I recently bought a Romertopf. Not sure exactly why, except that it was pretty, and I’m a sucker for interesting kitchen stuff. Can anyone give me some tips, recipes, suggestions, etc., for how to make use of it.
I’ve been reading up on it and I understand that you have to soak it in water and plan on baking/roasting in a slow-ish oven. But I still feel a little intimidated and would like some help. Thx.
I used to make absolutely killer good leg of lamb, whole chicken and pork loin.
Yes, you soak both the top and bottom half with water. Never use soap to wash them. They are an absorbant clay and will soak in the soap and make everything taste foul forever. Try something cheap privately before you make something for someone else, just in case the previous owner washed it with soap and ruined it.
Leg of lamb - poke holes all over the leg, insert slivers of garlic, candied or fresh ginger and leaves of rosemary. Place in a plastic gallon zippy bag, or whatever nonmetallic vessel to marinate in with: .5 cup each white wine or lemon juice, olive oil, .5 tsp black pepper, oregano, mint, garlic granules or 1 tbsp minced garlic fresh. Marinate at least 4 hours or overnight. Plop the lamb into the rommertopf and add 1 cup of the marinade [strained] and bake at 425F [put it into a COLD oven and then turn on the heat] remove when it is 130F for rare, 160 for shoe leather.
It makes its own pan juices and sort of steams stuff, if you want a crispy chicken skin, take the top off for the last half hour of cooking. You can also lump in a bunch of large pieces of cut up veggies with the dead critter - baby potatoes, carrots, celery and onions are my favorite foursome to roast with meats.
Jim Lahey puts it to good use making some of his fantastic bread.
Thanks for the tips. Re this:
I bought a new one. Do people buy them used?
Flea market, garage sale, ebay … yup.
Ok. That makes sense. I do love to buy old, well-used kitchen stuff at garage sales. Especially glass refrigerator containers.
<Thelma lays hand on forehead…feels a flicker of Garage Sale Fever…>
Bumping this because I was just gifted a used Romertopf cooker that I plan to use this week to roast a chicken. Anyone out there still using one and got any great recipes to try out?
Wow. I just noticed my Romertopf on the shelf this morning. I still haven’t used it. I was thinking of seeking out this old thread-- 9 years old??
Maybe someone bought one during a spell of covid lockdown cooking boredom and mastered it.
I’ve only ever made bread in a Romertopf, but if you are interested in that, here’s a recipe for it (scroll about 3/4 down the page). It’s the no-knead kind of bread and you can use any no-knead recipe you want. The Romertopf needs to go into a cold oven, get heated to 425F, and then you put the dough in the hot pot. It’s kind of a pain to do, but it does make excellent bread.
When I make this type of bread, I put the dough on the parchment for its last rise, then use that to pull the loaf up and plop it into the hot pot.
I took a look at mine and realized it’s a Romertopf Reco, made in Mexico, and is unglazed inside. This is different from the Romertopfs made in Germany which have a glaze on the inside of the base. What I’m reading online is that you should soak the top and bottom with the Reco, and otherwise cook like you would with the glazed version.
So I made a chicken in the pot tonight, it came out very juicy and flavorful. The potatoes in the pot weren’t completely done, which surprised me since they were in the oven for 90 minutes. It must be because the oven was cold at the start, and it takes a while to heat the clay pot with all the water soaked in.
Interesting about the potatoes. What kind were they? How big? Or how big were the pieces?
Maybe I’ll finally try out mine.
Small Yukon Gold. The ones on top were fully cooked through, the ones on the bottom were not. It probably would have gone better if I’d cut them in half.
Gosh, I would have expected just the opposite-- bottom cooked, top not so much. Good learning experience. (For your readers, too!)
I removed the lid for the last 25 minutes to brown the chicken and that probably was the reason.
I made bread today using this recipe. The bread tastes wonderful, but unfortunately it stuck to the bottom of the unglazed pot. Next time I’ll add a sheet of parchment paper.
Wow! That is gorgeous. Bravo!