I have a number of donabe cookers (but not a dedicated rice donabe), and a gin donabe (smoker). I find the quality of the rice, when cooked properly in a donabe, is unmatched (I love my Zoj too, but that’s a whole other game).
I often put all sorts of things on top of the rice before turning on the donabe. Veg, ginger, sometimes fish (which cooks the fish a little bit too much for my liking, but in the general Japanese style of cooking fish a lot). Works great for assorted mushrooms…
The CMOS battery on mine died a while ago so I have to reset the time whenever I use it, but that just takes a few seconds. I wonder how easy it is to replace (idle curiosity)
I love my Zojirushi rice cooker, but every once in a while I really miss the lovely aroma of rice cooked in a clay pot (plus, crunchy rice bottoms!!). I haven’t easily found smaller sized donabe or clay pots that don’t require me to cook rice for a family of 5+.
@Chemicalkinetics - did you find this at your local Japanese or Asian grocery store?
Here, you can tell most of my donabe and “sand” clayware are not huge. My two regular donabe (on the left) are what people considered as 1 person and 1-2 person. I put a ruler to help put things in perspective. The lower left one has a inner diameter smaller than 6 inches.
While looking up donabe cookware I found a photo of one for sale on eBay that’s a dead ringer for two that I have. They were given to my parents by friends who’d been to Japan. This was in the mid-to-late '50s. The pots are quite a bit bigger than the five that Chemical Kinetics showed a photo of. I’ll add a photo of the eBay one since mine are behind a bunch of stuff and high up, but the shape and design are nearly identical.
They aren’t like the rice cooker, more like the one on the lower left, and look to be more glazed. Do I dare use these on the stove?
I do have one precious Chinese clay pot that I put on the stove, but I tend to mind that pot a lot while cooking. I’ve heard that you can only use these on open flames, save not electric ranges. You’re not supposed to use it on high heat, and even to get it up to medium you have to start slow and then gently bring to medium. It’s certainly not for quick cooking!
If you have a gas range, I would put some liquid in that and give it a try.
Hey, what’s up. Yeah, I remember you, Petek. I haven’t collected many knives since then except just a couple. I got a Glestain gyuto which I like. It is pretty stickless. When the knife is sharp, it can dice up a tomato without the knife picking up any piece, which makes it easy to work.
I have just recently ordered this knife for a friend. I haven’t received it yet and it is in back-ordered… It looks nice on paper too. VG-10 stainless steel core with a 60-61 HRC hardness. Magnolia wood handle with buffalo horn ferrule. A wood saya too. The knife blade pattern is also nice. If it performs, then I may post a review here.