Cazuela, cocinar en

The cazuela is the earthenware casserole and the dish prepared in it. The simple earthenware cazuelas are very popular cooking vessels in Spain. They are flameproof, glazed inside and vary in depth from the fairly shallow small ones used for serving tapas to deep ones used for preparing dishes such as fish with excellent sauces like vizcaína, for example, or meats in sauce. In Castile, they are used for roasting and, on the whole, the oven-baked rice dishes of Catalonia, the Basque Country and the Levante are also prepared in cazuelas. Always use a heat diffuser when cooking on top of the stove, as direct contact with the heat can cause the cazuela to crack.