soaps, Summerfield, NC
Info about the SESoapers conference: =3D
http://sasoapmakers.homestead.com/SASconference.html
"Just because nobody understands you does NOT mean that you are an =3D
artist."
Marcia Selsor on mon 30 apr 01
Dear L.P..
The pots are low fire, porrous, and more than likely have pumice in them
as a refractory. Pots from Morrocco and parts of Spain can be use in the
same way. These pots are used on fire i.e. gas or charcoal or wood. and
they cook well. They are not flame ware as we would call it-high fired
and dense.
This comes from "intrinsic" knowledge on materials passed down for genera=
tions.
Best wishes,
Marcia
"L. P. Skeen" wrote:
>
> I love the Food Network channel on my sattelite dish.
> In all but one of the kitchens these guys visited, there were clay pots=
being used ON TOP OF THE STOVE. The stoves were all gas, or maybe wood =
(not sure) as far as I could tell. Also, there is a flat disk of unglaze=
d clay called a Comal where things were roasted. In one outdoor kitchen,=
they were making 3 soups, and the pots had very interesting shapes, whic=
h I would not have expected to see.
>
> How are they getting away with all this stovetop clay cooking? Why don=
't the pots crack?
>
> L. P. Skeen www.living-tree.net
> Living Tree Pottery & Handmade Soaps, Summerfield, NC
> Info about the SESoapers conference: http://sasoapmakers.homestead.com/=
SASconference.html
> "Just because nobody understands you does NOT mean that you are an arti=
st."
>
> _______________________________________________________________________=
_______
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pcl=
ink.com.
--
Marcia Selsor
selsor@imt.net
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls/Tuscany2001.html
http://www.imt.net/~mjbmls/Gallery.html
Snail Scott on mon 30 apr 01
A wood flame is much less stressful than an electric rangetop;
even a gas flame is better than electric. Also, I'll bet none
of that stuff was vitrified. Earthenware is much less subject
to the thermal shock which is the bane of more virtified wares.
-Snail
At 08:42 PM 4/29/01 -0400, you wrote:
>Tonight there was a program called Tasting Mexico...
>In all but one of the kitchens these guys visited, there were clay pots
being used ON TOP OF THE STOVE. The stoves were all gas, or maybe wood
(not sure) as far as I could tell.
>How are they getting away with all this stovetop clay cooking? Why don'=
t
the pots crack?
>
>L. P. Skeen
Rikki Gill on mon 30 apr 01
Hi Lisa, I think what makes a pot stove top usable is its expansion facto=
r.
I have used such pots when I lived in Italy, and they also make them in
France and probably everywhere. Mine was low fire clay, only glazed on t=
he
outside. I also made one of my own from a Richard Behrens clay formular
that lasted for years, was usable even after it started to develope crack=
s.
I found it very hard to clean. If there is any interest, I will look for
the formular. As a new potter, I attended an ongoing workshop given by
Behrens. Unfortunately, it was way over my head. Rikki Gill
rikigil@cwnet.com
-----Original Message-----
From: L. P. Skeen
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Date: Sunday, April 29, 2001 11:13 PM
Subject: Tasting Mexico
I love the Food Network channel on my sattelite dish. Tonight there was =
a
program called
Tasting Mexico and the two guys who ran the show went to Oaxaca, Mexico
City, and several other states, meeting with famous regional cooks, going=
to
the market (awesome in itself!) and cooking in their kitchens. I never
considered Mexico as a travel destination before, but now it's on my list
for visitation during cool months.
In all but one of the kitchens these guys visited, there were clay pots
being used ON TOP OF THE STOVE. The stoves were all gas, or maybe wood (=
not
sure) as far as I could tell. Also, there is a flat disk of unglazed cla=
y
called a Comal where things were roasted. In one outdoor kitchen, they w=
ere
making 3 soups, and the pots had very interesting shapes, which I would n=
ot
have expected to see.
How are they getting away with all this stovetop clay cooking? Why don't
the pots crack?
L. P. Skeen www.living-tree.net
Living Tree Pottery & Handmade Soaps, Summerfield, NC
Info about the SESoapers conference:
http://sasoapmakers.homestead.com/SASconference.html
"Just because nobody understands you does NOT mean that you are an artist=
.."
_________________________________________________________________________=
___
__
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
Ron Collins on mon 30 apr 01
To L.P. and all concerning stove-top ware......if you like Mexico...you
would love Antigua..here in Guatemala, it is also
common to use unglazed earthenware cooking vessels....here is what I have
played around with....I made some bean pots, terra sig'd, with glazed lid
and handles....cooked on gas stove...no problem...moved to our new house =
and
put in an outside BBQ and electric burner units by it. Went to Ron's mi=
ca
mountain, got mica, ground it in a corn grinder and mixed it about half w=
ith
earthenware and made a coiled pot and some other cooking vessels to have =
fun
with on the fire and electric burners.....when we built a
fire in the BBQ-before it died down for cooking the BBQ, I cook my rice o=
r
whatever in the flames on the grill in the micaceous pots....what is even
more surprising is that to season the pot, I read that they cook a potato=
in
water all day, also add oil...so I took the new pot, put it on the ELECTR=
IC
HOT PLATE...the top never got hot, and of course the bottom was
cooking...the most amazing thing....just don't think they will crack ...I
haven't had a cracked one in gas, electric, or wood.......in my opinion,
mica is best, but pumice/vol.ash works pretty good too. I am familiar wi=
th
comals...the large coil built platters...very crude, very thin, and fire=
d
in a bonfire...we're talking BIG...some way over 2 feet across...they don=
't
break either when cooking.....here is something interesting about the one=
s
they use here....after making them, they coat them with slip, smearing wi=
th
their hand and leaving marks of their hands and fingers on the comals. T=
he
slip by the indians is called "chistun" . I did some research and talked=
to
an indian potter isolated way up in the mountains and got her to show me
where she gets hers.. where Ron goes to get jade.....it turns out that th=
e
chistun, is talc/soapstone which they grind on a metate....a low tech ear=
ly
teflon that works....I bonfired a few of the raw micaceous clay cooking
pots, and they made it
fine, just to see what would happen, but the others I took the easy out =
and
bisqued to 04 in kiln. If my
kiln was larger, I'd glaze a few of the large comals and play around with
them...Before coming
here, I would have ignored all posts concerning making your own clay,
prospecting and testing raw materials, etc...but having been forced to do=
wn
here, I'm having a ball....just make a couple of pots and see what
happens....best regards,
Melinda
BARNSCHWA@AOL.COM on mon 30 apr 01
In a message dated 4/30/01 2:55:07 AM, lpskeen@LIVING-TREE.NET writes:
<< How are they getting away with all this stovetop clay cooking? Why do=
n't
the pots crack? >>
I, too, wonder about this. My husband has a clay pot that he got in Japa=
n 30
years ago that he says is for roasting sesame seeds on the stove. I put =
it
back on the shelf because I was sure we would crack the pot if we used it=
=2E
Any answers?
Marion
BARNSCHWA@AOL.COM
ed on mon 30 apr 01
(How are they getting away with all this stovetop clay cooking? Why don'=
t
the pots crack?)
ANSWER:
They use 50% grog.
YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT THEIR TECHNIQUES ON A FIELD TRIP WITH Eric Mindl=
ing
Manos de Oaxaca
AP 1452
Oaxaca, Oax.
CP 68000
M E X I C O
M E X I C O
http://www.foothill.net/~mindling
fax 011 52 (952) 1-4186
email: rayeric@antequera.com
-
Carla Flati on tue 1 may 01
When I apprenticed in Mexico City 25 years ago, they used a special mix f=
or
cooking vessels. Eric is right, they used A LOT of grog, but not the kin=
d
we're used to. It was shiny, almost metallic. It may have been mica as
someone mentioned, but my Spanish wasn't so great back then and I never
really knew what the stuff was. They also added ground up straw or tree
bark. This I'm sure of. Of course all of these things were added after
they let the donkeys pee in the clay. Too bad I didn't know about the ol=
d
vinegar trick back then.
The shapes of the pots were also different. The bottoms had to be very
round with only enough flat area to keep them from falling over. We had =
to
paddle them over round plaster or stone forms and I can remember my ment=
or
yelling "como nalgas, como nalgas" (like butt cheeks) when I made the
bottoms too flat. From what I remember, the shape was very important. T=
hey
didn't make the comals at that particular pottery. In fact, I don't reca=
ll
seeing clay comals at all. My aunt, who I stayed with at the time, used =
a
cast iron one and I still have my grandmother's cast iron comal which has=
to
be at least 60 years old. Maybe the shape doesn't have so much to do wit=
h
the heat tolerance after all since you can't make a round bottom comal. =
I
was young and dumb and should have paid more attention! Maybe I should t=
ake
one of Eric's tours. I'd appreciate everything much more now than I did =
at
19, but isn't that true of just about everything?
Carla
Aliquippa, PA
PEFarm@AOL.COM on thu 3 may 01
Check out the website: www.manos-de-oaxaca.com. Eric Mindling organizes
tours in Oaxaca, Mexico to various pottery villages.
Pam Farmer
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