Hello, everybody!
It's been cold lately
I've made a few casseroles congee
And some casseroles cuisines
And then followers asked if they could use iron pot inside of clay casseroles
Of course iron pots are okay, but not that good
Also fans asked me what the benefits of clay casserole are
And then I think I might be lacking knowledge in this area
So I've been learning a lot lately
This time I came to Gong's Casserole in Luzhou, Sichuan
An intangible cultural heritage, let me to learn more with them
This is our last stop
This man is the director of this museum
And he's... What generation are you?
I am the eighth generation of the heritage
His name is Gong Jun
He's the eighth generation of Gong's Casserole and the director of this museum
And we're here to learn from you
Some new knowledge about the clay casserole
Welcome Welcome
Let me show you around
Yes, I see you have a lot of them here
Here are some of our tea sets
These are all different sizes
And then these are some scenes that my father did about the production of casseroles
This raw material was brought back and then put in here and crushed up
The raw material for the casserole is then crushed
hmm
This scoop pot
This scoop
Usually it's for braising
It will keep the meat warm when it's on the table
hmm
This is really good to know
This is the first time I've seen this in all my years in the restaurant business
This is the kind that steams rice
I have one of these at my old home!
It is for steaming rice
I have one in my house... last year... when I repaired the house last year
Exactly the same as this one
I just asked in the comment section for a long time
We didn't know what it was for, but now I know what it is
This is a rice steamer, isn't it?
It's for steaming rice, but also could for steaming meat
Our family heirloom, the only old antique piece
This is the process of making our casserole
Preparing the raw materials first
Then the forming into the shape. After the shapes are done, they are dried
After drying, they are baked in the baking room
The final process is glazing
Look at it
Yeah, it's glazed.
Yes, that's the thing that shines when it's baked.
It's the glaze
Well, it's the same like this, see?
Do you glaze both the inside and the outside?
No, we only glaze the edges
Why don't you glaze inside?
No need for that
It's not necessary
Just to make it look a little bit better, that's what it means
Ohhhh
And then these are some of our old antique pieces, and this you see
This is a skimming spoon
This is the skimming spoon we're talking about
Like this one is a chopstick cage
Oh, for chopsticks
Because we didn't have these things before, so use clay to make as many shapes as we wanted
Yeah
These are some old antique pieces left over from the past
This is the raw materials for our casserole
The raw material is white sand clay
Oh
white sand mud
Can I move it?
You can
Add this charcoal
This is charcoal
Crush the charcoal into powder
After crushing it up, put into this at a certain ratio
So the casserole has an air hole in it
Is this the explanation?
Oh yo, it is so
Is this for heating
No, it's not
It's not?
You guess
Is it a horn?
No, this is for the summer
For summer?
You can't really tell by looking at its shape
It's a mosquito canister to repel mosquitoes
It repels mosquitoes?
Those are all done by kids
Children experience day
Though they are not very neat
but still in good shapes
I saw a dinosaur earlier
There was a dinosaur
Here... there's a dinosaur here
This is so cute
This workshop is for glazing clay
This is the glazing clay
Yes, this is for glazing
This is glaze clay, the glaze in the picture
The first step in making into shape
Let's go to up there
Okay
Workshop 3
This master has been doing this all his life
A lifetime
Right
How long have you been doing this?
I've been doing this for a long time
30 to 50 years
Thirty years?
Thirty or fifty years
I don't understand what he's saying
Decades
So this is how we as craftsmen are like
Maybe we are not good at talking
Just taking the time and all youth
It's all dedicated to the craftsmanship
Is this process to collect the mud back first
hmm
Collect it and break it up
Break it up
Add water to dilute it and mix it up according to the ratio
Yes, that will be the raw material for the casserole
Mix it up and put it on the mould and then shape it
Yes
Get it to dry when it's finished
You can do whatever you want. When you're done, let it dry naturally
Dry it and then bake it
Yes, then dried, then baked, then finished
And that's it
Yes