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1
Place the clay pots over low heat and raise the temperature gradually over several minutes. Do not subject a cold pot to immediate high heat — thermal shock cracks the clay. The pot is ready when it feels uniformly warm to the hand held close above the base.
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2
Divide the rinsed rice between the warmed pots and add the water in the proportions appropriate to each pot's volume. Cover and cook over a moderate flame. The rice is half-cooked when the surface water has been absorbed and small steam vents appear across the top — this is the moment to add the toppings.
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3
Arrange the lap cheong, lap yuk, and lap ap in a single layer across the surface of the half-cooked rice. Replace the lid. The preserved meats steam in the residual heat of the rice; their fat renders downward into the grains. The toppings are done when they have lost their raw sheen and the sausage fat has turned translucent.
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4
This is where the dish lives or dies: once the water is fully absorbed and the rice is cooked through, increase the heat briefly and hold it there to develop the guo ba. The crust is forming correctly when a faint crackling is audible from the base of the pot and a faint smokiness rises from beneath the lid — not the acrid smell of burning, but a clean, toasted-grain smoke.
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5
Remove the pots from the heat. Drizzle the dark soy sauce around the inside edge of each pot — it runs down between the rice and the clay wall, seasoning the crust. Replace the lid and rest for 3 minutes. The rice continues to cook in residual steam; do not lift the lid before the rest is complete.
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6
Bring the pots to the table lidded. Lift the lid and scrape the guo ba up from the base with a spoon — it should release in golden-brown, slightly smoky shards that hold together without crumbling to dust. Eat directly from the pot.