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147 of 149 found the following review helpful:
 Heavy Duty Cooking at a Great PriceNov 11, 2001
By MICHAEL ACUNA
Anyone serious about Cooking should have at least one cast iron pot and Le Creuset is the best quality available today. The 7 quart pot is perfect for anything which requires long slow cooking either on the stovetop or in the oven: stews, baked beans, pasta fagioli, paella, cassoulet, soups, etc., etc. An iron pot takes longer to heat up than say stainless steel or aluminum but it holds heat longer than either. I have even used my Le Crueset on the BBQ to bake a cake or make cornbread so as not to heat up the kitchen in the summer. In fact, this past summer when the electricity went out, I even made all the components of Lasagna Bolognese as well as baking it complete in my Le Crueset on the BBQ. It was round, shaped like a cake but it was delicious. I've had one of my Le Creusets for over 10 years (that calculates to 91 more years on the 101 years warranty!) with no sign of any obvious wear mainly because I have taken care when using it: wooden instead of metal spoons or spatulas and using non-abrasive cleansers on the interior.
138 of 142 found the following review helpful:
I thought I wanted All-CladJun 17, 2004
Let me just say this: I thought my dream kitchen set was a basic 10-piece set from All-Clad, and one Le Creuset dutch oven.After 10 years of wanting my dream collection, I finally decided to plunk down for the Le Creuset portion of it. (If you can buy at an outlet store, all the better. I paid $125 for this 7.25 qt. in French Blue). So as I approach the register to pay for my purchase, I tell the ladies at the Le Creuset store about my dream collection ... and they just looked at me like I was a moron. Them: "Why would you need All-Clad?"
Me: "Because everyone needs a stainless steel frypan, right?"
Them: "I only cook in LeCreuset! I even bake my cakes in it!"
Me: "What? Bake a cake in a roasting pan?"
Them: "Why not? They cook beautifully!" So began my adventure. In a crazy, impusive moment, I got a small roasting pan ($90), a enamal coated stainless steel stock pot ($50), 2 small sauce pans (1 qt, 2 qt), and a grill ($50). Let me tell you: This is the dream set I never knew I wanted. Not only do I have a set of BEAUTIFUL pans, but I think I won't need to buy as many fancy serving dishes now that I can cook and serve in the same Le Creuset pot! It's true: the full cast iron allows for food to cook beautifully. Your pot roast, rice pilaf, casseroles, risottos never tasted more rich, flavorful and tender. Imagine how you'd make a roast: First, in a fry pan, you'd brown it. Then you'd transfer to a Pyrex dish and bake. And if you have company over, you'd transfer to a third serving dish. All those dishes! What a mess!! With Le Creuset -- you cook & serve all in one pan. And it cleans up super easy, and even in the dishwasher for those who are lazy. Instead of 3 dishes, you use one -- gotta love the efficiency! Plus -- with this cast iron, you cook on low heat, instead of high heat like you have to with stainless steel & aluminum. I never knew so much heat was lost into the atmosphere from my old stainless steel pans. The cast iron core of Le Creuset gets hot and stays hot -- Anyone can cook French cuisine like Julia Child, even on a hot plate! Le Creuset is going to save me from buying a ton of serving dishes. I think I will cut my "dream kitchen" dish needs down by 2/3 with these Le Creuset investments. I was really nervous the first week to make such a big commitment to a cookware set I didn't know much about. But as I try all my favorite recipes, and as I clean up the most stuck on mess at the bottom of the pans in seconds, I wonder now how I could have wanted anything else. Le Creuset was the best gamble I've ever made. Now, I tell all my friends to forget all the other cookware -- Le Creuset all the way!!
77 of 78 found the following review helpful:
The Best Dutch Oven You'll Ever UseFeb 18, 2007
By Patrick D.
I bought my Red, 7-1/4-quart round Dutch/French oven in the early 1990s, cooked hundreds of meals in it and it still looks as good as the day I got it. Back then I lived in an apartment and didn't have much storage space, so I was looking for something versatile. Best kitchen utensil pick I've ever made. And it takes up no storage space at all because it's never put away; it looks beautiful sitting on top of the range even when the kitchen is cleaned up and it's not in use.
I've used it for braising, deep frying, poaching, oven roasting and making stews, soups and sauces. I've used it to cook beef roasts, just about every cut of pork available, whole and cut-up chickens, ducks and rabbit. It works equally well on top of the range or in the oven. It's perfect for pot roasts with the veggies cooked alongside the meat. You can render beef fat in it and make perfect oven-browned potatoes, starting on a range burner and finishing in the oven without having to use another pot or pan. For big batches of chili or jambalaya, this is the answer -- after you make it and have a meal, you can put the lid on and put the whole thing into the refrigerator. The next day, put it on top the range and let it stand for 20 minutes to shake off some of the chill, then fire up the burner on low and stir from the bottom with a wooden spatula. It reheats perfectly without scorching. It's great for frying anything because the sides are so high there are no grease splatters, making cleanup a snap.
Food will stick to the enamel lining, but it comes off easily with dish soap and a Scotchbrite sponge. Also, there's no problem putting either pot or lid in the lower rack of the dishwasher. Mine doesn't have a scratch or any discoloration after all this time. Just take reasonable care of it and use only plastic or wooden utensils, it'll last a lifetime. Heck, it'll probably last your children's and grandchildren's lifetimes too, giving full value for that 101 year warranty. Don't even think twice about getting one -- put it in your Shoppping Cart and just do it. In fact, you'll also want it's 5-1/2 and 3-1/2-quart cousins for those times when you need the same versatility but with smaller quantities of food. So you might as well order all three of them and get it over with. Yeah, your credit card will be smoking for a few months, but you'll quickly forget about it when you discover how nice it is to cook with enameled cast iron -- enjoy!!!
33 of 35 found the following review helpful:
Cook like a pro all day!Oct 11, 2003
By Scott Pointon
"Former Marine, Librarian, Woodworker, Homebrewer"
I had seen these pots in action on all of the cooking shows, so I figured they were serious cookware. After careful consideration I finally purchased the seven quart dutch oven, in the cherry red color. This size is perfect to make enough stew for my whole family, and the cooking qualities of this pot are just as they are billed. It browned the stew meat, deglazed beautifully, heated evenly, and went right in the oven for the final cooking phase. After dinner I was thrilled to see that Le Creuset's cast-iron cookware cleans just as easily as their stoneware line. Although this pot is VERY heavy, the benefits of cast iron far outweigh this "downside". I should have bought one of these pots years ago and I recommend one to anyone who loves to cook as I do.
19 of 19 found the following review helpful:
 The lid wobbles and would let the steam outJan 05, 2011
By Anonymous
I was so excited to finally have a Le Creuset dutch oven, and I ordered the 7 1/4 quart round one. I noticed right when I opened the box that the lid wobbled. I rotated the lid an inch at a time and kept retesting to see if maybe it needed to sit a certain way to fit correctly. It wobbled in every possible orientation. I examined the lid and there were three 'lumps' in the lip which apparently were causing it to not sit flat on the pan. I went to a local cookware store and was able to examine their Le Creuset ovens on display. Every one of theirs which I tested that was a round 5 1/2 or 7 1/4 quart size wobbled just like mine did. They did have a 9 quart round one whose lid did not wobble. I'm not sure what this means. Has Le Creuset quality gone downhill? Do certain size ovens have more of a problem than others? Should this particular oven have been sold on the 'seconds' market in an outlet store and somehow it got past their quality control? If I order another one, what are the chances its lid will also wobble? Mine also had a few pinholes in the enamel. If I had gotten mine at a sharply discounted 'seconds' price, I would have put foil over the pan before putting on the lid to make a nice tight fit and never given it a second thought. After all, if you're going to cook in this type of oven, you don't want all your steam to escape while cooking because the lid doesn't sit right. But for a first quality oven sold for a first quality price, I was very disappointed and I returned mine. Now I don't know what I'm going to do about it. I want a cast iron dutch oven like this one where I can be certain the lid will fit properly.
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