The first use of a new vessel

Before its first meal a new Zlakusa vessel is rinsed in warm water, dried, greased inside with lard or oil and baked empty for about an hour at 250 °C — in an oven that heats up along with it. The whole thing takes an afternoon and is done once, not before every meal.

Why a new vessel is prepared at all

Zlakusa pottery is unglazed: there is no glaze closing the surface, so the wall is porous and takes up whatever reaches it. Fat rubbed into a dry vessel enters those pores, and heating binds it to the clay, leaving a thin layer that slows further absorption. It is the same process by which a cast-iron pan is seasoned, and for the same reason: the layer is built, not applied.

The first bake does a second job as well. A vessel carries moisture from the air after it leaves the workshop, and a controlled rise from a cold oven drives that out slowly and evenly — the gentlest thermal cycle the vessel will ever go through.

1. 01

   Rinse it

   In clean warm water with a new sponge, no detergent. From then on that sponge is kept for the pottery alone.

2. 02

   Let it dry completely

   Naturally, for a few hours, in the air. Fat will not enter a damp wall, so hurrying here spoils the whole process.

3. 03

   Grease the inside

   A thin layer of lard or vegetable oil over the whole interior. Rub until the surface darkens and takes it up, then wipe away the excess — the layer should be invisible, not greasy.

4. 04

   Bake it empty

   Put it into a cold oven, set it to 250 °C and bake for about an hour from the moment the oven starts to heat.

5. 05

   Let it cool on its own

   Turn the oven off and leave it shut until the vessel is cold. Then rinse with hot water and dry it.

Soaking: once, not before every meal

The instruction "soak the pot in water for half an hour before each use" circulates widely and is correct — for a different kind of vessel. It belongs to unglazed oven bakers of the Roman-pot type, which rely on water held in a soaked wall to keep the food moist. Zlakusa pottery is fire cookware and is prepared with fat rather than water: soaking it before every meal puts moisture into a wall that then meets a fierce heat source, which works against the vessel rather than for it.

Water comes into it twice: at the first rinse, before greasing, and later when burnt-on residue needs loosening. Beyond that it is not soaked.

The smell of clay, and the first meal

A new vessel smells of earth and fire, more strongly while it is warm. That is the smell of the fired clay itself, sharpened by moisture the wall took up standing in a workshop or a shop. The first empty bake drives most of it off, and the rest goes after two or three meals, once the layer of fat has settled.

So the first dish cooked in it should not be one you care about. Something fatty and plain does best — beans, potatoes, a piece of meat — because the fat carries on the work the seasoning began. Sharply acidic dishes, heavy with vinegar or lemon, are better left for later.

How a sac is seasoned

The sac is a lid, so it is prepared on the side that faces the food — inside, across the dome. The method is the same: rinse, dry, a thin coat of fat, then heat. If the sac will not fit an oven, it is heated over embers: set some twenty centimetres above them at first, lowered slowly, then left to cool where it stands, out of any draught.

The crepulja that goes under the sac is prepared separately and in the same way. The two work as a pair, but they are seasoned one at a time.

When

once, before the first meal

Temperature

250 °C, the vessel going into a cold oven

Bake time

about 60 minutes, then cooling in the closed oven

Coating

lard or vegetable oil, a thin layer inside

Soaking in water

not before every meal — only at the first rinse

Detergent

never, neither in preparation nor later