VitaClay Chef Gourmet Rice & Slow Cooker

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Food TV gadget shows are hot (see previous article, "Fine Living: Shopping with Chefs"). With so many pots and pans flying at your TV screen, what kind of gadget is worth getting? How about a gadget that does more than one thing, is well made, and looks good? You know, menus are seasonal, and gadgets are, too -- all too often. As the end of summer starts to loom and cool-weather products start hitting the market, one nify new gadget for this fall is the VitaClay Chef Gourmet Rice & Slow Cooker, made by Essenergy. Just by the name, you know it does at least two things. It looks good and is well made. As a bonus, it even tells the time. Slow cookers and pressure cookers are gaining ground judging by the number of cookbooks published. Cooking rice in a machine is simple to do and produces very light, flavorful rice - perfect for a winter stew. However, most slow cookers and rice cookers are coated with non-stick Teflon – that can be unhealthy. The VitaClay cooking pot within the machine is made of Chinese Zisha clay rather than metal. It is a bit like using a Moroccan tagine or a Povencal tian. Clay is great to cook with and easy to clean up. The LCD display (showing time) is easy to read, and easy to set for rice or stews. The outside is brushed aluminum, so it better looking next to a SubZero refrigerator. The unit comes with a booklet or recipes by Suzanne Vandyck, which includes Chicken Tagine with Green Olives & Preserved Lemon (p. 19) and San Francisco Fishermen's Wharf Cioppino (p. 30) as a guide on how to get the best results when using the machine as a slow cooker. The trick is to use less liquid since steam doesn't really escape as in normal cooking. Bring on the cold weather: Super Chef is ready! Previous articles: Fine Dining: Shopping with Chefs Marcel Biro Cookware Marcus Samuelsson: BlueStar Kerry Simon on HSN Daniel Boulud v. Todd English: Initial Branding Richard Hamilton: Test Drive a Bonnet Kitchen: Better with a Super Chef? Todd English: Pots and Pans Pucked? [Chefs & Branding - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to superchefblog