Vancouver restaurants lock in flavour with sizzling Chinese clay pots

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      Louis Lau’s mother has been using the same clay pot for years. “Everything she cooks in it tastes better than in a brand-new clay pot,” says Lau, sous-chef at the Buffet at the River Rock Casino Resort (8811 River Road, Richmond), during a phone chat. That’s because, when used repeatedly, the porous surface of a clay pot can take on the flavours of the food cooked within it. Clay pots are integral to Chinese cooking, and Lau and many other local chefs use them extensively in their restaurant kitchens. Lau says the advantage is that clay pots retain heat and lock in the juices of food much better than regular metal pots; that way, they produce instant belly-warming dishes.

      It’s easy to find restaurants around town that serve clay pots. From now until February 26, the Buffet is running a clay pot promotion in honour of Chinese New Year on February 19. From Monday to Thursday, with a regular buffet dinner purchase, diners can add on one of two $25 clay pot dishes (each meant to be shared among four people). One contains edamame, sweet corn kernels, roasted corn on the cob, shiitake mushrooms, chopped tofu, and king crab legs and claws—all in a umami-rich miso broth. The other features deep-fried lobster, vermicelli, lobster broth, and a blend of satay and XO sauce.

      David Chung, owner of the Jade Seafood Restaurant (8511 Alexandra Road, Richmond), says one of the restaurant’s top-selling dishes is the roasted clay pot chicken, which arrives at the table succulent and infused with flavour from its bed of rock salt and star anise.

      During a chat at the restaurant, he describes another benefit of clay pot cooking: sizzle. Food is often prepped in a wok and then finished in a clay pot that’s been preheated on the gas range. This not only makes the food arrive scorching hot, it also activates and releases the flavours of the ingredients. “The clay pot makes the dish so different,” Chung says. “The whole thing sizzles and tastes so good.” At lunchtime, Jade also serves clay pot rice with dried octopus and minced pork, or with preserved pork, Chinese sausage, and preserved duck

      Clay pots are often family-sized vessels, but at Jade you can also get a mini, personal-sized clay pot filled with prawns, scallops, and white mushrooms in a lemongrass chili sauce. Other options include a large clay pot with lingcod, ginger, and bitter gourd; one with braised lamb; and an earthy vegetarian clay pot with mixed mushrooms and dried cordycep, a fungus.

      At Red Star Seafood Restaurant (8298 Granville Street and 2200–8181 Cambie Road, Richmond), Granville Street assistant manager Michael Kwok points out that clay pot cooking is sometimes called “hot pot” on menus. However, it shouldn’t be confused with the simmering broth in a communal metal pot that’s also popular.

      He explains that certain dishes, such as one with vermicelli and sautéed prawns in satay sauce, are traditionally cooked in clay pots for their unique heat-retention properties. “If vermicelli cools down fast, it will stick together,” he says. “It also needs a lot of liquid. The purpose of the clay pot is to keep it hot and saucy.” He also recommends beef and enoki mushrooms with satay sauce in a clay pot, as well as a clay pot of braised black cod with slices of roasted suckling pig.

      Another classic clay pot dish consists of rice topped with your choice of ingredients. While Jade offers a couple of clay pot rice dishes for lunch, for a bounty of selections, the Soup House (5763 Victoria Drive) is where it’s at, with 32 kinds of clay pot rice to choose from. Even if you’re ravenous, you’ll need to allow 20 minutes of cooking time so that the rice can steam and brown in the clay pots. In the meantime, the servers will bring you a complimentary bowl of chicken broth, and seaweed salad to tide you over.

      Go for the minced pork cake with salted duck egg for unbeatable rustic comfort food. The layer of rice arrives with a caramelized crust at the bottom (the best part, hands down). The neutral flavour of the rice is complemented by the savoury minced pork cake that tops it, as well as the very salty duck egg (just eat a little in every mouthful). Other options, which range from clay pot rice with chicken, dried mushrooms, and Chinese sausage to one with braised beef tongue, are ideal for a wintry day.

      If all this clay pot dish sampling inspires you to do your own cooking, Tinland Cookware (260 East Pender Street) in Chinatown has a wide variety of clay pots for home use. (Prices range from about $7 to $30, depending on size.) Salesperson Steve Shum cautions that the pots need to be soaked in water before use, and that sharp fluctuations in temperature will cause them to crack. But if you treat them carefully, clay pots will yield wonderfully flavourful results for years of cooking.

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