Le Creuset are famous for their enamelled cast-iron cookware, and especially for their Dutch ovens (though they like to call them French ovens!)

These ovens are hand-cast in Northern France; the molten iron is carefully poured into a sand mold, and once it has cooled, the mold is destroyed and the iron is sanded by hand to remove bumps and imperfections. When it is ultra smooth, they apply the enamel in two separate processes, to ensure that it is tough and chip resistant. It is the element of work by hand that makes Le Creuset products so special.

The dutch ovens come in round and oval shapes, and in a variety of sizes – from 2 quarts to 13 quarts. They also come in a range of delicious colors – you can see the cassis (blackberry) version in the picture, and they also do cobalt blue, caribbean blue (an aqua that looks like the sea), cherry red, fennel green, kiwi green, dijon yellow (like the mustard), and black onyx. The inside of each dutch oven has a soft cream or sand colored enamelled finish. The enamel resists staining. The lids fit snugly and have stabilisers to prevent them from rocking.

They are safe in the oven to 450F (and can go in the fridge and freezer, which means you can easily store leftovers in the same dish). Each dutch oven come with a 101 year warranty – which should give you an idea of how well made they are. You can cook pretty much anything you want in this – stews, casseroles, whole chickens, foods that require slow cooking, let your imagination run wild.

The enamelling acts as a nonstick surface, but if you burn your food (leaving it too long on heat), then to remove just add a little baking soda to warm water and leave it on a low heat and it will all come off. Then gently hand wash as normal. Protect the enamel by making sure you only use a gentle sponge to wash this – don’t use anything abrasive to scrub. When cooking it is recommended that you use plastic or wooden spoons so as not to damage or scratch the enamel.

You can get this with free shipping, see below:

Lodge make two types of cast iron dutch ovens: porcelain enamelled dutch ovens that are designed to be used in a kitchen, and camping dutch ovens designed to be used outdoors. We look at both on this page.

Lodge Porcelain Enamel Dutch Ovens

The enamelled dutch ovens, like the one in the picture left, are made of cast-iron, and then enamelled with two coats, both inside and outside. The first coat of enamel is black (and the rim of the base pan shows the black enamel at the edges), and then the outer coat of enamel is in primary colors (red, blue, green), while the inside of the oven is enamelled in cream.

They are heavy duty, being cast iron, and come with two enamelled handles to help you lift the oven easily. These enamelled dutch ovens (or casserole dishes as they are sometimes called) are safe in the oven to 400F, and also safe in the fridge and freezer and can be used for stove top cooking. Because they are designed for kitchen cooking, do not use them on open flames outside.

The enamel is stain resistant and easy to clean (they recommend hand-washing), and you can make all manner of dishes in them (stews, casseroles, soups and so on).

The Lodge enamelled dutch ovens are made in China (unlike their camp dutch ovens – see below). They come in a number of different sizes from 3 quarts to 7.5 quarts, and have a limited lifetime warranty. Here are some of the variety of colors you can get:

Lodge Camp Dutch Ovens

The camping dutch oven is the classic old-fashioned cast iron pot used on camping trips for outdoor cooking. It comes with a wire loop handle that you can use to hang the cooking pot over a camp fire.

The lid is recessed, which means you can heap hot coals on top of it, to help it to cook faster. It also has three small tripod feet, so you can stand it on a small fire too.

It comes pre-seasoned, so you can use it out of the box, and to maintain all you need to do is rub it with olive oil after you have hand washed and dried it. Even if you don’t go camping, cooking outdoors on a patio in a dutch oven makes a nice alternative to barbecues.

The Lodge cast-iron camp dutch ovens are made in the USA and have a lifetime warranty. They come in a number of sizes:

 
Lodge include an instruction booklet and recipe book with their camp dutch oven, but if you want more free camping dutch oven recipes, I recommend the following university site where their camping enthusiasts collected their favorites. Lodge also have a selection of recipes on their website, including sourdough biscuits and camp chilli – see here.

If it’s your first time cooking outdoors in this manner, I recommend the following US Scouts page, which advises exactly how to go about cooking over a campfire, and they’ve got recipes too, plus they advise you on the best methods of seasoning cast iron, plus how to adjust where you put coals and heat depending on whether you are baking, roasting or stewing.