It is said that the invention of cooking poultry in clay was due to the cunning of dishonest servants working for a wealthy farmer. The farmer noticed that his chickens kept disappearing, but he couldn't find the thieves. The servants blamed foxes and martens. This version didn't entirely convince the rich landowner, who suddenly appeared in the servants' houses, sniffing the air for the smell of roasting and even rummaging through the rubbish for feathers. It seems that the good man, on the verge of death, asked the priest sitting at his bedside if, in his confession, he had inadvertently discovered not so much the names of the thieves, but at least the stratagem by which they had managed to deceive him for so long.
Later, when the method of cooking became more widespread, it was discovered that these cunning servants, after stealing the chicken, wringing its neck and cleaning it, wrapped it in a mixture of clay, without plucking it, and cooked it under the embers.
The results of this type of cooking were excellent, both because the clay imparted to the meat during cooking a rich and wholesome flavour that no other system could achieve, and because no odour or aroma could escape from the clay casing to reveal its contents.
Others claim that it was the Etruscans, undisputed masters of the art of pottery, who invented this cooking method, favoured by their daily study of clay, which radiates heat when heated and, thanks to its properties as a poor conductor, retains the heat of the embers and, without any internal dispersion, preserves the juices of the meat during cooking. Certainly, the bird cooked in clay did not have the impressive presentation of the spit carried by servants, accompanied by sounds and songs, still enveloped in the smoke of the hearth, dripping with sauce and fragrant juices. But from the clay shell, broken by the skilful blow of a silver hammer, the fragrant and tasty chicken emerged as if from a fertile and warm matrix.
The difficulty of obtaining clay and the constant demand from gourmets who wanted to taste the exquisite chicken cooked in clay stimulated the imagination of potters and craftsmen who sought a simpler and more durable means.
This is how the double clay pot was born, able to contain and cook the plucked bird inside its valves. Bread dough was used to seal the two halves of the pot, creating a primitive and rustic cooking system.
In the 1600s and 1700s, ceramists used more sophisticated techniques and more refined decorations to transmit the theme of the chicken cooking utensil, an object not suitable for cooking in the midst of coals and smoke, but rather for appearing on valuable furniture and tablecloths.
Over time, these objects became the privileged objects of the table, serving only as containers for the birds already cooked in the simple earthenware bowl.
Eugenio Medagliani - Humanist Calderaio