I don't have any Le Creuset or enameled stuff, just Lodged, one Griswold and some unbranded stuff. I love it, though.

My dutch oven is mostly used for deep frying, it holds the heat so nicely and nothing makes a nicer crust on corn bread than a cast iron skillet. I actually make fried chicken about once every five years, but the Griswold is great for that. I also like that I can sear something in cast iron and then put the whole thing in the oven, right in the pan.

You seem to have a good selection fo sizes and I always go for the bigger sizes as opposed to the smaller ones, even when it's just Elery and I, or even just me and Cooper.

Have fund with all tht entertaining!

Annie

I have both some Le Creuset items and some less expensive competitors' items as well (Lodge, some other Chinese stuff). They all seem to work well. LC is great stuff, as is Staub, but you do pay a premium for those brand names. I don't know if in the long run the less expensive stuff will last as long, but right now I don't see much of a difference in the performance. Cooks Illustrated compared some of these a while back, and found they liked a $40 enameled cast iron pot from Target just about as much as a $200 LC item.

All enameled cast iron (ECI) items are good at long, slow cooking. The cast iron holds heat well and isn't super fast at changing temperatures; that's why they're so good for unfussy slow braises.

One of my favorite cold weather dishes (I've posted this several times, frequent readers please forgive the repetition) is a great application for your new ECI. This is a perfect dish for a day when you have a lot of laundry or housework to do. You have to be in the house anyway, so you may as well have a no-stress supper cooking while you're doing other work. You put it in the oven at lunchtime, and after seven hours you have some juicy and scrumptious lamb.

Gigot de sept heures (Seven hour leg of lamb)

1 leg of lamb, about 6#
4 garlic cloves, sliced, plus 20 whole garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
salt & pepper
2 small onions, thinly sliced
4 carrots, peeled
1 bouquet garni
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup flour, 1 cup water

Preheat oven to 300ÃÂ F. (If necessary, trim most of the external fat off the lamb. Some legs of lamb will come with a heavy fatty connective tissue, called the "fell", covering a lot of its surface. Remove as much of it as practical--leaving it on will make the dish gamier because a lot of the gamy flavor is in the fat and connective tissues.) Make many small stab incisions in lamb and place slivers of garlic in each incision. Rub lamb well with olive oil, season with salt & pepper. Place it in Dutch oven and add onions, carrots, bouquet garni, garlic, wine. Put lid on Dutch oven. Combine flour and water, make a 'caulk' and use it to seal the lid to the dutch oven. (Note: That's not necessary if you have a casserole or Dutch oven with a fairly snug-fitting lid.) Place it in the 300ÃÂoven and cook for 7 hours. Yes, 7 hours. NO PEEKING--leave it alone. A half hour before it's done, fix some noodles or rice or couscous to soak up the juices.

Remove the Dutch oven and break the seal. You don't eat the cooked flour paste.
That's it. About a half hour to an hour of prep, then you leave it the heck alone for 7 hours. It's nearly foolproof. Serve it with whatever else you want, and a medium bodied red wine goes quite well with this (say, a nice Zinfandel) but a dry white (such as the remainder of the bottle you opened to get the cup of wine in the recipe) is fine as well if that's your preference.

Just to clarify the prior post, the oven temp should be 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

I have the 6 1/4q u LeC oven and 3 ( count 'em! THREE) 5 qt Le C ovens. I also have a1 1/2 qt covered sauce pan which I don't use a lot, but when I do, nothing else will do.
And I have 5 fry pans, both Le C and other brands.
B ut what you are missing is one of the oval bakers. It's great for oven roasted potatoes ( but so are the fry pans) and roasting a chicken or a small pork loin or rib roast.

Linda C

Thank you Annie, Arley , and Linda C for your feedback. Arley, forgive my ignorance but what does bouquet garni consists of. Your recipe seems yummi and I will give it a try soon when I've got some company. More feedback is welcomed before I do the plunge and invest in these pans. What I like about these 2 Brands ( although they are so expensive )is their lifetime warranty, and the way they cook the food and keep the flavours.

There's no magic formula for bouquet garni, but most of the time it'll include parsley, bay leaf, and maybe thyme (see the link). In the case of lamb, if you had some rosemary that would go well too.

The idea behind it, though, is that you tie it up with string (or in a little cheesecloth) so it cooks with the food and gives it flavor, but you can easily retrieve it before serving. I sometimes don't bother with tying it up and just throw some parsley, bay leaf and thyme in the pot. The nice thing about this dish is that it's totally non-fussy, and hard to mess up. Meat slowly cooked with aromatic vegetables and herbs are gonna taste good.

Here is a link that might be useful: bouquet garni