I use my Romertopf for roasting chicken with vegetables around it (carrots, potatoes, onions - no matter how many vegetables I add I always run out of veg before I run out of chicken when it comes to eating). I'll have to try the rice, that sounds good. The thing about the chicken in that clay baker is that it's falling off of the bone but still moist, unlike most other forms of cooking to the falling-off-the-bone stage.