Customer Reviews

Le Creuset L2501-2609 5 1/2 qt. Round French Oven (Blue)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the dictionary, next to "dutch oven," is a picture of a le Creuset pot.

This 5.5 quart version is sized to fit typical casserole, soup, and stew recipes, and big enough for a large chicken or pot roast. It will fit on an average-height refrigerator shelf (you may need to replace the lid with a dinner plate), and will heat evenly on a standard sized burner (though, given the heat distribution of the cast iron, it would heat evenly on a birthday candle). This is the size the cooking shows use - if you've ever watched over Emeril's shoulder as he arranged stuff in the pot, you know that this is just the right size and shape.

My only complaint is that le Creuset recently stopped smoothing and under-glazing the rims of their pots, and is now leaving them rough and "rust-proofing" them instead. For my older (heirloom) pots, I invert the lids for stacking and storage. I haven't been able to bring myself to do this with my newest pot, however, because if I do the rough unglazed rim will scratch up the lid. (ecoutez-vous le Creuset?!)

I love to cook and really work my pots and pans over. i am so sick of investing in a *high-quality* cookware set that falls apart and looks terrible after 3 or 4 years. even the circulons and calphalons were disappointments. i've had my eye on le creuset for a few years but never had the opportunity to buy one until recently. i bought mine (the blue french oven) at an overstock store for an incredible price, and now i'm here shopping at amazon for more. pot roasts cook in half the time on lower heat, and cleaning is a breeze. if you love to cook they are well worth the investment. i can't begin to tell you how pleased i am!

If you're one of those people that have long coveted fine cookware but
wonder if the "name" stuff is actually worth the big money. I'm an
avid cook and, a few years ago, I finally gave in to my long time Le
Creuset longing by buying a "starter set" online. I was hooked!

The
enamel on cast iron surface is better than non-stick and nearly
indestructible (Le Creuset provides a 101 year warranty on their
products, covering everything, including chipping of the
enamel). They're the only high end pan that admit they're dishwasher
safe and it is practically impossible to burn anything in these
top-of-the-line cooking tools. Have you ever wondered why so many
recipes call for cooking something "in a heavy saucepan," well use a
Le Creuset once and you'll understand.

These are, bar none, my
favorite pans and I can't imagine cooking without them. Since that
first "starter set" I've replaced all the pans in my kitchen with Le
Creuset. I have faith that it's an investment that will last a
lifetime!

One cavet: While nothing is better than Le Creuset's
classic enamel over cast iron cookware (Dutch Ovens, saucepans, French
Ovens, skillets, griddles, woks, etc.), I don't know if you need to
spend the money on some of their other items. The "potterie"
(stoneware) cookware is fine, but really no better than any other I've
tried (including the much more modestly priced Corning Ware), and
their enamel on steel stockpots ARE more heavy duty than most (a real
plus if you like to brown meat right in your stockpot, instead of a
seperate pan), but you can find nice imitations (or Granitware) that
will work equally well for a lot less.

(as an addendum to my previous review)

As some other reviewers have noted, the pots will break if dropped. This is particualarly true if you have a tile or concrete floor in your kitchen. I've dropped pots onto linoleum and wood with no problems (except for a dent in the linoleum). Some pots are also more prone to breakage than others - the oval french ovens will crack through if dropped on the "long" side, rendering them unusable. The rounded soup pots, however, seem to be almost indestructable.

The enamel will scratch and chip, even by such seemingly innocuous things as a dishwasher prong that has the rubber coating worn off (I totally trashed the inside bottom of a small soup pot this way). Banging a metal spoon on the rim of the pot to clean it off is a no-no (though wood is fine). You also can't deep fry in the white-enamel-lined le Creuset, though you can in the black-lined pieces, and the older grey (glissimal) ones.

Nevertheless, as a proud owner of naked Wagner cast iron, All-Clad, Kitchenaid, and le Creuset, my choice for stews, soups, spaghetti sauce and rice is still le Creuset.

Who would spend two hundred bucks on a stew pot: Mad Dogs and Englishmen? Well, first there is Mario Batali. It's impossible to watch his show without seeing one of these. Also, I think, Emeril. And I use one. I'm neither as credentialled nor as wealthy as either, but I do like to cook and I like good food. Also I have a master's degree in heat transfer!

This cooking tool is called a 'Dutch Oven' because when it came into being Dutch cooks had cook tops but not ovens - so the myth goes. They needed a pot with a thick wall to conduct heat all around the item being cooked. They needed heavy construction in order to make roasts and braises on the cooktop. If you have ambitions of making oven-cooked i.e. roasted items on the cook top, you need something like this pot.

If you are just simmering foods in water, a pot this well made may prove to be a waste of resources. In many cases, the water will distribute the heat perfectly well. There is a more thorough discussion of this at ChefHome.com

In most cases you will start cooking a dish with some moisure, but finish with just a thin layer of thick sauce at the bottom of the pot. This will be your perfect dish: moist, fall-off-the bone meat in a thick, flavorful sauce. In a thin-walled pot, the walls would overheat and foods touching them would burn. But in a thick pot such as this one, the walls stay just a little cooler so long as the bottom of the pan is covered in sauce. There is much less problem with burning at the edges.

A similar argument holds for cooking on top of the stove.

You could just buy a heavy cast iron kettle, but the enamel surface is much easier to clean. And you can cook acidic foods without worrying about disolving a lot of iron into your food.

I did have one minor accident with my Dutch Oven. I was browning a chicken in preparation for making a fricassee. I had the burner all the way up, and I poured cold liquid onto the bottom of the pot. There was a loud popping noise and a dime-sized piece of enamel spalled off the bottom surface. It's not a noticable problem in terms of cooking performance, but it does irk me a bit every time I see the flawed pot.

So much for the technical issues; what about results? Frankly, some of my best-tasting meals have been prepared in a Le Creuset 4 1/2 quart round Dutch oven. Dozens of braises and fricassees have come out of mine and there simply would not have been a way to get the same result with a lesser pot.

And while many cooking techniques require great skill and masterful timing, cooking with this pot allows you to miscalculate a lot and still be right. Delay the meal by an hour? No big deal. Turn the heat down to 250 F, check the moisture level, and don't sweat it. It's easy to fall in love with the food and the cooking process; and the pot.

This may not be the first pot or pan you buy for your kitchen, but the second you start cooking for more than 2 people, you will find this pot indispensible.

Don't cook without it.

Interested in how to choose among Amazon.com's pots and pans? Read more about it at ChefHome.com

WOW! This pot is great, makes cooking better, faster and easier. I reluctantly will give four stars though it's cooking charactists deserve a strong five star. I found two negatives,it's heavy, but it didn't loose a star for being heavy, I don't mind that. THE OTHER SURPRISED ME and that's why I only gave it four stars. I have a granite countertop. After washing this pot, I placed the top on the counter to dry face down. The next day, the metal interaction created a perfect round to match the lid on the granite top. With a lot of elbow grease and a mild abrasive (something I would only use in an emergency because the abrasive takes off the seal on the granite), to my relief, the ring came out about 90%. Just be warned that at least on granite, don't let the bare metal surface on the edge of the lid touch the granite. Out of curiosity, I would like to see some reviews if there was this metal interaction on other surfaces like mica, corean etc.

WE got this pot as a wedding gift 28 years ago. It's still one of my favorites. Great for stew, chili, or cassoulet. The only problem we've had, and it was our own doing (sort of)...my mother-in-law, Mrs. Clean, decided that rather than soak the pot to get the stuck food off, she would scrub it with steel wool...a definite no-no. The interior enamel was damaged so that now it is a bear to clean, but I still Love it. It's also good if you can't get to the gym, heavy, heavy, heavy...use it to intimidate the cat! All in all, a great investment.

The single best pots for doing rich chicken dishes and the like. Conducts heat perfectly, well-balanced and very easly to clean. So many great meals have emerged from these pots that I tend to cook more frequently, especially the more slow-cooking or complex dishes.

I inheirited one of these pots and then bought another. Since then I have excused all similar imitations from the kitchen.

If I had to equipt my kitchen with 3 cooking pots/pans, this would come right after the skillet and sauce pan.

I have had other cookware, some expensive, including Calphalon. Le Creuset cookware takes a beating and works great! The only drawback if you see it as one, is the nonstick products they sell. I personally don't care for them. If I wanted non-stick, I would choose ALL CLAD. Other than that, It is a great investment. You will never be sorry you spent the money. I have had mine for 8 years now. I have the old Flame colors.

If I were getting married all over again, I would register for several pieces from Le Creuset. Sturdy cast iron, but coated with enamel for easy cleaning. Perfect for soup, a stew, risotto... I love to use it as a bean pot for all day baked beans. Goes from stove to oven easily. I even put it right on the table (with a trivet underneath!) because it's colorful and pretty. You wouldn't want to pass it around though, because it's dramatically heavy. I love the look of it on my stove and I'm sure I'll have it for years and years.