When making pure-clay ware without elasticizes, plasticizers or petalite (an ore of lithium), some lids may naturally warp slightly during firing.  For this reason we check and mark those pieces with a pencil, with the mark running from the edge of the lid to the rim of the pot. This is a good reference for finding the best fit between the lid and pot.

Here are some answers to additional questions you might have:

1. Are products that have the pencil marks from the Regular Line?

Yes, we mark both the Regular and Alternate line.

2. Won’t the pencil marks eventually wash off? Then, I wouldn’t know how the lid should fit on that pot?

Yes, the pencil marks will eventually wash off, but before then:

a. With repeated use, ”heating and cooling” the pot/lid pair will help them settle into a certain best fit position.

b. When you see the mark fading, you can easily re-mark the same place with a pencil.

3. If the pencil marks indicate the exact position that the lid should be sitting on the pot, then other lids from other pots would not fit, correct? Meaning, only a specific lid will fit with a specific pot?

There could be other lids that fit the pan/pot, but in that given batch of firing, this pair was determined to have the best fit.

Miriam’s Earthen Cookware features a unique handle design where the handle is incorporated onto the rim of pot/pan, griddle while the pot is being made. This “handle” is the protruding lip that runs around the circumference on the top.

They are made by a special method of coil-compressing the clay into place. This special method of crafting the lid allows for the handle to stay cooler than the rest of the body of the pot. It is also the same method the knob on the lid is made! The handles provide a firm grip just like a traditional two-sided handle, but the good news is that this newer design solves many problems that traditional handles pose:

• The handle runs around the circumference of the pot, so it is easy to grab and hold the pot from any side. There is no need to over-think handle accessibility while placing a pot full of ingredients on the stove! If you do end up placing the pot in the wrong direction, you do not need to worry about turning around a hot pot with food to the correct position just to access the handles.
• The handle is not affixed to the pot after it is made; it is made while the pot itself is being formed. This means that after years of use, you do not need to worry about screws coming out or an affixed handle breaking off.
• Coil pressing the clay into a handle means no silicone padding or other materials for cooling are required, keeping the pot entirely non-toxic and eco-friendly. The handle stays naturally cooler than the rest of the pot because of this method. Sometimes, it may be necessary to use oven mitts to handle the pot if the pot has been cooking food for more than 30 or 40 minutes, but recipes usually do not require this long, anyways!
• The handle is uniform throughout the circumference of the pot and does not protrude, making it a chip-resistant design. This means less kitchen accidents, too!
• When stirring food in conventional cookware (metal/ceramic), the smooth metal pan moves all around your stovetop, forcing you to grab the handle before stiring. With MEC, the material has a higher density and offers more friction, meaning your pot will not move around while stirring!

Miriam’s Earthen Cookware can transition from being a pressure cooker to a Dutch oven to a slow cooker all in the same cooking session, depending on how it is used!

To use MEC as a pressure cooker, add your ingredients to the pot (i.e. dried beans cooking from scratch, or meat), add enough water, and cover and cook until your ingredients are 3/4 way done. It is important in this case to leave ¼ of the pot empty to provide room for steam to build up – this steam pressure is what cooks your food quickly and efficiently.

Once your beans or meat is done, you can let it cool down and either store/refrigerate it (to add it to recipes later), or you can now convert the pot into a Dutch oven for the next cooking steps. You can do this by stirring in other ingredients (i.e. Vegetables and spices) as needed to complete cooking your dish — like when making a Chili.

Taking it one step further, you can transition your pot into a slow cooker: you turn the heat down to low and let the ingredients simmer and complete the cooking process. In most cases, the stove can be turned off 15 minutes before the food is fully done: the heat retained inside is sufficient to finish the cooking your food to perfection!