Pots and pans

Why terracotta changes the dish

It heats slowly and spreads the heat evenly, without the hot spots of metal. Once hot, it stays hot: you can turn off the flame and let the cooking finish by itself. That is why pulses come out better. Chickpeas, grass peas and beans need hours of quiet simmering, and in the pignata they get it.

Which piece for what

The pignata is the pot for pulses and soups: narrow at the top, wide in the middle, it keeps the steam in. The shallow pan is for sautéed vegetables and for tiella of rice, potatoes and mussels; the deep one for long sauces and braised meat. The bean pot and the potato cooker are specific traditional shapes; the baking dish goes in the oven; the tajine comes from the other shore of the Mediterranean but works on the same principle.

The rules for not breaking it

1. Soak before first use: twelve hours in cold water. 2. Low flame, always, and on gas a heat diffuser helps. It does not work on induction. 3. No thermal shocks: never a hot pot under cold water, never a cold one on a high flame. 4. Wash by hand, with little soap: terracotta is porous and absorbs it. Treated this way, a pignata lasts for decades — Salento houses still cook in their grandmothers' ones.

The maker works slowly

The large pieces are made by a single craftsman, who delivers when he has finished. If a shape shows as out of stock it has not disappeared: it comes back, in its own time. Leave your address on the product page and you will hear as soon as it does.