Chinese Casserole or Sand-Pot
2 min readMade of earthenware (hence the name sand-pot), casseroles as cooking utensils must have preceded metal ones by many thousands of years in China.
They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The most common shape is a squat casserole with sloping sides, unglazed on the outside and glazed on the inside, with a flared, hollow handle and a snug-fitting lid which is often glazed dark brown on the outside. Some of the lids have two little loops through which a strand of string or wire can be threaded to make a handle. This type of casserole comes in sizes to serve one, two, four or many more.
The other type is also squat and has two handles. It has a smoother- textured exterior, but usually comes in large sizes only.
In China, earthenware casseroles are always used for stove-top cooking as they retain an overall even heat; they are ideal for braising and slow-cooking. Since they can be placed directly over gas or electric cookers, food cooked in a sand-pot requires much shorter cooking-time (thus using less fuel) than food placed in an oven.
Most sand-pots are rather fragile, so they do crack up easily; that’s probably why some restaurants nowadays use a metal casserole made of stainless steel- not at all the same thing – such is a sign of the times!
Obviously, it is not absolutely necessary to have a sand-pot in order to cook Chinese casseroles. Enamelled or cast-iron casseroles with lids can be used instead, provided they are flame-proof.
