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.
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