February 25, 2020:
Recently, I have been having broth for lunch: chicken, cauliflower, beef, whatever I had made from the previous weekend’s round of cooking. Sipping my lunch directly from the container one afternoon, I decided that a proper bowl was needed. My visit to the @craftcouncil this past weekend would be the ideal place for my search. I stopped at nearly every ceramicist booth and tested out potential bowls. At the first booth, which did not have any bowls of interest, I learned that the kind of bowls I am looking for have a name. They are called tea bowls, as in ceremonial tea bowls. So then, my search for the perfect tea bowl began.
Most tea bowls, I discovered, have a base at the bottom. I could live with a base if it wasn’t too tall or didn’t interfere with my hands. My preference was to have little or no base. The thickness of the bowl was critical too. If the bowl was too thick, the sipping of broth would become cumbersome. The color and pattern of the tea bowl should be modest, reflecting its contents. Also, the exterior finish should be smooth to the touch.
Size was also important. There were plenty of smaller bowls without bases, but they tended to be more like ramekins, olive pit bowls, or bowls from which to pinch sea salt. Larger bowls were also plentiful, but once again, not functional for my use. First and foremost, the tea bowl should be the right proportions to fit the cup of my hands, as if taken from a mold. Certain tea bowls were too angular or not correct ergonomically in other ways.
My comprehensive search finally paid off. I found the perfect tea bowl which fit all of my particular criteria. It was created by @home.ker and I thank him for that. I am looking forward to lifting that first bowl of broth to my mouth…It has since been decided that a book is in order: The Art of the Tea Bowl. I plan to have it out in time for the Christmas rush!
May 4th, 2020:
Finishing my lunch, some two months later, I sit content with my purchase. Made on Sunday, this week’s broth was subtle and delicious. Pulling from the freezer a bag containing a couple of steak bones from a dinner who knows when; another bag of mirepoix scraps: onion roots and first layers, celery and carrot roots and tops; and a last bag containing the stems from a pile of crimini mushrooms, the remainder most likely used in a long ago eaten beef stew.
The contents of the three bags were not a lot, but sufficient, when combined with some water, salt and peppercorns, to make about the amount of broth to fill my tea bowl three times.
After straining and cooling, I skimmed off most of the congealed fat, but not all of it. This provides a rich consistency when sipping from a hand-cupped tea bowl. The mushroom is the first thing that you smell when you lift the bowl to your mouth, but it rightly sits back from the proud beef flavor when it comes to the broth’s taste.
Sipping slowly, I wondered why certain foods pair so well together, like beef and mushrooms or a steamed artichoke leaf dipped in an aioli of fresh egg, olive oil, garlic and a squeeze of lemon. Yes, content indeed.
