Step by Step Use of a Sand Pot

A Chinese sand pot is a tool foremost and not a cooking technique per se, but there is a certain progression one follows in order to cook with it successfully.

Step #1 Have the sand pot at room temperature, no colder, to begin. If you are taking the pot from the refrigerator to reheat leftovers stored within, be certain to bring it to room temperature prior to heating, lest the bottom crack with a sudden change of heat.

Step #2 Once the food, if the recipe directs, has been textured and colored through brief searing in hot oil, it should be layered evenly in the sand pot and covered with the requisite cooking liquids. Large pieces of poultry to be cooked in their skin, such as a whole duck, should be placed in the pot on top of a layer of blanched Chinese cabbage, carrot shavings, scallion segments, or sautéed onions—a vegetable bed that will be a subtle, complementary backdrop—to insure that the fragile skin does not stick to the bottom of the pot.