A ''palayok'' is a
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
pot used as the traditional
food preparation container in the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
. ''Palayok'' is a
Tagalog word; in other parts of the country, especially in the
Visayas
The Visayas ( ), or the Visayan Islands (Visayan: ''Kabisay-an'', ; tl, Kabisayaan ), are one of the three principal geographical divisions of the Philippines, along with Luzon and Mindanao. Located in the central part of the archipelago, ...
, it is called a ''kulon''; smaller-sized pots are referred to as ''anglit''. Neighboring
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
and
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
refer to such vessel as a ''periuk''.
Cooking in a ''palayok''
The ''palayok'' is made of
earthenware, a
porous
Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void (i.e. "empty") spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0 and 1, or as a percentage between 0% and 100%. Strictly speaking, some tests measure ...
ceramic
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
material. This allows steam from cooking to
evaporate out of the pores in the
earthenware. Juices from the cooking food would not begin to burn until all the water has evaporated, after which the food is thoroughly cooked. Since
ceramic
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
does not transfer heat as much as metal, cooking in a ''palayok'' entails a longer time and a higher
temperature
Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measurement, measured with a thermometer.
Thermometers are calibrated in various Conversion of units of temperature, temp ...
than would normally be used with metal cookware.
The ''palayok'' should not be cleaned using household
detergents, as the porous material would easily imbibe chemicals in the detergent that would later impart unwanted flavors in the food during cooking. It is instead cleaned by soaking in warm water and when the
detritus has sufficiently softened, by scrubbing with salt.
Filipino cuisine
Filipino cuisine ( fil, lutong Pilipino/pagkaing Pilipino) is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that compose Fi ...
expert
Maria Orosa is credited with turning the
earthenware pot into an oven. Called the "Palayok Oven", the contraption consists of a ''palayok'' fitted with a piece of thin sheet metal cut to fit the bottom of the pot and a piece of
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It ha ...
foil placed below the lid.
These metal pieces are designed to reflect heat back into the pot. The pot is heated by using a native ''pugon'' or ''kalan'', a small wood-fired
stove
A stove or range is a device that burns fuel or uses electricity to generate heat inside or on top of the apparatus, to be used for general warming or cooking. It has evolved highly over time, with cast-iron and induction versions being develope ...
similar to a
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
shichirin
]
The ''shichirin'' (; , literally "seven wheels") is a small charcoal grill.
Etymology
''Shichirin'' being a compound word made up of the characters 七 (''shichi'' or ''nana'', "seven") and 輪 (''rin'' or ''wa'', "wheel," "loop," or "rin ...
.
See also
*
Tapayan
''Tapayan'' or ''tempayan'' (also known as ''balanga'', ''belanga'', or ''banga'') are large wide-mouthed earthenware or stoneware jars found in various Austronesian cultures in island Southeast Asia. Their various functions include fermenting ...
*
List of cooking vessels
This is a list of cooking vessels. A cooking vessel is a type of cookware or bakeware designed for cooking, baking, roasting, boiling or steaming. Cooking vessels are manufactured using materials such as steel, cast iron, aluminum, clay and va ...
References
{{reflist
Tagalog words and phrases
Philippine pottery
Cookware and bakeware
Cooking vessels
Philippine handicrafts