Schlemmertopf

I have finally purchased a Schlemmertofp. They're rare as hen's teeth these days, and unless you order it online, just about the only place to get one is at Sur La Table. And yes, friends, that means I have finally gone to a Sur La Table store! What a neat place. I'd like to purchase one of everything, please.

Now that I have my clay roaster, I can make a couple of the recipes from 365 Ways To Cook Chicken that call for a clay roaster. I decided on the basic Clay Pot Roast Chicken to start, with my own addition of white and sweet potatoes.

Clay Pot Roast Chicken

1 whole chicken, about 3 pounds
1 onion, cut into large chunks
2 carrots, cut into large pieces
1 white potato, cut into large pieces
1 sweet potato, cut into large pieces
2 T butter or margarine, melted
1 T garlic paste
½ t freshly ground black pepper
1 t rosemary, crumbled
½ t thyme

1. Soak clay roaster according to manufacturer’s directions

2. Rinse and dry chicken. Place inside roaster with vegetables around the chicken.

3. In a small bowl, combine melted butter, garlic, pepper, rosemary and thyme. Drizzle over chicken and veggies. Cover chicken.

4. Place roaster in the middle of a cold oven. Turn temperature to 450 and back for 1 hour. Remove lid and roast uncovered for about 10 minutes to brown the skin lightly.

Yeah. You can see how well I did with the "lightly brown" part. Oops.

The juices were so rich. This is basically chicken stock in the bottom of the roaster.

Overall, the chicken was good, and it was moist. I was not expecting so much juice to come from the chicken. It didn't let the chicken or the potatoes get crispy. Maybe if I didn't put in the veggies or potatoes the chicken would get crisp. Or maybe not. We'll see. And I read that you can bake bread in these things too...