Any Le Creuset fans?

Jordan Lund@lemmy.one to Food and Cooking@beehaw.org – 164 points –
lemmy.one

I inherited my grandmothers dutch oven (center), it's probably 70 years old now. Still cooks up a storm!

Then I found I lived an easy drive from an outlet store and, well, yeah, that happened. :)

I use it regularly, I used to be in the Le Creuset sub on reddit, but then reddit went to hell. :(

So... any other fans out there?

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Bonus: Shakshuka:

Recipe:

https://www.themediterraneandish.com/shakshuka-recipe/

Only change I made to it was cooking up some maple sausage first, then adding that to the mix with the tomatoes and tomato sauce.

OH! And I used a red/yellow/orange pepper combo instead of 2 green peppers.

The smell of the peppers with the onion, garlic, coriander, cumin and paprika is AMAZING!

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Damn, how about letting them cool down before putting them on wooden shelves.

Oh man, I wish I could afford these. I always cheap out with cookware and it never lasts.

But until I can afford the real thing, does anyone have any recommendations for decent knock-offs or imitations?

I used to recommend Anolon, but unfortunately they discontinued their enameled cast iron. I much prefer the slightly rough, black enamel style of Staub. I find it sears much better, at the cost of being a bit tricky to keep clean.

You can often find sales on individual Le Creuset and Staub pans on Amazon, bringing them down to around $100. I do have my eye on a Le Creuset skillet that has a black enamel.

All-Clad often has individual D3 pans on sale on their site, and they regularly have factory seconds and packaging damage on sale at https://homeandcooksales.com/. You can subscribe and get notified when they have an event, they don't go overboard with emails.

Don't feel like you need to buy everything at once, or even stick to one brand. You might get a 9" skillet here from All-Clad, see a Fissler Original-Profi sauce pot on sale there. Then decide you want to splurge on a saucier, because a saucier is worth splurging on, from Falk when they have a 15% sale. There's something to be said for having the bulk of your collection from a single brand for the sake of lid interoperability, but there's also something to be said for sniping the best in class for each piece when you find a deal.

Just don't buy sets, it's a sure way to get stuck with pans you don't really use.

Lodge's enameled cast iron pots are great. The enamel is made in China, but surprisingly so are some staub and Le creusets.

Ill have to check them out. I bought a cast iron lodge years ago (and I ended up wrecking it, hehe) but it was great while it lasted. Didnt know they did enameled stuff!

How does one manage to wreck cast iron?

I left it to soak after making bacon. It became a greasy rusty mess... (of course now I could have saved it) but at the time i tried steel wool and gave up. The experience has led me to buy enamel coated iron instead

America's Test Kitchen recommended Misen as an alternative for the Dutch oven: https://misen.com/products/dutch-oven

I got it, it works well, and I like it. I think we made bread in it a few times before. Small disclaimer though, we're pretty casual cooks and had a World Market brand Dutch oven for several years before this one.

Outside of that we got a knife block and their scissors but I haven't tried anything else of theirs (Misen).

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You’re living my wife’s dream. I wanted to get her a price for her birthday but there sooooo expensive.

Sign up for their mailing list and they will regularly send you coupons and sales for 30% to 60% off. :)

I am totally an enabler. Sorry!

My grandmother got a massive set as a wedding present, then when she died it went to my mother, whom I live with. Most of it gets used a lot, but we gave some pieces that had never been used to a charity shop some years ago.

Must be nearly 75 years old now.

Added to that in recent years is one of the shallow casseroles with enamelled interior.

All goes in the dishwasher.

Previously no. Now, yes. That's a gorgeous set.

That's a really nice collection! I love the orange flame color.

My first dutch oven is over 20 years old, and I've picked up a few pieces at the le creuset outlet and thrift stores since then. They are pricey, but mine are really holding up well. I pull out the big pot whenever I make soup or chili.

I'm slowly trying to build up my collection. While I like the benefits of cast iron, I know I'll slip up and not be able to maintain one. Then enameled cast iron swoops in with bright colors to the rescue.

You won't slip up, just don't let it rust, which is easy. Dry after cleaning.

You can use soap. It's fine. Don't believe people who freak out. It'll be ok.

A small dash of soap, a brillow pad, scrub, then some oil to finish it, ez pz.

I seasoned it when I bought it by peeling a bunch of russets, throwing the skin in with a bunch of coarse salt and veggie oil. Brown the skins, stir constantly. Get the oil and salt everywhere using the skins like a mop. Once browned, wipe out and store.

I treat mine like described above, and mine are extremely non stick, durable and ez.

I just throw mine in the dishwasher with my knives.

/S if not obvious

Make sure to put them in with the forks! Rubbing up against the forks during the wash cycle sharpens them!

/ₛ

I want to be a fan. And I want that tajine. Don't have any of their stuff yet.

It's an interesting mix, a cast iron base with a ceramic cone. Totally unlike all the rest which is all cast iron or ceramic. +1 glass lid.

That's an amazing collection! I've got the tajine, tea kettle and a frying pan in red/black ombre. I love the matching coasters you have!

Got one last yeah. Must have.

Been braising with it.

The braiser is a super good tool. I did the shakshuka in it, and the chuck roast turned out amazing!

I have an LC Dutch oven. Lovely piece of cookware.

Nowadays I pretty much do all my cooking in cast iron, but everything else I have is non-enameled, so whenever I need to make an acidic dish - bam - Le Creuset to the rescue.

I love my LCs. I have the large Dutch oven, pie dish, casserole dish with lid, butter dish, and coffee mug.

I don't know how you keep yours so clean, we use ours for everything so they are always in and out the oven. Ours are all covered in hard to remove black marks.

Basically what my grandmother did forever... (that the subreddit will tell you to NEVER do!)

Comet Cleanser powder + Blue Scotch Brite pads + elbow grease. ;)

Comet is kind of hard to find now, not sure why.

https://cometcleaner.com/cleansers/comet-cleanser-pine/

Don't use green scrubbers, they will scratch. Blue scrubbers are safe.

Powdered versions of Barkeepeer's Friend will also work in place of Comet. Just takes a bit more rinsing because of the PH of Oxalic Acid.

I have the same large Dutch oven and we use that and a cast iron pan for basically everything. I envy your le creuset collection we barely have space for the Dutch oven!

Are they all new and you just wanted to show off? Looks nice tho

The one in the center is almost 70 years old. The others I've added over the past 10 years or so.

Part showing off :) But also part missing the Le Creuset sub on reddit. :(

70yo?, wow! Still looks new. Where did you buy these ? Now I want one.

The center pot I inherited when my grandmother passed away, she bought it on a trip to Spain in the 1950s.

The rest I bought one at a time through various sales at either the Le Creuset website or heavily discounted from their outlet store.

I only just learned about these because of your post but now I'm extremely interested.

Cast iron cooking is a whole different experience... Enameled cast iron makes it super easy, no seasoning required.

no seasoning required

Why is that? That's the one thing that's always kinda freaked me out about cooking with a cast iron pan which is why I shied away from it for so long.

My instinct is to just scrub a pan until its clean. Not leave it to be seasoned. Unless what I saw in real life was wrong? my ex cooked with a cast iron pan.

Bare cast iron needs to be seasoned to establish a slick, non-stick, surface.

Enameled cast iron already has an enamel coating on it, no seasoning required.

I am wondering if any of the knockoff brand enameled Dutch ovens are as good as the Le Creuset one because I tried my aunt's once and it was pretty good but I can't afford that.

Lodge is well liked, and the America's Test Kitchen folks rated the Cuisinart dutch oven highly, it's just slightly heavier than Le Creuset.

Lodge is one of the brands Walmart sells that doesn't fit the mold of anything else in the store.

I wish they'd sell a chef's knife or some other chef's knife with vg-10 steel for $50. I'd buy one. Their knives are embarrassing.