我地又入坑了 Vermicular 2款鑄鐵鍋開箱連簡單試用 Unboxing Vermicular Pot and Pan

小夫妻對精緻既廚具可謂完全無抵抗力，我地又入坑了，今次係日本既Vermicular鑄鐵鍋，一個係用黎整無水料理既琺瑯鑄鐵圓鍋，一個就係用黎煎炒既平底鍋。我地係依篇開箱介紹會講下佢地既特別之處，如果你都鍾意精品廚具，亦可以到我地既商店睇睇。

We are huge fans of premium cookware and recently we are into another series. This time they are from Vermicular. One is enamelled cast iron round pot for making waterless recipes while the other one is a frying pan. We will going to introduce the features of them and if you’re also into premium cookware, check out our online shop to explore more!

Vermicular精品廚具開箱 Unboxing Vermicular Premium Cookware

依度分別有Vermicular鑄鐵鍋(22cm)、原木磁力鍋墊、Vermicular平底鍋(26cm)、平底鍋專用鍋蓋，同埋有機綿隔熱手套

開始分享開箱文之前，想講少少Vermicular既背景。Vermicular係我地慕名已久既日本廚具品牌，佢出廚具既歷史比較新，2010年先發佈第一款鑄鐵鍋，但價錢就比同類產品仲要貴，我地最初都不明所以。

做左d功課之後，知道佢公司既前身土方鑄造所，成立於1936年，係一間以技術精準見稱既機械鑄造廠，但因為重型機械市場萎縮，公司既第三代傳人就帶住承襲自家族鑄造所既技術，開設左Vermicular去開發精品廚具。佢既鑄鐵鍋以手工精細聞名，以人手將鍋蓋同鍋體打造得極為貼合，所以鎖水同保溫能力都極佳，用黎整無水料理係一流選擇。

至於點解叫Vermicular？Vermicular即係蠕墨鑄鐵，係一種高強度而導熱性極佳既鑄鐵，亦係Vermicular廚具達至超強功能性既關鍵材料。由品牌名字大概亦可以側面觀察到品牌對原材料同工藝既重視。

Here are a Vermicular oven pot round 22cm, magnet trivet, Vermicular enamelled cast iron frying pan 26cm, glass lid for frying pan and organic cotton pot holder.

Before we share the unboxing article, we would like to get into some background information about the Vermicular brand. It’s actually a brand we have long heard for. It’s a Japanese brand with a relatively brief history of producing cookware. Their first pot was released in 2010 but now their products have price higher than its competitors. We used to be doubtful about their price positioning.

After some research made, we learnt that the brand owner is from the Hijikata family which has been renowned for their extreme accurate iron casting ability since 1936. However, when the demand for heavy machinery came to a close, the third generate of the Hijikata family has launch the Vermicular brand to produce premium cookware utilizing the family’s legacy of iron casting ability. Their cast iron pots are popular for the craftsmanship. The pot body and lid are meticulously handcrafted until they fit at a 0.01 mm accuracy. The excellent water retaining ability maximizes umami in waterless cooking

So why is it called Vermicular? Vermicular is actually compacted graphite iron, a high strength cast iron with excellent heat conduction ability. This is also the key material for making a Vermicular pot/ pan. From the name of the brand we can also see how the brand priorities the materials they use.

Vermicular琺瑯鑄鐵鍋開箱 Unboxing Vermicular Oven Pot Round

鑄鐵鍋、隔熱墊同隔熱手套就係度了

We have the pot, magnet trivet and cotton pot holder here

登凳，打開箱就係咁。隨鑄鐵鍋附送一本詳細中文食譜
每次有野開箱都會吸引到d貓上黎，梵高算乖了，只係遠觀不褻玩

And they looks like this. Together with the pot there is also a recipe book (yet it’s written in Chinese)
Every time we do unboxing, cats come to the table. Vincent was good. He just watched the process

組裝起就係咁，我地依個係珍珠粉紅色22cm

When every assembled.
This is a 22cm oven pot round in pearl pink.

鍋墊係磁力吸附，用起上黎好方便

The magnet trivet is very convenient to use

要移除時單手提起一邊就可以

With one hand we can dismantle it

可以話成個鍋都係為無水料理而設計，大家知道無水料理既原理既話，會知道個鍋一定要符合3個條件先有得搞：

唔易痴底 – 由於食材係無油咁直接放上鍋，痴底既話成鍋食物可以報銷
保溫能力強 – 無水烹調用較溫和既熱力引出食材本身鮮味，一個保溫力強既鍋係基本
鎖水能力強 – 如果個煲好易令蒸氣散失，食材會越煮越乾，失去無水料理意義

Vermicular既鍋除左有依幾項基本功能，設計上佢仲有進一步增強功能性既地方：

鍋蓋冚起後，同鍋體只相距0.01mm，係Vermicular品牌經常引以為傲既職人技術體現，依個特點令個鍋既氣密性增強，保溫同鎖水能力更出色
鍋蓋有集水釘，蒸氣會凝結並依附係上面，然後滴返落鍋，依個設計可以減少排出既蒸氣，增強鎖水性能
鍋底有凸紋，經過Vermicular測試後發現，咁樣煮出黎既無水料理會更甜美甘醇

The whole pot is designed for waterless cooking. If you know about the mechanism of waterless cooking, you know that there are 3 criteria for the pot:

Non-stickiness: As ingredients are to be put on the pot surface without oil, if the pot sticks, we can dispose the whole pot of food
Excellent heat insulation: In waterless cooking we use relatively low heat to induce the umami of food, we need to have a pot with good heat insulation ability to keep the heat inside
Water retaining ability: if the pot can easily release steam, food will become drier and drier and make it meaningless to carry out waterless cooking

Apart from these basics, a Vermicular pot has features to make itself excels in waterless cooking:

The pot body and lid are meticulously handcrafted until they fit at a 0.01 mm accuracy. Not only is it the pride of Vermicular’s craftsmanship, the excellent water retaining ability actually maximizes umami in waterless cooking
There are water retaining spots on the pot. They help steam to condense on them and drop back to the pot. This feature further enhances the water retaining ability of the pot
Ridges in the bottom are actually a feature added after Vermicular has conducted some studies. They found that food becomes more delicious in waterless cooking after adding this ridge design

0.01mm氣密技術，鍋蓋可移動幅度非常細，有助保留水份同熱力

The 0.01mm pot sealing feature makes the motion of the lid very limited which helps retain water and heat

開箱菜想煮一d非常簡單但又可以測試到鍋具性能既菜式，我地決定整個無水清蒸雜錦

As the first meal, we want to have something simple and being able to test the performance of the pot. We decided to make a very simple waterless steaming dish

將雞肉用醬油同味醂醃10分鐘，然後將所有切好既食材都放入鍋，灑上鹽同黑椒，超細火煲佢半個鐘

Marinate the chicken with soy sauce and mirin for 10 mins, then chop the ingredients and add them into the pot. Add some salt and pepper, cook it with very low heat for 30 mins

煮起了

Done

煮法相當簡單直接，就係為左想試下係咪可以引到食材醇香出黎，結果無失望，食物清甜好味，話咁快就扒晒碗飯，仲香到引左墨硯上黎

The cooking was very simple and we wanted to see if the umami of the ingredients could really be brought out. The result was satisfying. It’s delicious and it’s sweet in a very natural way even no sugar was added. We can clear our bowls of rice very quickly with this hot pot of food. Inky was being attract to the table as well

鍾意雞肉嫩滑既話其實唔洗煮30分鐘咁耐，但煮得耐d既好處係會得到一鍋黎自食材本身既湯汁，非常好味，而且亦可以實測到鍋既鎖水性能，而好明顯Vermicular既鎖水能非常好

其實用類似既技巧，先將食材無水煮一段時間，引出鮮味，再加水或醬汁黎煲湯、整咖喱等等都係依個鍋既特色食譜，我地之後會繼續慢慢發掘！

If you like the chicken to be juicy, you don’t actually need to cook for 30 mins. Yet the advantage of cooking for longer is that you will get a shallow pot of soup coming from the ingredients. This soup is just mouth watering! By so doing we could also test the water retaining ability of the pot and obviously Vermicular did well in retaining water.

The technique of cooking food without adding water to bring out umami can actually be applied to other dishes like soup/ curry. We are excited to discover more soon!

對佢有興趣？可以去我地既網店睇睇，仲有唔同顏色同大小可以選擇。

Interested? Head to our online store. We have different colors and sizes.

Vermicular琺瑯鑄鐵平底鍋開箱 Unboxing Vermicular Enamelled Cast Iron Frying Pan

鑄鐵平底鍋同專用鍋蓋，同埋搞搞震既墨硯

The cast iron frying pan and its glass lid and our naughty Inky

隨鍋附送詳盡食譜，鍋蓋係可立式設計… sorry我諗墨硯係想做代言貓

The pot also comes with a recipe book (in Chinese). The lid can stand alone… Sorry I guess Inky wants to be the spokesperson… spokeskitten of the brand

鍋重約1.1kg，鑄鐵鍋黎講係好輕巧，要用黎抬起貓或者煮食時拋鑊都唔係問題
喂，走開啦小朋友

The pot weighs about 1.1kg which is very light in terms of a cast iron pan. There is no problem to lift a cat or toss the pan during cooking

依個平底鍋除左手工精緻，賣相靚之外，設計上其實有好多功能性既考慮，其中一個最主要既考慮係要幫手煮出更香脆既煎炒食物。

薄身，用上蠕墨鑄鐵材質加上黑琺瑯塗層，想做到既就係有效傳熱，令食物表面乾脆，中間仍然鮮嫩多汁。

要展示依個功能，可以睇下佢水份瞬間蒸發既特點，片中個鍋以中火燒左30秒左右，然後加一匙水落去，水份就咋一聲咁蒸發左大部份。可以想像放落去既食物都會迅速達至表面香脆。

The pan is a good looking one with exquisite craftsmanship. However there is more. Its design also considered the functionality of the pan and one of the major considerations is to help making more crispy and aromatic stir frying food.

Thin, using of vermicular cast iron and enamel coating, this pan is designed for having extraordinary heat conduction ability hence triggering Maillard reaction on the surface of food in a speedy way but keeping the inside succulent.

To showcase this feature, you may take a look at how quickly water evaporates on the pan. In the footage we used medium heat to preheat the pan for 30 seconds, then we added a tablespoon of water. You can see the water vaporize instantaneously. You may imagine how fast food surface becomes crispy after setting on the pan

要試炒鍋既特性，無野直接得過放隻蛋落去煎下了，因為蛋係極易痴底既食材，亦可以用黎測試下佢將蛋煎到脆邊既速度。

睇過說明書，知道要用佢黎煎蛋首先係要中火燒熱鍋，放落油直至有煙出，然後放蛋前要熄火，用餘溫煎熟隻蛋，唔夠熱就開細火慢慢將佢繼續煎熟。

我地跟足咁做，有兩點發現：

即使熄左火先落雞蛋，起脆邊既速度仍然相當快，隻鍋既傳熱速度同熱容量都比一般鍋好
琺瑯塗層有不黏沾特性，炒返起隻起上碟既時候大致無痴底問題，不過就未至於可以好似易潔鑊咁，單靠郁下隻鑊，煎蛋已經完全脫離鑊面

To test a frying pan there is nothing more direct than to fry an egg on it because egg is very easy to stick on a pan and we can also test how quickly it can to cook a crispy pan fried egg.

The manual said that we need to first preheat the pan by medium heat then add oil until white smoke emerges. Before adding the egg, we need to turn off the heat and cook the egg by the remaining heat. If heat is not sufficient, turn on low heat until finishing cooking.

We followed the manual and have the below observations:

Even the stove was off when the egg was added, the egg still becomes crispy fairly fast. The pan has fabulous heat transmission efficiency and heat capacity
The enamel coating is non-sticky. There was no problem to take out the egg with spatula. However, it’s not like a Teflon pan which you can just shake the pan and the egg is completely detached

另一個用黎輕試個鍋既菜式，清炒芽菜。
熱鍋加油，中大火落芽菜炒一分鐘，臨起鑊加鹽同黑椒，就係咁簡單

Fried bean sprouts is another dish we can test the performance of the pan
Simply add bean sprouts into a preheated pan with oil and fry for 1 min. Before taking out, add a handful of salt and pepper

個鍋如果有傳熱效率高既特性既話，炒出黎既芽菜會非常香而咬落去係爽脆多汁，唔會水汪汪又林晒咁。一如所料，炒出黎既芽菜非常正！

If the pan has excellent heat transmission ability, the bean sprouts will be crunchy and succulent instead of tender and watery. As expected, the result was very good!

綜合以上既測試，我地同意品牌所講，Vermicular平底鍋可以幫手煮出更香脆好味食物，不過由於不黏沾特性無易潔鑊咁強大，所以煎煮時要注意不時翻動食物避免痴底，而由於佢傳熱極有效率，火候控制亦相當重要，否則長時間大火就應該會整燶食物。我地都急不及待用佢黎煮更多菜式，我估用黎整乾炒牛河應該會出到鑊氣，下次試試。

According to these observations, we agreed with the brand’s claim that the Vermicular frying pan can help make more crispy and aromatic food. However, as the non-stickiness is not as high as a Teflon pan, ingredients should be stirred frequently during cooking to prevent getting sticky. Also, as the heat transmission efficiency is very high, heat control becomes very important to get rid of charred food. We can’t wait to use it in making more dishes. We guess it can make a perfect dish of stirred fried beef noodles with aromatic “wok hei”. We will try to make that next time!