Take a look around kitchens all across Australia and you’ll find saucepan sets pushed to the back of the cupboard. Discarded pots and pans end up in waste bins, and stained or cracked cookware lurks at the bottom of drawers.
This kind of kitchenware doesn’t serve you well. It wastes time, creates frustration, and burns energy. But avoiding this sorry situation is pretty simple for the informed cook. It comes down to investing in reliable pieces that can form the backbone of your kitchen.
That brings us to the
Le Creuset Dutch oven.
The Workhorse of Kitchenware in Australia
Le Creuset is undeniably one of the most highly regarded brands in the industry – any serious cook will tell you that. Parisian food blogger and pastry chef David Leibovitz
finds his Le Creuset dishes inspiring, and as vintage items, they're still going strong, as well as being "beautiful objects to look at every day." A reminder that a good piece of cookware can inspire you to cook more and better.
Serving up some of the best cookware for almost a century, Le Creuset cookware is hand-crafted with perfectly defined finishing touches that bring it to life. Available in a wide range of rich colours from Marseille Blue to Cerise, they can compliment any type of kitchen or personal aesthetic.
Beyond their looks, Le Creuset cast iron products are typically known for their superior performance and durability. Their Dutch oven is a key player in their collection and a timeless classic amongst fans. It's the kind of cookware piece one hands down to the next generation.
What Is a Dutch oven?
A Dutch oven is simply a large cast iron cooking pot. Historically, it has been used to slow cook meaty dishes like casseroles and stews as the thick iron surface does an excellent job of evenly distributing heat to prevent burning. They are also occasionally referred to as French ovens.
But let’s not be quick to write off this giant pot as only appropriate for heavy winter dishes. Far from it. Dutch ovens are in fact quite versatile, allowing you to fry, boil and roast a variety of dishes before transferring the entire piece to your fridge. For most cooks, these pieces quickly become a go-to tool for all but the smallest meals.
Let’s take a look inside.
Plenty for Everyone
A Dutch oven is a single piece of cookware that can handle everything from a stew or curry to roast pork or pasta.
Use it as a slow cooker to quietly summon delicious flavours to the dinner table. Popular meals like goulash, coq au vin, and tikka masala never grow old, and there’s no shortage of tasty slow cooker recipes online for inspiration.
The size of a typical Dutch oven also means you can efficiently cook up a huge serving of any of your favourite dishes when you have many mouths to feed, or simply stockpile for the freezer, when you want to indulge your own senses.
Le Creuset's Dutch Oven: Your Chameleon of the Kitchen
With single use kitchen gadgets and appliances being the bane of so many kitchens, the Le Creuset Dutch oven is refreshingly adaptable.
Frying
Using a standard non-stick frying pan to brown large portions of dark meat, like ribs, has several pitfalls. First, it can be hard to see how your fond is developing and when it may be starting to burn. (For those of you new to this word, fond is the brown bits of meat that stick to the pan, and give your dish an extra kick of flavor). It can also be difficult to maintain temperature when trying to cook large amounts of meat at once.
Handmade by culinary experts who deliberately look to avoid such shortfalls, the Le Creuset Dutch oven is light in colour on the inside, so you can monitor progress easily. Also, the cast iron's excellent heat retention means you'll be able to brown meat more quickly and effectively.
Boiling
As with most cooking, boiling food effectively requires control of your heat and whether or not you're allowing all that water vapor to escape.
Fortunately, the Dutch oven's heavy lid means that when you want your dish to cook without losing any liquid, you can be certain none of that vapor will escape. Then, when you want to reduce and intensify flavours, just pull the lid off. This applies both to cooking on a stovetop and in an oven.
Additionally, with volcanic designs and striking contrasts between colours, peeling away the lid of a Le Creuset
pot is always an exciting moment.
Roasting
Dutch ovens may not come straight to mind when you think about roasting, however the excellent heat retention and distribution qualities of cast iron make this an excellent choice.
This means you can roast all of your favourite dishes and have them cook thoroughly throughout and worry less about hot spots and burning. The heat resistant handle on top of the lid is oven safe up to 260 degrees Celsius, making it easy to transfer your dish straight to the oven once you've browned it, with or without the lid.
Quality Over Quantity
One of the qualities upon which Le Creuset has built its reputation has been the durability of its products. Their Dutch ovens combine the strength of cast iron with a durable enamel coating which prevents any rusting or the need for seasoning before use.
That's one reason not to let the price deter you — as they say, "If you buy cheap, you buy twice." In all the times you can use and reuse your Le Creuset Dutch oven, you may relegate several sets of lesser quality pans to the bin. It's the kind of kitchen item your children can use one day.
Dress Your Table to Impress
You’ve cooked a masterpiece and it smells divine. Your tablecloth is as white as snow and napkin rings pinch the cloth in anticipation.
Birds may be singing, with globe lights hanging from the trees, and diners chattering with vigour as they wait to be served, but what chef wants to arrive at the table with a battered old pot that’s seen much better days? There’s no need to spoil the moment, or hide cookware sets
away and make life difficult for yourself.
High-end cookware pieces like the Black Satin Dutch Oven are as tantalising to look at as the meal itself, and that's a serious advantage to consider if standing ovations is what you're looking for.
Have a Relaxing Soak
For most of us, the least enjoyable part of cooking is cleaning up afterwards.
You may get a sense of satisfaction at clearing away the mess and seeing your own reflection in the sparkle of your clean plates, but nobody wants to spend all night doing it.
You can put your Dutch oven in the dishwasher or simply soak it in warm, soapy water. For any tough cooked on food you can try gently using steel wool or other cleaning products.
There’s So Much to Celebrate
Let’s recap on the time-saving features of the Le Creuset Dutch oven:
- It’s big. You can serve up a feast using only one pot instead of three.
- It’s versatile. No need to dig out different pans on different days: just grab your Dutch oven and go.
- It’s high quality. Once you’ve bought one, you won’t need to go shopping for another.
- It’s attractive. Move seamlessly between the shelf, the oven and the table.
- It cleans easily. There’ll be no time for your hands to go wrinkly in the sink. Soak it and food just falls away.
Hungry for More
Wondering how else you can save time in the kitchen? You won't be the first chef to become faster as your skills improve, but then increasingly frustrated as minor issues slow you down.
Here are a few extra pointers for being as fast and accurate as you can be in the kitchen:
- Read through the recipe in full before you start cooking.
- Figure out the timing to see where you can multitask.
- Take all of the ingredients out of the fridge and cupboards and have them ready at hand before you start (chefs call this "mise en place").
- Make sure all the tools you'll need are clean and close by.
- Pre-heat the oven or boil water while you prepare the ingredients.
- Chop meat and vegetables into smaller pieces so that they cook faster.
- Use lids on your pans to bring liquids to a boil quickly.
- Make sure the sink is empty so that you can clear used items out of the way.
- Clean up as you go along.
This leaves nothing in your way on your quest to super-chef stardom in the pleasure of your own kitchen.
This Is Only the Start
Le Creuset
owners are proud of the investment they make in their cookware. When they're less stressed in the kitchen and able to focus on the joys of cooking, it shows in every dish they make.
“The brand prides itself on creating modern heirlooms which, far from sitting in the attic, participate in daily life before being handed down.” – The Independent
This isn’t just a humble casserole pot. This is a potential piece of family history, whether it belongs to a home cook or a five star chef.
You can also buy a range of complementary tools to help create your signature dishes with extra ease. Find matching items like oven gloves, frying pans, and spatulas online to start building your own private collection of quality cookware.
If you’d like to carve out your own piece of Le Creuset
history, browse their wide range of Dutch ovens to find the one that lights your fire.
