Cast Iron cookware.

[quixoticgeek]

As a result of a special offer at the local super market, I got myself a cast iron casserole dish.

https://royalvankempenenbegeer.com/en-int/collection/detail/cast-iron-casserole

Am I supposed to do anything special to keep it in good working order? do I just clean it like normal?

Never had cast iron cookwear before. Always used stainless.

J

[Mrs Pingu]

It gives you a list for using cast iron on the faq page there, it seems to pretty much cover it, except maybe for cleaning. I just wash as normal with a plastic (not metal) scourer if needed. But then I do not have a dishwasher.

[quixoticgeek]

It gives you a list for using cast iron on the faq page there, it seems to pretty much cover it, except maybe for cleaning. I just wash as normal with a plastic (not metal) scourer if needed. But then I do not have a dishwasher.

Yeah, the cleaning thing seemed inspecific. I wondered if I'm supposed to do anything with seasoning ?


J

[Jaded]

It is enamelled, so I’d say no. I thought seasoning was for unfinished cast iron.

[rafletcher]

Correct. Enamelled cast iron is easy. Nothing special required. Like Mrs Pingu, use a plastic scourer, but I always soak first if anything is particularly baked on, but as a rule the long slow cooking they are best for means it’s not. The enamel will stain / discolour. No issue.

[nicknack]

Yup. Very easy to deal with. Just bloody heavy.
We still regularly use the Le Creuset set we got as a wedding present 40 years ago.

[Mrs Pingu]

It is enamelled, so I’d say no. I thought seasoning was for unfinished cast iron.

Agree. You only need to season bare metal.

[andrewc]

I’ve never done anything special with my Le Creuset grill pan, just cleaned it with soap & water, and don’t use anything too abrasive.


Wear safety boots when cooking, you’d not want to drop one on your foot, which is probably why you see so much of the stuff on EBay.  Excellent “Frying Pan of Spang” to quote an absent friend.

[fuaran]

I often put my Le Creuset pans in the dishwasher. No problems, still fine after 30 years or so. Though maybe the colour has faded slightly.

And don't drop it on a ceramic hob. The hob may crack (but the pan will be fine).

[T42]

We wore through the enamel on an early 70s Le Creuset at around 30 years - it's better to soak well before scouring.  Dunno what make the current one is, but it's at least 30 years old and still looks new.

[Jaded]

Don’t use any chemicals.

[Paul H]

It's a nice looking pan, but this made me laugh

The best material for optimal heath retention

What?

[T42]

Just don't drop it on your foot.

[Mrs Pingu]

Don't get tennis elbow either...

[rogerzilla]

I was just scrubbing my Le Creuset roasting tin.  My opinion: pointless waste of cash.  I have a Ray-Ware ceramic roasting tin from about 1990 whuch is bigger, lighter and easier to clean.

[citoyen]

Don’t use any chemicals.

+1

My wife destroyed the enamel on our crepe pan with over-aggressive cleaning. I told her, it’s just ‘patina’, doesn’t mean it’s not clean...

[Gattopardo]

hot water and a bamboo brush, same to clean steel woks,

Proper seasoned is really non stick.

[rafletcher]

I was just scrubbing my Le Creuset roasting tin.  My opinion: pointless waste of cash.  I have a Ray-Ware ceramic roasting tin from about 1990 whuch is bigger, lighter and easier to clean.

For roasting I’d agree, a decent stainless steel tin is perfectly adequate. Actually I don’t think Le Creuset are VFM despite their longevity. I have a couple of Linea casseroles (House of Fraser, one bought online via Sports Direct) , one deep, one shallow, that were a fraction of the price (£35 each) and, given I use them perhaps half a dozen times a year each, will outlast me.

[jsabine]

I think Le Creuset offers excellent VFM, but that's probably because I've never bought any of it new.

My most used pan is a 20cm casserole that, along with an oval casserole, cost me less than 200FF from the Bagnolet end of the Porte de Montreuil flea market at the back end of 1994.

[TimC]

I bought a complete set for one wife or other, at her request. Cost me more than a very decent bike. She hated it because she couldn't lift it.

[Jaded]

I bought a complete set for one wife or other, at her request. Cost me more than a very decent bike. She hated it because she couldn't lift it.

That's what happens if you buy bikes from Argos.

[robgul]

Le Creuset has gone up massively in price since we bought the first items (still in use) over 30 years ago - we did buy some in France in the 90s when prices were reasonable.  I bought a set of stuff from Aldi about a month ago - 3 items for about £55 - fantastic value and the red matches the Le Creuset stuff too.

The previous Mrs robgul many years ago managed to burn and destroy a Le Creuset saucepan . . .  there was a popping noise as the enamel parted company with the bottom of the pan (boiling stuff requires water!)

[Blodwyn Pig]

I remember reading an article in a cycling mag over 30 years ago, in W.H Smiths, when on my lunch break, and it suggested that women cyclists would benefit from cooking their meals in a cast iron ''skillet' , as the food takes in some additional  iron content from the pan, which would of course be of some use.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I bought a complete set for one wife or other, at her request. Cost me more than a very decent bike. She hated it because she couldn't lift it.

That's what happens if you buy bikes from Argos.

Argoses are like Hammonds, there's a Wrong One and a Right One.

[Mr Larrington]

I bought a complete set for one wife or other, at her request. Cost me more than a very decent bike. She hated it because she couldn't lift it.

That's what happens if you buy bikes from Argos.

Argoses are like Hammonds, there's a Wrong One and a Right One.

“I hereby endorse this ^^^^ product, service or sentiment” ~ Keith Emerson, yesterday