The reason? I am not quite sure. Originally, they used to say that it was to eliminate any lead that it could contain. Apparently, the glaze contains some lead.... I am not quite sure that it would be the case nowadays. Anyway, I have always done it and I have not had any pot or saucepan cracked.
There are two other methods as well:
1) To boil some water in the pan before using it with food
2) To rub with garlic and allow to dry overnight. (I have never done this as I feel it would live some garlic taste and I may not want to use garlic in the recipe.
To bake cakes or pastry it is possible to do it, but you have to immerse the baking dish for 15 minutes in cold water before using it.
This is also recommended for the Römmertopf bakeware.
Another important thing is to always use wooden utensils. No metal.
And be careful about changes in temperature. Never put a hot terracotta pan on top of a cold surface.
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