Keeping the warmth in

The hand-fitted lid keeps heat and moisture close to the food. Together with the pot, it creates the enclosed cooking space for braising, steaming and baking.

Cookware: Lennox Hastie Fire Oven Set
Time: As needed.
Frequency: Whenever you cook with the lid on.

Ingredients

Lid
Pot
Bale
Food

Method

Wipe any food from the edges of the pot and lid so they can sit neatly together.

Attach the bale to both sides of the lid, lower it onto the pot, then remove the bale while you cook.

Follow your recipe for the cooking heat. For a braise, a gentle simmer gives the food time to soften.

To lift the lid during cooking, use a heatproof glove and fit both ends of the bale securely. Lift slowly, keeping your face and hands clear of the steam.

Rest the lid on a stable, heatproof surface, then remove the bale.

After cooking, let the lid cool a little. Wash both sides, including the fitted edge, then dry and lightly oil it.

Good to Know

The lid helps keep moisture in the pot during longer cooks. Steam rises from the food, gathers underneath the lid and falls back into the pot. This helps keep a braise moist as the meat softens.

The fitted edges help hold that moisture, but they do not make a pressure seal. Some steam will escape, so have a look at the liquid now and then during a long cook. If the sauce needs to thicken, leave the lid off for a while. Moisture can escape more freely, and the sauce will gradually reduce.

There is no fixed knob because both sides of the lid have a job. Turn it over and you have a skillet for frying and browning. For bread, that same cooking surface sits beneath the dough, with the pot turned over above it. The Bread Baking page shows you how to use that arrangement.