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?

  • Storksforlegs@beehaw.orgEnglish
    9·
    10 months ago

    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?

    • jcarax@beehaw.org
      8·
      10 months ago

      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.

    • Icarus@beehaw.org
      6·
      10 months ago

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

      • Storksforlegs@beehaw.orgEnglish
        3·
        10 months ago

        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!

          • Storksforlegs@beehaw.orgEnglish
            1·
            5 months ago

            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

    • RosemarySolomon@beehaw.org
      3·
      10 months ago

      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).