My New Donabe and the Seemingly Scary Portable Gas Stove of Doom!

For my first post I decided to talk about my new donabe that my mom bought me for Christmas!!! For those of you who are not familiar with a donabe, I will do a little explaining.

My beautiful donabe!

Leaving my donabe to soak up the water...

A donabe is a clay earthen pot that is known for it's porous surface that allows for an even distribution of heat throughout the pot. They are extremely versatile, but should only be used for soup based dishes such as miso soup and hot pots. It should never be used to cook dry foods, stir-fries, or for frying with oil due to it's porous texture. It works best for dishes such as sukiyaki where the melding and blending of flavors is ideal. It simmers meat and vegetables so well that they retain all of their juices and nutrients. Even after cooking, the pot remains warm for a long period of time which can be very convenient.

You should always dry a donabe this way!

Before using a donabe, you must season it. First, I had to soak it in tap water for about three hours so that it absorbed enough water. I then left it to dry over night because if the outside of the donabe is wet and it comes in contact with a hot burner of a stove, it can cause the clay to expand and it can crack. The next day, I got my new portable butane stove ready, filled my donabe about 80% with water and 1/5 of cooked rice, and turned on the stove. I let it simmer on low heat until a sticky rice porridge was made and then I took it off the heat and let it cool to room temperature. Then I washed it lightly with a little bit of soap and water and wiped it dry.

Simmering the rice porridge on low heat

Checking the consistency of the porridge :)

Now the portable butane gas stove is a whole other story...upon receiving it, I was ecstatic and just couldn't wait to use it, but then I saw all of the warnings. I understand that these stoves can be very dangerous and must be handled with much caution so I took the time to read the entire booklet that came with the stove and then it just sat there for a few days.

The stove!

The butane that I found at a local store!

I was so terrified of using it, but then I knew that I had to use it for my beautiful new donabe and when
I finally decided to use it...I took a lot of precautions. Apparently, if you use a butane
stove indoors without proper ventilation, you could fill the room with carbon monoxide so I
opened many windows and even turned a ceiling fan on just to make sure. I even went so far as to wear my goggles and gas mask, mostly to make my grandmother laugh, but I was still a little nervous.

Now, I feel much better about using it and used it to make my first hot pot last night! As long as I do everything right and watch it, there is no problem! ^-^


Thank you for dealing with my long post! I will be posting about the hot pot that I made last night very soon! :)


  ありがとう!