I have a Wolf Gas Stovetop and brown meat comfortably and well at medium to medium high heats all the time.

In fact, for my smaller pieces, I have to watch the heat more closely.

The larger surface area of the bigger pans with my bigger cuts of meat take longer, but do a great job.

I wouldn't like the steamy gray of unbrowned meat either! Yuck.

The only special thing I do for mine is that I never stick them in the dishwasher. And, they are very easy to clean if you ask me. Even the most stubborn baked on grease generally comes off after a few hours of soaking in Dawn dish detergent. I never even have to use a scratchy thing, just my kitchen sink cloth or even paper towels -Brawny if you're wondering.

I am wondering about the stove top. And other than that, I have no idea why yours didn't do well.

Regardless of the reason, if mine acted that way, at the high cost of having them, I would take it back too.

There are probably others here who can help you better. I have never had that problem.

I agree with disneyginger - only I have a Dacor smooth top. (I would never use LC to boil water - I think it would take forever!) I cook often above medium - esp in the skillets. If you watch the cooks -only some chefs left - on Food network- they seem to cook on pretty high heat in the LC. I do admit to using a very, very old cast iron skillet to sear meat for stews, meatballs, etc and transfer to the LC dutch for the remainder of the cooking either on the stovetop or in the convection oven. That is mostly to eliminate some of the oil. I always saute in the dutch - onions, carrots, celery, etc - if anything I have to be careful not let it get to hot.
I am sorry you had bad results. I think the salesman over cautioned you. I never pre heat a cold pan w/out oil.
I hope others chime in to help you!

It must be the weather! I made Cajun roast beef in my 8 qt Le Creuset pot yesterday. One of the first things that you do is brown the meat on all sides. I did this over medium on my gas stove & the roast browned beautifully, as it always does.

I did make sure that the oil in the pan was screaming hot before I added the meat but I've never had a problem browning in the Le Creuset. Maybe your pan wasn't hot enough? I don't mean temp wise I mean thoroughly hot enough. I know that when I cook on my mother's electric stove it takes forever for things to heat up. You said that preheat time wasn't an issue, though, so I'm just baffled.

But yes, for the price, if you weren't impressed I'd pick up a 25$ lodge cast iron dutch oven & experiment with that instead.

Nina

Another here that sears in LC all the time. Maybe, I'm not supposed to but I preheat mine cold, add a bit of oil, & when that's hot I add whatever I'm cooking. I also have a gas range & use my LC on the high output burners at about 2/3rds capacity. I have several LC pans including the 7.25 quart LC 'Le Doufeu' in red & absolutely love it. Just yesterday, I seared a couple pork tenderloins in it before adding green chili & letting it simmer for 6-7 hours. It did a beautiful job of searing.

I'm wondering about the electric range...hopefully, somebody will chime in that uses electricity with their results. I sure agree with you though...if it won't brown, it's pretty worthless especially for the price of the stuff. Sorry, you're not in love but I sure understand.

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: LC 'Le Doufeu'

tricia - I looked at your "Le Doufeu" - in the picture it has ice cubes in the lid - why?........looking for another "reason to buy another pan"
To clarify - my Dacor is a smooth top electric - always excellent results - unless I goof - like burning the garlic.

The ice cubes create condensation inside the pan...so the juices rise to the top of the lid which has little 'nipples' (shut up Jessy!) then drop back down on top of whatever's cooking thus making the pot self-basting. I adore this pot. I think Staub also uses this system on their lids. There's a very noticeable difference in moisture content between braising in my Le Doufeu & my other LCs without the 'nipples'. :)

/tricia

Gotta have this! - What gal doesn't want self basting nipples????

Mario Battali's pan also has the nipples but doesn't have a well for the ice cubes. The moisture/condensation collects on the top of the lid and drips down slowly into the food.

One stove's medium is another stove's high...
Also it takes a very long time to get all that cast iron hot....and I too brown meat very well in my Le cruset Dutch oven.
I have several Le C pieces that are well over 20 years old....bworwned in them for years....what's going to happen?
Linda C

I sear meats in my LeC pots all of the time, and I've never had the problem you're having. The only thing I can think of is that maybe your burner just wasn't hot enough. Maybe you're being overcautious with the heat, since the salesman made such a point of not cooking too hot?

There is a bit of a learning curve with LeC, I have found. My problem was that I was setting my burners on the same settings that I had been using with my All Clad cookware, and it was cooking way too hot at that level with the LeCreuset. I find that with my LeC pots I generally cook on one of the lower levels of heat, often intermittent heat.

Thanks all. I've also written to LC, let's see what they say about it.

I understand that heat settings vary from stove to stove. I was just trying to be cautious first time around because I'd rather return a pot because I don't like it than be out $200 because I ruined it. But from the sounds of it I should be able to crank it up to where I can safely get a good sear.

I'll give it another shot - you guys are too good for you ALL to be wrong!