How to cook on Piral terracotta cookware | Instructions for cooking on Piral cookware

Posted by Terra Allegra Imports LLC on 26th Nov 2015

Terra Allegra encloses a Use & Care guide with every order of Piral terracotta we ship.

IMPORTANT USE AND CARE INSTRUCTIONS:

Congratulations on purchasing this fine Italian terracotta cookware.

How to Use Italian Terracotta Cookware

There are so many advantages to cooking and serving with Piral all natural terracotta cookware. Piral cookware is extremely versatile so it can be used in your food prep every day. Enjoy many types of cooking with Piral from frying an egg, various rice dishes, sauteing, oven roasting, pizza, braising, red, white or clear sauces, soups and stews, brown and bake casseroles and stir fries to name a few. Piral Bowls, Bakers & Soup Crocks are for oven use and are not recommended for use on stove top cooking. All other pans such as Saucepans, Dutch ovens and Stew-Stock pots are for stove top & oven use.

Preparing your Piral terracotta cookware:

Before first use, immerse in warm tap water and keep submerged for at least 6 hours to hydrate the clay and seal the natural porousness. ( okay to allow water temp to cool )

Allow to fully dry after removing from water and before storing in a cabinet. Depending on climate conditions etc. drying fully may take more or less time.

For Stove-top Use: To season the cookware for stove-top use, place on burner on low heat with 4-8 cups of water for 2 hours gradually increasing the heat to medium and finally medium high. Wipe clean and you are ready to go.

For Oven Use: Bowls, and Bakers & mini-soup crocks are oven use only. To season for oven use, fill half way with water place in cool oven and gradually increase heat to 450 for 2 hours.

After this initial seasoning, it is stove-top safe on low-to-medium heat with food or liquid inside.

Always use one of our heat diffusers #99134 on electric stovetops. Use of other diffusers may void any implied warranties

To fully season, simply use many times at lower heat levels

After many uses your terracotta cookware will tolerate very high temperatures, as well as under broiler and on grill.

Important tips:

Avoid thermal shock, i.e.; Introduce cold liquid to very hot pans slowly and cold pans should be heated slowly. Never subject terracotta cookware to temperature extremes

We recommend washing by hand and store in a well ventilated location. But Piral is dishwasher safe

Best practice tip: use either wood, silicone or other non-metal spatulas or utensils to keep these terracotta vessels in best possible condition for long time use.

Store leftovers in the refrigerator in Piral cookware and reheat on the burner, in oven or microwave directly.

The cleanup is easy due to the glass like interior cooking surface. If something does stick simply fill with hot soapy water for some time and wipe with ease. Stubborn stuck on food may require boiling water in the pan to loosen food particles, allow to cool, then clean with scrounge type spounge. If extremely difficult stuck on food, use a SOS type soap pad very sparingly.