We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
I don’t suppose I really knew that such a thing existed but if I did, I would not think of calling it a Piastra Radiante in Ghisa Smaltata.
Knowing that it is a flat plate of cast iron, glazed on one side, about the size of a dessert plate, I wondered how it got its name.
Does piastra have something to do with pastry? The consonants sort of match up with those in patisserie, which the French unabridged says does mean cake shop or confectioner’s shop.
A further search reveals that piastra means griddle, hot plate, iron plate, or waffle iron. My piastra ghisa is iron, yes, but also smooth and shiny on one side.
The word smaltata has the consonants of smelter. Is there some connection?
I thought there might be, since there is a pretty close connection between cast iron and smelter.
In fact, could we even have cast iron without a smelter, somewhere, some time?
In this case, smaltata means enameled, glazed, or lacquered.
My new piastra radiante in ghisa smaltata is, in English, a heat diffuser coated on one side with glazing.
Yes, in, in Italian, is in.
The carton explains, “Placed between the heat source and saucepan, it eliminates the need to mix foods while cooking because it distributes the heat in a uniform and constant manner. When in use, foods neither burn nor stick, retaining intact all their vitamin, mineral and protein properties.”
One of the charms of buying imported items is seeing the accompanying instructions and how the English instructions sound when filtered through the book-learning of a non-native speaker of English. My piastra radiante was made in Italy.
The non-native speaker of English and writer of carton blurb doesn’t actually think you need to mix foods while cooking them. Maybe you do and maybe you don’t, but she means “stir.”
The friend who gave me my piastra radiante knows that all too often, I have burned food through inattention or having the heat too high.
This cleverly chosen gift of cast-iron plate will diffuse the heat and allow more dishes to turn out the way the cookbook intended.
Furthermore, this diffuser is suitable for all types of pots and pans, fits all burners, is ideal for pans lacking a double radiant bottom, and is indispensable pans in Pyrex and Terracotta. Quote, unquote.
Am I going to try cooking on top of the stove in Pyrex dishes? Not sure. It seems risky.
I wouldn’t dream of cooking on top of the stove with terracotta. Can’t you just see the different parts of the dish or pan expanding at different rates and the whole thing exploding in red-brown grit all over the room?
On the other hand—trying to be a little bit open-minded—people have been cooking in clay pots for thousands of years. Civilizations are classified by what kind of pottery they produced, so not all terracotta pots and pans can have exploded.
Maybe with the help of my piastra radiante in ghisa smaltata I could pull it off, cooking in a clay pot on top of the heat diffuser. I’d be bound to learn something.
