The Charentais Devil

Can It Be True That a Wonderful Pot Is No Longer Made?

AT A HARDWARE STORE in the town of Cognac, in the Charente Department of France, I once bought a diable charentais, a “Charentais devil”— the unglazed orangey earthenware pot that is the regional variant of devils used in many places as stovetop ovens, mainly for baking potatoes and roasting (so to speak) chestnuts. Unlike other earthenware pots, the de…