How to season a donabe

Do you have to season a new donabe?

Yes, a new donabe gets seasoned once before you cook a real meal in it. The Japanese word is medome (目止め): you cook a thin rice porridge in the pot so the starch works into the clay. Nagatani-en, the Iga kiln, puts it simply: "the starch from the rice fills the pot's fine pores and stops it leaking." It also makes the pot less likely to hold onto smells and stains later on.

Two things people get wrong here. A pot sold as heat-resistant still wants medome; being flameproof isn't the same as being sealed, and Nagatani-en says so directly. A few newer pots with a ceramic-treated interior genuinely don't need it, because the coating already does that job. So read whatever came in the box first. If the maker's own sheet says something different from anything below, the maker wins.

Most donabe you'll ever handle are Banko ware from Yokkaichi in Mie. About 80 per cent of all the donabe made in Japan come from that one area, and the clay itself is roughly 40 to 50 per cent petalite, a lithium mineral that copes with a live flame. Banko was designated a national traditional craft in 1979, which is part of why a clay pot can sit on a gas ring at all.

How do you season it?

You simmer a thin porridge in the pot until it thickens, let it cool down completely (at least an hour), then rinse it and dry it for a full day before the first real meal. The steps are below. Set aside an afternoon and the next day too, because most of the time is just waiting.

Use leftover cooked rice rather than raw grains. Nagatani-en is blunt about it: their Iga pots are made from coarse clay, so cooked rice is the only thing they'll sign off on. Raw rice takes too long to turn to starch, and water works into the body while you wait. Some makers, the Banko care page among them, use potato starch dissolved in boiling water instead. It works the same way.

The cooling is the step people rush. A hot pot carried straight to a cold sink can crack right there.

Can you season it with potato starch instead of rice?

Yes. The Banko makers' care page describes a second way to do medome: dissolve potato starch in water and bring it to a boil in the pot instead of cooking rice porridge. Wash and dry the pot fully first, as you would before the rice method. Pour the starch and water in, bring it to a gentle boil on a low flame, and stir until it turns thick and cloudy. Take it off the heat and let it cool completely, the same hour or more as the rice method, before you tip it out and rinse.

Nagatani-en's Iga pots are the exception: their coarse clay wants the rice method instead, so check whatever sheet came in the box before you choose.

Can you use a donabe on induction?

Tiger says most conventional donabe cannot be used on induction. The supported options are a donabe with an induction heating element in its base or a separate induction heat plate; follow the individual maker's compatibility instructions.

On gas, or on a portable gas burner at the table, an ordinary donabe is exactly where it wants to be. If you're heating with binchotan instead, lighting and putting it out safely is its own routine.

Never heat one empty. Nagatani-en allows dry heating only on models carrying their "empty-heating OK" mark; every other pot gets water or stock in it before the flame goes on. Wipe the outside dry before it meets heat, too: a wet base on a hot ring is how pots split.

One for Australians. From 1 January 2024, planning permits for new homes and residential subdivisions in Victoria connect to all-electric networks only. If you're cooking in a new build there, or in an apartment with an induction top, check the base of the pot before you commit.

In our shop, the Ginpo Chrysanthemum Clay Pot for IH is the donabe built for induction. It runs on an induction hob as well as gas, direct fire and the oven, and it comes in a size eight ($170) and a size nine ($190). The Tojiki Tonya Gray Clay Pot ($94.50) is the opposite: it cooks rice on gas or direct fire, and it can go in the oven and microwave, but not on induction. If you have an ordinary pot and an induction hob, Tiger's other option is a separate heat plate under the pot, sized to it.

Why did mine crack? Is crazing normal?

Crazing is normal. A crack that runs through the body is not, and that kind almost always comes from a sudden jump in temperature rather than age. The fine web of hairlines across the glaze has a name, kannyu (貫入). Nagatani-en's answer to this exact question is that these are natural cracks in the glaze layer and the pot is fine to keep using. The glaze and the clay under it shrink at slightly different rates, so the surface crazes. It tends to show up more the longer a pot lives.

A crack you can catch a fingernail in, or one that reaches the rim, is the other kind. Stop using that pot.

The Banko makers' care page names the two big causes: sudden temperature changes, and deep-frying, which the pot was never built for. To that, add what Nagatani-en's own sheet warns against separately: a wet base on a hot ring, plus an empty pot left on a live flame.

If an old pot starts weeping water through the base, you can just season it again. Same porridge, same cooling.

How do you wash and dry it?

Wash it by hand once it has cooled down, and don't leave it standing in water. Detergent on a sponge is fine (Nagatani-en says so directly), but don't leave the pot soaking with detergent in it, because the clay will drink it up.

Drying is the step that decides whether you still like your donabe in two years. Turn it upside down with the lid off, somewhere the air moves. Nagatani-en's own figure is five to eight hours. It will feel dry long before it actually is.

Storing it over summer: wrap the body and the lid separately in newspaper, sit the lid on top upside down, and keep it somewhere ventilated. Their care page warns against leaving a pot boxed up in cardboard for months, which is how mould gets in.

How do you cook rice in a donabe?

Rice is what donabe are for. A rice-sized pot is sized by cups of rice rather than litres, and the porous clay gives it even heat and the slightly crispy bottom layer the Japanese call okoge. The Banko-ware Clay Pot Rice Cooker is a donabe sized exactly that way, in a five cup ($129) and a seven cup ($169) size. The Tojiki Tonya Gray Clay Pot ($94.50) is a donabe for three cups of rice, and it runs on gas or direct fire, not induction.

The method is the same porridge as medome, minus the waiting. You rinse the rice and add water to it, then simmer it on a low flame until it is done. The maker's sheet that came in the box is the one to follow, because the water ratio and the flame time change with the clay and the size. After the pot has seasoned, the clay is sealed, so the rice cooks the way it is meant to.

How I do it at home

My own habit, not a maker instruction. I season a new pot on a Sunday afternoon and leave it on the rack, upside down and lidless, until Tuesday. The pots I've seen ruined were nearly all put away a day early.

Quick answers

These are the questions people ask us most often about seasoning and using a donabe, answered briefly.

Do you have to season a donabe every time you use it? No. Medome is a one-off before the first meal. You only repeat it if the pot later starts weeping water through the base, which is exactly what Nagatani-en recommends doing about a leak.

Can you season a donabe with flour or starch instead of rice? Yes. The Banko makers' care page lists boiling water with potato starch dissolved in it as an alternative to porridge. Nagatani-en's Iga pots are the exception; their coarse clay wants leftover cooked rice instead.

Is a donabe safe on an induction cooktop? Tiger says most conventional donabe cannot be used on induction. The supported options are a donabe with an induction heating element in its base or a separate induction heat plate; follow the individual maker's compatibility instructions.

How do you cook rice in a donabe? Rice is what a donabe is for. A rice-sized pot is sized by cups of rice rather than litres, and the porous clay gives it even heat and the slightly crispy bottom layer the Japanese call okoge. Rinse the rice, add water, and simmer on a low flame until it is done, following the maker's sheet for the water ratio and the time. The Banko-ware Clay Pot Rice Cooker and the Tojiki Tonya Gray Clay Pot are built for it.

Is the fine crackle in the glaze a fault? No. Nagatani-en calls it kannyu, natural cracking in the glaze layer; the pot is fine to keep using. A crack that runs through the body to the rim is a different thing, and that one means retiring the pot.

How long should a donabe dry before you put it away? Nagatani-en's figure is five to eight hours, standing upside down with the lid off in a spot with air moving. Put it away damp and mould follows.

Can a donabe go in the dishwasher? No. Wash it by hand with detergent on a sponge, then rinse quickly. Nagatani-en's own instruction is not to leave it soaking with detergent in it, because the clay absorbs it.