OT: Le Creuset dutch oven

Focker

A signature flame LC DO, screams I'm a bada$$ in the kitchen.  The vessel of vessels to have IMO.  

My mom's vintage red one, and all my old school LC pieces, are cherished alongside the Griswold EPUs.   

Little Steven

Judy Mayberry said:

Just two comments. I picked up the Staub in the store and found it is MUCH heavier (empty) than the Le Creuset...a deal breaker for me, especially with the weight of food added to it.

Also, like @Photo Egg, I've heard that putting detergent on the outside of LC before cooking on the Egg makes it easy to clean. And I can't imagine food in an open pot tasting soapy from it.

Judy,

An hour's soak in hot water in the sink with oxyclean, dish soap and orange clean brings them up like new.

Photo Egg

Focker said:

A signature flame LC DO, screams I'm a bada$$ in the kitchen.  The vessel of vessels to have IMO.  

My mom's vintage red one, and all my old school LC pieces, are cherished alongside the Griswold EPUs.   

This one is for you...my friends don't appreciate my $8.00 deal I picked up a couple weeks ago.lol

Jameson19

I got this one at Sam's Club a few months back for around $39. I figured if it breaks, oh well. So far it's worked great on a direct and indirect cooking setup in the egg. It fits 2 chuck roasts, 15-20 bratwurst and various stews/chilis no problem. The outside gets blackened from the charcoal, but at that price, I could care less. It's not hard to clean. 

jeroldharter

8 quart Le Creuset for the kitchen and Lodge for the egg. If price is the main issue, get enameled lodge. 

Toddcal13

Look at Staub... have got great use of mine

Begger

Lodge Cast Iron would be the way to go.

If it gets REAL bad?   stick it in the egg during a burn off cook and reseason?

Judy Mayberry

@Little Steven, and anyone else who's interested. I had a badly scorched stainless steel pot a while ago and tried all kinds of Google suggestions to clean it up. Only one thing worked...put a tablespoonful of fabric softener into boiling water and let it sit overnight. Like magic!

I didn't burn the food; I was using a defective pressure cooker for the first time and it never got up to pressure. So it cooked and cooked. Of course I got it replaced.

Focker

Photo Egg said:

Focker said:

A signature flame LC DO, screams I'm a bada$$ in the kitchen.  The vessel of vessels to have IMO.  

My mom's vintage red one, and all my old school LC pieces, are cherished alongside the Griswold EPUs.   

This one is for you...my friends don't appreciate my $8.00 deal I picked up a couple weeks ago.lol

Now THAT, is super bada$$, and the signature flame.  Sweet deal bud!  Great condition too, dig the two-tone.  That is pre 1972, when they started stamping the logo in the middle.  My guess would be 50s, maybe 60s.

Mine are 1970s.  The light blue saucepan was new, with a box, for $40.  New today, the saucepans are just shy of $200.  Chucked the box, put it to use.  

The two darker blue saucepans were a $20 pair with the white lid.  Brown DO, $10.  All of the interior and exterior enamel is in great shape.  Was hoping to find the skillet that mates for the lid on the pan far left.  Saw a few on fleabay like this guy.  Brilliant design, using a skillet for the lid.  Le Creuset does the black finish too, I prefer the cream.  Doesn't hide things.
 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Le-Creuset-2-In-1-22-Sauce-Pan-Skillet-Cast-Iron-Enamel-Non-Stick-Blue-/112083932652?hash=item1a18b915ec:g:JZQAAOSwyLlXpSGg  


Love me some deals on quality cookware.  My son's kids, will be using all this stuff.  Hey, at least we actually use, our collectibles.   

KiterTodd

I'd get a cheaper cast iron dutch oven for egg cooking and consider a smaller Le Creuset for indoor use.

I have both and I do love my Le Creuset enameled cast iron.   It gets pretty dirty in the egg though and is a pain to clean. It's such a nice looking pot, that you'll want to keep it clean.  Specially since it has a lifetime warranty and you'll keep it and likely pass it on to someone else.

With my Lodge DO, well...I don't care how it looks.  It's black. I just need to keep it from rusting.

NDG

do yall put your Le Creuset in the dishwasher?

Carolina Q

NDG said:

do yall put your Le Creuset in the dishwasher?

I don't any of that type of stuff in the DW. Not LC, All-Clad, Mauviel or seasoned CI. Or the good knives. Hand wash only.

fishlessman

you folks that are wearing the bottoms out of your le cruesetts need to be backing off of the unnecessary scrubbing. how do you wear one of these out. some bleach, some water, put the lid on and tomorrow rinse it out

NDG

hmm . . i only hand wash few things (raw cast iron / shun knife / scanpan non stick / yeti) but figured the LC enamel was ok.  Good to know.  

Carolina Q

NDG said:

hmm . . i only hand wash few things (raw cast iron / shun knife / scanpan non stick / yeti) but figured the LC enamel was ok.  Good to know.  

It might be okay, I have no idea. I just don't use it myself.

Carolina Q

fishlessman said:

you folks that are wearing the bottoms out of your le cruesetts need to be backing off of the unnecessary scrubbing. how do you wear one of these out. some bleach, some water, put the lid on and tomorrow rinse it out

Gotta try that. Mine was discolored when I got it. I just assumed it was from overheating. I've never tried bleach... but I'm about to.

Focker

Le Creuset makes nice silicone whisks and scrapers too.  Metal utensils will f them up in a hurry.

Keep them out of the dishwasher.

fishlessman

less is more, heres the big dutch i was not born with the need to scrub a pot clean gene

Raymont

Love the comments, and pics.. but how about it.. If you could only have one... would it be the 7 quart or 9 quart? 

fishlessman

Raymont said:

Love the comments, and pics.. but how about it.. If you could only have one... would it be the 7 quart or 9 quart? 

7 is plenty for most,like was mentioned earlier, if i need bigger i have some big stock pots. whatever size you get though it seems like they get filled right to the top

bigbadben

I have talked to a few people with some experience in enameled DO support. Lodge will take care of you and ship out a replacement. LC makes you ship back the old one which cost more than buying a new lodge DO. 

Focker

bigbadben said:

I have talked to a few people with some experience in enameled DO support. Lodge will take care of you and ship out a replacement. LC makes you ship back the old one which cost more than buying a new lodge DO. 

Who needs a replacement?  Mine are 40 plus years old, still going strong.

smokeybreeze

Action_Hank said:

Eggcelsior said:

I use my LC on my egg with impunity. Just rub some dish soap on the outside before cooking and the creosote rinses right off.

This doesn't impart a soapy taste on the food if the lids off the pot?

Nope, this is just one old Boy Scout trick to keeping your cook ware in top shape with minimal cleaning effort, imparting no off taste to the food.

Aren't there any other Boy Scouts, Eagle Scouts, or Order of the Arrow inductees living nowdays?

GrateEggspectations

Love DOs and have both enamel-coated Le Creusets and regular non-coated Lodges. I've used both on my Eggs and far prefer the non-coated Lodge for this application. The Le Creusets get sooty (which can be a pain to clean) and end up becoming permeated with the scent of smoke. I prefer to have the Lodge designated for the Egg and the Le Creuset for indoor use. However, there is no obstacle to using the coated in the Egg (though be mindful that different Le Creusets have different maximum temp ratings, the stainless steel-knob variety having a higher threshold than it's black-knobbed cousin.

Carolina Q

Well, I didn't have much hope for this, but I let my LC pot soak overnight in 1 part bleach, 3 parts water. Unsurprisingly, it looks just like it did before. It looked like this when I bought it, a good 20 years ago. Barkeeper's Friend is the strongest stuff I've ever tried on it. I've always assumed heat damage which I don't think is covered by LC's warranty anyway - even if I was the original owner. Oh well. Maybe I'll give 'em a call just for grins.
 

JethroVA

I'm currently trying the baking soda paste method for the brown stains in my 8Qt LC.Will report back in tomorrow. 

Focker

Carolina Q said:

Well, I didn't have much hope for this, but I let my LC pot soak overnight in 1 part bleach, 3 parts water. Unsurprisingly, it looks just like it did before. It looked like this when I bought it, a good 20 years ago. Barkeeper's Friend is the strongest stuff I've ever tried on it. I've always assumed heat damage which I don't think is covered by LC's warranty anyway - even if I was the original owner. Oh well. Maybe I'll give 'em a call just for grins.
 

The enamel looks worn down to CI. Give LC a call.

Be careful with the BKF on the exterior glaze, it will strip it.  Don't ask how I know. 

Botch

Focker said:

bigbadben said:

I have talked to a few people with some experience in enameled DO support. Lodge will take care of you and ship out a replacement. LC makes you ship back the old one which cost more than buying a new lodge DO. 

Who needs a replacement?  Mine are 40 plus years old, still going strong.

I have several LC pieces, and one of them (a saucepan) did lose its enamel on the inside.  True, I did have to ship it back to them but they provided a replacement, no questions asked.  I don't remember that the shipping costs were higher than a new one, but that had to be 25 years ago or so (and all my pots are still going strong).  I don't think Staub, or enameled Lodge, were even around back then.  

JethroVA

Wow, the baking soda paste did the trick. See my post above, smeared with paste, left overnight.  I did smear it around a couple of times to ensure all parts got a soak.  Brown came right off easily with a green kitchen scrub pad. 

NPHuskerFL

Maybe I'm odd man out here but I prefer old cast iron. Maybe it's the history that comes with it.  Certainly Le Creuset & Staub are quality items.