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.

Cookie8: Here is a Pizza Dough recipe and baking tut for prebaked dough. If you want I'll put in a tutorial for a Calzopizza , " Stuffed Crust Pizza " A 12 inch round pizza will take from 8 to 12 ounces of dough. According to thickness you want. After the dough is made weigh it out and roll into balls. Oil the pans and place a dough ball in the pan and flatten slightly, working the dough towards the side of the pan, with the palms. Then let it rest a few minutes. Repeat this every so often until the dough reaches the side and up, enough for a crust about 1/2 ? inch. Let it raise slightly , pinch the dough all over, with a fork and put into the oven to bake at 400 deg. If it bubbles while baking pinch it with a fork again. When light tan specks show ,take them out onto a rack to cool fast. Then you can use them right away or freeze , to use later. When cooking the Pizza, place the Pre Baked dough back in the oiled pan , Or cook on your Stone. Put a latel of sauce on the dough and swish it around, sprinkle some Parmesan or Romano , put it in the oven for a few minutes. Take it out and spread the topping of your choice and the Cheese Topping. A good topping cheese is a mixture of Mozzarella and Provolone chopped and mixed. The provolone gives it a good flavor and doesn't get like rubber when it cools. I use all Provolone. A little trick for baking. Keep a cup of water and brush handy, to baste parts that are cooking too fast. If you can get new metal pans, (uncoated) they have to be cured in the oven, so they won't stick. Coat them with oil and bake them for at least 6 hours. Never clean them with soap and water. Just rinse with water & wipe with a paper towel. Dough recipe: 1 cup of warm water (not hot) 1 Package of Active Dry Yeast 1 tablesps sugar ,in a half cup of warm water 1/4 Cup of Veg. Oil 1 teasp. Salt About 3 1/2 cups Flour ½ cup of Whole wheat flour or up to 1 cup Place in a mixing bowl, the Water, 1 cup of flour, wheat flour , yeast if risen Add the oil and salt and more flour. Add enough flour to make a soft ball of dough, that doesn't stick to your hands. Knead until smooth. Put it back in the bowl , Smooth side up and Rub on some Veg. Oil Cover and set in a warm place to rise until it doubles in bulk. I put it in a warm oven, Covered with a damp towel and place a pan of hot water on the bottom shelf. It rises in about 1 hour. When doubled, punch it down and knead it well. Divide into Balls , about 11 to 12 ounces and place in oiled pans. 12" round Dough should be about 3/16 " thick on the bottom and about 1/2 in. around the edge. For Sicilian Pizza , I used most of the dough in a 11" X 16" pan ( a bit thicker ) Follow the previous instructions. Good luck, Lou

I've been making soft deep pizza dough using some 'Herman' starter. http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/388/HermanStarter14095.shtml I mix the pizza dough in my bread machine dough setting- start out with it on moist side and add remaining flour as needed for a soft but not sticky dough. 1 cup of the herman starter 1 cup of warmed water 2-3 Tbsp of olive oil about 3 cups flour - add 2 cups to start then add more as needed when mixing has started 1 pkg quick yeast tsp salt or as you like 2 tsp sugar or as you like onion or garlic powder if you like(for a flavored crust) turn on dough cycle adding more flour as needed for the dough to form a soft but no sticky ball and then let machine finish the cycle. gently remove risen dough from bread machine pan I lightly flour the pizza pan and put it on that- don't smash it, let sit a bit, then start to shape as a thick crust or place into a deep pan for very deep dish pizza. you want to keep those air bubbles be gentle. After it's shaped set aside while you finish preparing any toppings. a light coating of any sauce- tomato sauce or alfredo sauce with chicken, turkey, beef, canadian bacon , pepperoni anything you like. if toppings will be heavy precook the crust a bit before adding toppings. bake at approx 425* on next to lowest oven rack setting- till a golden brown and cheese is melted. let sit a short time to cool a bit before cutting or cheese will run all over. This is a loose recipe- I kind of made it up myself- but if you make bread very often you can do it. http://www.bettycrocker.com/ there is a deep dish recipe at betty crocker but the site is down so I couldn't searchit for you. Here is a link that might be useful: cd kitchen

Frieda -- if your pans are well seasoned, they shouldn't need much more than a bit of boiling water in them after you are done and then a swish of an abrasive something. Then wipe out with a paper towel and a bit of olive oil in them. Return to a warm oven or very low burner to set the oil. No Soap. Ever. Carrie -- the drawer in the photo is my current drawer, not tall enough. I was playing around when I took the photo. The drawer is 20 inches long by 10 deep in the photo. My new drawer will be 23 inches long and 12.5 inches deep. How they go side by side like that is because the two trays are staggered, not directly lined up. If you look at the drawer photo, the first pan on the front left (down stage right) is in the gap created by the front tray sitting ahead of the back tray by about 2 inches. No space is lost because the gap in the front left is filled and the gap in the back left can be filled because the tray in the front will support the handle and keep the pan front falling forward. We have two deep drawers planned. The CI and lighter All-Clad will be mixed to spread the weight. I have a 14 inch that won't fit of course, but that usually sits on the cooktop with a favorite 12 inch nested in it. We don't need them all, but if they sit and don't get seasoned, they rust. Our kids will get them when they finally settle down.