Hario Donabe Glass Lid Cooking Pot
A donabe is an essential piece of cooking equipment in the Japanese kitchen. Made from thick earthenware, these traditional pots maintain a gentle, even heat. It’s the best way to make fluffy, evenly cooked rice. Hario’s ceramic products are known as Banko ware, a regional form of pottery from Mie Prefecture that are perfect for making rice dishes or other filling one-pot meals. Equipped with a glass lid with a silicone handle, you’ll be able to keep an eye on your ingredients without losing steam by opening the lid. Try it to make koge (scorched rice), in which the lower bits of rice become crunchy and nutty as they overcook, which is difficult to make in a typical electric rice cooker.
Milk Street Cast Iron Furusato
Here at Milk Street, we’re big proponents of cooking with cast iron because it heats evenly and retains that heat—which is why we designed our own pot for the ideal solution for soups and stews. Our Cast Iron Furusato is modeled after the traditional pot used for Japanese nabe (hot pot), but its durable cast-iron craftsmanship and stunning wooden lid carved from Japanese cedar make it a candidate for everyday use. Sturdy yet light enough to use often, it’s equipped with a swinging handle for easy maneuvering. Plus, unlike some furusato pots, this one is compatible with any stovetop, and it comes with a small silicone pot holder.
Hasegawa Wood Core Soft Rubber Cutting Board
This cutting board is not only durable, but it also will prolong the life of your knife blade. The “pull and slice” technique is the common way to slice food in Japanese cooking, which can often lead to chipped edges if using a hard cutting board. But this one is coated in layers of soft plastic that provides much better protection for your knives and protection for your fingers, since it’s non-slip. Plus, the material has strong antimicrobial properties—one of the highest standards in Japan—so it won’t hold germs as much as a standard cutting board would between uses. It’s wood core keeps the cutting board from warping from use and high-temperature dishwashing. And since it’s not entirely made of wood, it much more light weight to use.
Kotobuki Trading Company Clay Rice Cooker (Donabe)
A traditional piece of Japanese cooking equipment, a donabe is made from earthenware clay and maintains a gentle, even heat thanks to its thickness and the porous nature of the material. We love this one’s rich tenmoku finish (a classic pottery glazing style that dates to the 14th century), as well as its extra-heavy lid, which increases pressure to decrease cook time and ensure the rice steams properly. The vessel is often used to make rice dishes or other filling one-pot meals—for example, koge (scorched rice), in which the bits of rice in contact with the surface of the pot become crunchy and nutty as they overcook, which is difficult to make in a typical electric rice cooker.