In Russian cuisine, numerous dishes cooked in pots in the oven occupy a special place. Products are slowly stewed in their own juice or broth in a confined space, as if in a Russian oven, so the food turns out to be juicy and very aromatic. Evidence of the popularity of this method of cooking can serve as hundreds of recipes with photos of meat in pots in the oven with vegetables, mushrooms, cereals and so on.
Advantages and minor flaws
In addition to excellent taste, dishes in pots have other advantages, because of which many housewives cook in them not only on weekdays, but also on holidays:
- Simplicity. The cooking algorithm in pots in the oven is simple and accessible even to beginners. The cut raw or heat-treated ingredients are put in a pot, then it is placed in the oven, where it is cooked without human intervention. You can do your own thing by setting up a kitchen timer for reliability. There is no need to turn over anything, stir, only sometimes sauces, cheese or greens are added at the final stages of cooking.
- Universality. You can cook new dishes every day. Exotic, festive, diet. The number of existing recipes is enough, perhaps, to make a menu without repeating for a year. This versatility is especially well felt during fasting, when housewives knock down to provide their relatives with a tasty and varied table, without using prohibited foods. Only recipes of lean potatoes in pots in the oven, stewed with other vegetables, dozens.
- Beauty. Pots themselves are artistically decorated, and in combination with beautiful, fragrant food become the decoration of any, even the most pretentious holiday table.
- Utility. As a rule, such dishes are made of harmless materials, so oxides, paint, extraneous odors will not get into the food. You can cook using a minimal amount of oil, some dishes are stewed completely without oil, in broth, water, your own juice or in the fat contained in the products, for example, such fat is melted when the meat is languishing in pots in the oven.
- Convenience. In small pots, you can cook food in batches and serve on the table. So the guests will be more comfortable to eat, and the owners less to wash the dishes.
- Ease of care. It is easy to wash the pots, especially if they have a glazed coating.
It is worth mentioning the minor flaws of this wonderful dishes:
- Ceramic and porcelain pots break when dropped or hit hard, so they need to be treated more carefully than metal or plastic dishes.
- Ceramic pots are not intended for cooking on an open fire stove.
- The pot is very hot in the oven, if you spin in the kitchen clutter and lose your vigilance, you can get burned. From the oven, dishes should be removed, armed with a tack or a special boot, which is usually available in the set.
Pot selection
If there are no pots on the farm, then they should definitely be purchased. Without them, it is difficult to consider a full-fledged kitchen, because the family menu is devoid of many delicious and healthy dishes. But before buying, you need to prepare for information, weigh everything, because the hostess's comfort and the quality of the food cooked in pots in the oven depend on the choice.
First of all, you need to determine the volume, quantity of dishes and the material from which it is made. There are small portioned pots with a volume of up to 700 milliliters and large pots with a volume of up to 30 liters. Small pots often go in sets of several pieces, and large ones are bought one at a time. The choice in this case depends on the dishes that will be cooked, but the main thing is that the pots are placed in the oven and do not touch when cooking. Therefore, before going to the store, you need to measure the oven and, for reliability, look at the photos of the pots in the oven to visually imagine how they are correctly located inside the stove.
The most common are pots made of cast iron, heat-resistant porcelain, ceramics without glaze and with a layer of glaze. Advantages of cast iron: resistance to shock, scratches, sudden changes in temperature, durability. Its cons: high price, tendency to corrosion. Advantages of porcelain: grace, excellent thermal conductivity. Disadvantages: fragility and very high cost. Ceramic ware without glaze is versatile, cheap, but fragile, and the worst is that it is too willing to absorb the smells of detergents and all the products that are prepared in it.
The most popular and versatile option is glazed ceramic pots. They are affordable, easy to maintain and operate, they are not so sorry when they break, like porcelain. There are a lot of offers in stores, it is easy to get confused in the types, forms, manufacturers. Each person builds on his abilities, goals and aesthetic taste. However, you should avoid the frequent mistake made by gullible or too economical buyers when acquiring temptingly cheap dishes made in glorious China.
Often such incorrigible defects as low-quality glaze, different wall or bottom thicknesses, internal cracks, and inconsistent firing conditions lie behind cheapness. Such a purchase can be an illustration of the proverb about the double pay of a mean person. Food in Chinese low-quality pots with a high degree of probability will burn or give off an unpleasant aftertaste, the dishes themselves from an insignificant temperature difference or a light blow will crack, the enamel will quickly begin to exfoliate. In a word, instead of perfectly cooked meat in pots, the hostess will receive disappointment and self-doubt.
Therefore, it is wiser to buy dishes from a trusted and reliable manufacturer. From foreign options, the products of Italian and Ukrainian firms have proven themselves well. But Italian dishes are expensive, and Ukrainian is hardly better than Russian. The benefit of domestic manufacturers is many, special attention is paid to ceramic pots made in Vyatka and Pskov.
To avoid marriage, when buying, you need to carefully examine the dishes: there should be no cracks, chips, scratches, swelling on it. If a clear, clear sound is heard when tapping the walls and the bottom, then the pots were correctly burned. The choice of color and decoration of dishes is always subjective and depends on individual preferences. However, you should not save money on beauty, it is better to buy exquisite and original pots, then festive portioned dishes will appear in the hostess's arsenal, which is not a shame to show the guests.
Cooking principles
It does not matter whether meat, fish, vegetables or mushrooms are cooked in pots in the oven, the general principles remain the same. The whole process is divided into three stages: preparation of products, filling dishes, stewing in the oven. Each of them is required and affects the final result.
- Preparation of products. All ingredients, once in pots, are stewed the same time, but they have different cooking times. Therefore, so that as a result, some of the products are not raw, they are preliminarily brought to half-cooked or fully prepared by frying or boiling.
- Bookmark the ingredients. The vessel is filled by about three quarters, since the products that have absorbed the liquid increase in volume, the vessel which is full to capacity will boil away. If juicy vegetables are used, then sometimes their juice is enough for complete stewing. However, more often broth, dry wine or clean water is added to the pots. The more liquid is added, the thinner the dish will turn out.
- Quenching. The pots in the oven should be covered with a lid so that aromas remain inside them and products languish with the same temperature throughout the volume. Dough cakes are sometimes used as a lid, which not only do not release moisture and odors, but also become a spicy addition to the dish. The cooking time and temperature in the oven depend on the recipe and the products, usually the time varies between half an hour and a couple of hours, and the temperature is between 150 and 200 ° C.
Tips and nuances
- Ceramic dishes do not like sudden changes in temperature, it can even crack from them, so it is undesirable to put cold pots in a very hot oven. For the same reasons, ceramics should not be allowed to touch the walls or heating elements of the oven.
- Hot dishes are best placed on wooden coasters and boards; most dangerous - on wet and cold surfaces.
- Even after he got the pot out of the oven, he continues to cook for another ten to fifteen minutes, at which time he should be left alone to cool slowly.
- Sometimes when preparing a dish with very fragrant ingredients, the pot is preliminarily spread with parchment paper, which does not allow strong odors to soak into the walls and bottom.
- Ceramics should not be washed with hard metal brushes and using abrasive products, since it is possible to scratch the layer of glaze and disrupt the uniform heating of products. It is better to clean the pots with soft sponges, in the dishwasher or pour water for a while, so that the sticky product residues depart more easily.
Roast with Chicken and Mushrooms
Structure:
- portioned pieces of chicken or fillet - 1 kilogram;
- onions - 400 grams;
- fresh mushrooms - 50 grams;
- raisins and peeled walnuts - 50 grams each;
- vegetable oil - a couple of spoons for preliminary frying;
- spices, chopped herbs, salt - to taste;
- sauce components - 400 grams of sour cream, 25 grams of flour, 25 grams of butter.
Roast in the oven in a pot is a tasty, satisfying and simple dish. It is prepared as follows. Fry the chicken pieces until half cooked, remove from the pan. In the remains of oil and meat juice, first fry the onion rings, and then lightly brown the nuts. Wash and dry the raisins. Make a sauce: to do this, fry the flour in vegetable oil to a beige color, and then gradually add sour cream to it. Arrange all the ingredients in pots and pour the sauce. Simmer for half an hour at 180 ° C. For a beginner who does not know when to remove the dish, a guideline may be a photo of potatoes in pots in the oven with chicken and vegetables.
Tender beef
Structure:
- beef - 1 kilogram;
- onions - 4 medium onions;
- sour cream - 250 milliliters;
- mustard, flour - 1 teaspoon each;
- salt, spices - to taste;
- vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon for each pot.
Cooking
Cut the meat into small pieces that are conveniently eaten with a fork. Mix the beef with coarsely chopped onions, arrange in pots, add a spoonful of oil to each. Send them to the oven for two hours to languish at a temperature of 180 ° C. Remove the pots, pour sour cream mixed with flour and mustard into them, simmer for another half hour at the same temperature. Serve with herbs.
Chicken with rice
Structure:
- chicken fillet - 400 grams;
- onions and carrots - two each;
- rice - 1 tablespoon per serving;
- vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon for passivation;
- salt, spices - to taste.
Cooking
Fry grated carrots and chopped onions until half ready. In the same pan, fry chicken chopped with medium slices. Some housewives do not like to subject meat to excessive roasting; chicken can be laid raw. Arrange meat and vegetables in equal portions in pots. Topped with a spoonful of rice, salt, pepper, add your favorite spices. Pour in broth or water so that the liquid covers the food. Send the chicken in pots to the oven. Simmer for about 40 minutes at 180 ° C. You can navigate by the state of rice, it takes longer to cook than the rest of the ingredients.
Pork in pots in the oven with buckwheat
Structure:
- low-fat pork - 500 grams;
- buckwheat - 3 tablespoons per serving;
- onion - 2 heads;
- salt, bay leaf, spices to taste
- broth - 100-200 milliliters per pot, depending on its volume.
Cooking
Cut the meat into pieces about the size of a walnut, mix with coarsely chopped onions and arrange in pots. Top with three tablespoons of pre-washed buckwheat. Salt, add bay leaf and spices. Pour the broth, and if not, then water, so that the liquid covers the products. Cook an hour at a temperature of 180 ° C.
Potatoes in pots in the oven with sausages or sausage
Structure:
- potatoes - 1-2 average tuber per serving;
- onion - 2 heads;
- carrots - 2 pieces each;
- sausages or cuts of sausage - to taste;
- champignons - 2 medium mushrooms per serving;
- sour cream - 1 tablespoon per pot;
- vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon;
- salt, spices to taste.
Cooking
It is convenient to cook potatoes in pots in the oven with mushrooms and sausages or leftover sausages after work, when there is little time and no energy for more complex dishes. In vegetable oil, fry the onions and carrots diced into cubes until half cooked, then add chopped champignons to them, and a little after - pieces of sausages or sausages. Put potatoes sliced in cubes or slices at the bottom of the pots, add sautéed vegetables with mushrooms and sausages on top. Pour water so that its level reaches the middle of the food. Salt, pepper, put a spoonful of sour cream or, if not sour cream, mayonnaise. Simmer for about an hour at a temperature of 150-180 ° C.
Potatoes with mushrooms
Structure:
- potatoes - 500 grams;
- mushrooms (noble or champignons) - 250 grams;
- carrots and onions - 1 each;
- garlic - 4-5 cloves;
- vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon;
- salt, spices to taste.
This wonderful recipe (in pots in the oven with mushrooms) can become crown during fasting, because it so harmoniously combines the rich tastes of garlic, mushrooms and vegetables that meat becomes superfluous. In addition, the dish is prepared very simply. Cut potatoes into medium cubes and fill each pot with about a third of them. Pass the mushrooms until half cooked in vegetable oil, then add grated carrots and onion cubes to them, fry until vegetables are ready.
Put the frying pan on the potatoes so that the products occupy about two-thirds of the dishes. Sprinkle on top evenly with chopped garlic, salt, spices, add laurel. Pour in water so that it slightly covers the ingredients. In this case, the finished dish will have a lot of fragrant vegetable sauce. If you want to get potatoes at the exit almost without sauce, then you need to pour water to about half of the products. The dish languishes for an hour and a half at a temperature of 180-200 ° C.
Chinakh with lamb
Structure:
- lamb flesh - 700 grams;
- bell pepper - 2 pieces;
- young eggplant - 2 pieces;
- tomatoes - 500 grams;
- onions - 500 grams;
- hot pepper - 2 pods;
- garlic - 6 cloves;
- fresh cilantro - 1 bunch;
- ground coriander - 1 teaspoon;
- ground cumin - 1 teaspoon;
- black pepper, salt - to taste;
- mutton fat or vegetable oil for frying.
This excellent dish is the hallmark of Georgian cuisine and is as popular in the Caucasus as a classic roast with potatoes in an oven in pots in Russia.
Cooking Chinahi
Cut the lamb into fairly large pieces with a side of about two centimeters. Fry the meat in a pan in oil or lamb fat until a delicious crust appears. For better roasting, lamb can be sent to the pan in small portions.
Cut the eggplant, onion and bell pepper in the same slices as meat, and put on a baking sheet previously covered with parchment paper. Salt, sprinkle the vegetables with oil or fat and bake for seven minutes until they are browned. Peel hot pepper from seeds and partitions, chop it and mix with finely chopped garlic, coriander and zira. The crushed cilantro is mixed with large pieces of tomato, which can be peeled.
Fill the pots in the following sequence: first pieces of fried meat; then a third of a mixture of pepper, spices and garlic; then baked vegetables; another third of the spicy mixture; the last layer will be tomatoes with cilantro, sprinkled with salt and the remains of spices. Cover the pots with a lid for an hour and a half in an oven heated to 180 ° C.