Cooking For Engineers

SgtNickFury · Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 37

So how does the Innova enameled cast iron stack up against Le Creuset, it's certainly a lot cheaper.

Enameled cast iron cage fight!

Anyone have any experience with them?

SgtNickFury · Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 37

Has anyone tried Innova at all?

SgtNickFury · Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 37

Does anyone here use enamel cast iron?
Shock

GaryProtein · Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 535

I have a brick red Le Creuset stock pot, about 12-16 quarts that is about 20 years old that I got as gift and should have just returned when I got it. I am not fan of cast iron pots. For me, they serve no purpose. I use it about once every 18 months. It has crazing of the enamel on the inside bottom surface. I have other large pots the same size and larger in stainless clad aluminum that I prefer to use because they are easier to clean and I can use whatever I want to clean them without having to worry about damaging the enamel surface. Besides, the cast iron pots are heavy to carry.

SgtNickFury · Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 37

A lot of southern dishes though do rely on slow cooking, and cast iron is important for that....I can't make my corn bread in anything else either.....

Also I find the enameled cast iron frying pan to be the BEST surface to brown certain items when I want ZERO reactivity, and the items have a lot of acid.

But several family stew type recipes MUST have a cast iron dutch oven.

Le Creuset just seems to me to be so highly priced.......I was hoping the Innova stuff might be just as good, because teh price difference is just so great.

GaryProtein · Joined: 26 Oct 2005 Posts: 535

Why don't you "splurge" and just buy a small trial sized Innova piece and see how it is. Be a little abusive and see how it stands up for your intended uses. I have done that in the past with pots and pans and oven roasters and now have exactly what I like because I tested many different companies products in my own kitchen.

Things to stay away from: all Calphalon products and non-stick All-Clad products. I'm actually surprised All-Clad makes such bad, non durable non-stick ware. They are all over priced and "under-qualitied".

Guest · Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 11:05 am Post subject: Le Crueset Forever

My husband got me a set a few years back; and we've added a few more pieces since then. Over the years I've pretty much given away every other pan we had except the tagine and the wok. Le Crueset forever!

Not only is it great for non-reactive cooking, it is also excellent for developing upper body strength and encouraging mothers-in-law not to volunteer to "help" one cook. Teasing

Rick2U · Joined: 02 Jan 2007 Posts: 5 Location: Timmins, ON

I bought a cottage in a remote area of Northern Ontario back in 1990. It came with linens and cooking items included. It was a boat access property only. I found this strange heavy roasting pot. It was a Le Crueset. I knew nothing about them at the time. I used it to cook over the open fire pit and it was great. For about 15 years I used it there. I sold the cottage last year and it came with me. I cleaned it up from the fire pit soot and It remains my sole roasting pot. I happend to look on the net to see if there were other pots similar. It was then I found the price of my pot was close to three hundred bucks. Wow. I recommend this pot to all. It has been through the works and still looks very good and cooks great.
Rick

markkubis

I bought a Le Creuset casserole with lid 10 years ago and after using it about five times I gave up on it.

I went back to using stainless steel. An equivalent sized high quality stainless steel casserole is about the same price (or a little cheaper) and more durable and lighter.

If you drop a cast iron pan or lid onto a hard surface it can break.

Also the lid knob of the Le Creuset is made of plastic and this limits the usefulness of the entire casserole as you can't put it into a high temperature oven with its lid or the plastic will decompose. However, my stainless steel pots and lids contain no plastic so I don't have to worry.

One pain about enamel is that you have to be careful not to damage it using metal utensils. With stainless steel you can use metal utensils and scrape.

People say that cast iron gives an even heat but so does a high quality stainless steel pot/pan that has a composite base.

In my cooking experience I can see only one advantage to Le Creuset and that is appearance. Many people would prefer a Le Creuset pan on the kitchen table to a stainless equivalent. However, I am one exception, I actually prefer the aesthetics of industrial looking stainless steel to enamelled cast iron.