Dutch Ovens

Jared’s great post on the Top 4 Users thread got me wondering about Dutch Ovens. I have three. A SS tri-clad 4 qt that was billed as cast iron. That was a lie. It’s steel in the middle unless they were casting 1 mm thick pots in the ’70’s. A 5 qt Lodge and an 8 qt ceramic coated/enameled no name that is heavy enough to be cast iron.

In dealing with cooking dishes a couple of hours or more, I am under the impression my 4 qt and 8 quart cook mostly from the bottom. They seem to be best for thin recipes like chicken and dumplings or thin soup. My thick 5 qt Lodge is my go to for thicker recipes like chili and stew. It seams to cook not only from the bottom but also from the sides as they get almost as hot as the bottom over time and do radiate a lot of heat into what I’m cooking.

I think the Lodge cooks more evenly, a little faster, requires less attention to stirring/bottom burning and tastes better too. This may very well be all in my imagination.

What have you found?

Hilditch

I think where you cook counts as much as what you cook with. If I were cooking stovetop then I absolutely agree with going with a thicker iron oven like my modern Lodge 7 qt. It heats from all sides better in my experience than something like my Le Creuset or Erie ovens. However, I usually sear and sauté on my stovetop before the actual stew or braise and longcook in the oven (my gas oven) itself. In these cases I prefer the thinner iron, as I can control temps better when not too much heat is stored in the iron itself. When I need to go from the high heat of searing to the more moderate heat of deglazing without burning I always opt for thin iron.

P.S. I also think geometry has a lot to do with my personal taste. My Le Creuset and Erie ovens both have essentially straight walls and a large bottom surface area for searing. My Lodge, although larger in volume significantly has only about half the bottom surface area as the walls curve in dramatically to meet the bottom. Great for a low flame to maintain a simmer, horrible for searing or sautéing.