Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking: Traditional and Modern Recipes to Savor and Share [Hardcover]

This is my third book by Paula Wolfert. I intend to get all of them. Her books are not just full of recipes, but also contain relevant background information and insights into other cultures. I'm especially interested in learning more about cooking in clay. So this is the perfect book for me. In addition to the material in the book, you'll find more information about Paula's methods on eGullet's forums. I came across a thread on tagines and another on how to cure claypots. Paula contributed to both threads. Her knowledge, enthusiasm, and curiosity are amazing. It also speaks well of her how she encourages others on the forums. Clearly, a very neat lady.

Now the warning: you may end up with a house full of a new class of toys. So far I've accumulated a Chinese sandpot (which I cracked making a Wolfert recipe and successfully repaired using Paula's instructions), four different tagines, an Emile Henry Flame Top dutch oven, two Roemertopf's, a Japanese donabe, a Spanish Cazuela, and a Baeckeoffe oval tureen from Alsace. Regrettably, I'm not done yet. I still want to get some Black Chamba Clay Cookware and perhaps a daubière... unless my wife puts me out of my misery first.

Update (1-21-2010):
I've made numerous recipes from the book by now: Moroccan Fish Tagine with Tomatoes, Olives, and Preserved Lemons (for which I bought an inexpensive Rifi Tagra), Fried Spatchcocked Chicken (made in an Italian mattone), Moroccan Chicken Tagine with Sweet Onions and Raisins, Baked Moroccan Chicken with Charred Tomatoes, Moroccan Lamb Tagine with Winter Squash and Toasted Pine Nuts, etc. , etc. They were fun to make and tasted wonderful. Some recipes are easy to make and some require patience and dedication. There's a thread on eGullet that deals with cooking from this book. Its title is Cooking with Paula Wolfert's "Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking" You'll find some pictures, experiences, and hints on this thread, should you need help. Paula contributes here as well.

Update (2-17-2010):
I'm still happy with this book and I'm cooking at least one new recipe from it per week. My two recent favorites were "Chicken with Red Wine Vinegar, Tomato, and Shallots" and "White Beans with Tomatoes and Sage." The latter required making the beans before, according to another recipe: "Tuscan White Beans with Sage and Garlic." The beans were just terrific with the tomatoes and sage. It was an instant favorite for us while it was also one of the easiest recipes to make. I used my Chamba bean pot for this dish. (It's winter now in Colorado and it feels nice to put one's cold hands on the warm lid of the Chamba while inhaling the wonderful aromas escaping from the pot.) I'm completely sold on cooking in clay, thanks to Ms. Wolfert. Her book serves as an instruction manual on how to utilize the various clay pots available by providing the recipes that are best made in these pots. Months after I bought the book, I still have clay pots coming in on a regular basis--not that I *must* have them, but because I'm hooked. (Paula says in her book that 75% of the recipes can be made in just six different pots.) I'm also a fan of Ms. Wolfert's style of presenting information, which is not at all dry. As of today, I own all of her books.

Paula Wolfert's new book, "Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking" will end up being a seminal work for the new - old way of cooking, in clay pots. There are the old style pots of mica rich natural clays, and the new high tech flameware ceramic stovetop cookware by people such as Bill Sax, Terry Silverman, Emile Henry and the Clay Coyote Pottery.

Clay Pot cooking seems as though it's becoming the third leg of the natural and local foods nutritional stool. As Paula points out, food simply tastes better when cooked in clay. When you combine it with local, fresh foods, your eating will move to a new level.

Paula has approached this book with her usual masterful presentation of authentic recipes from Morocco, France, Italy, Greece and more, but made them more approachable by adding alternative ingredients and alternate cooking methods for different pots. You can cook these dishes in the usual metal cookware, but if you go the extra step and find some clay pots or flameware pottery, you'll find out what I mean when I say these are "flavor explosion" recipes. It is no wonder a number of top lists have made this the number one cookbook for 2009.

The book needed more editing. I have made two recipes from it and both had errors. One called for olives in the list of ingredients but failed to mention when to add the olives. Another said to heat the oven to 400 degrees and then never used the oven.

I would also like a picture of the different pots. The recipes call for so many different types of pots and I have no idea about the shape of some of them.

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