The pots are, again, a white earthenware. This time I wedged a bunch of grog into the clay to give it a more open body for conducting heat. As a plus, the grog made the clay incredibly easy to throw.
I decided to set the pot in the fire this time, rather than hanging it above the fire. I cleared a patch within the fire ring and set the full pot down next to the fire. (For those of you who are curious, the pot is holding a soup made from chicken, barley, carrots, parsnips, turnips, rosemary, sage, and thyme.)
As the pot began to warm up, I moved it closer to the coals. Soon, the water on one side of the pot was beginning to bubble slowly.
At this point, I started pulling coals out of the fire and placing them around the pot. Some of them were touching the sides of the pot. To keep my bed of coals alive I piled some more wood into the fire in a semi circle around the pot (leaving an opening for me to reach in and stir the pot). As the heat built up the water in the pot started boiling violently, so much so that we had to add more water to the pot.
The soup cooked quickly - the chicken was ready to eat less than 45 minutes after I put the pot in the fire. It also tasted really good (though we decided to use more rosemary and celery and no carrots, sage, or thyme next time).
I've got six more of these in the kiln right now - goodbye stainless steel!
Anybody have thoughts or comments?
