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Lodge Enamel v. Le Creuset

When the wife and I were going to college we found a complete set of La Creuset at a thrift store. We are still using that used set after 40 years. It was probably 20 years old when we bought it (late 50's or early 60's was my guess when we bought it).

4 sauce pans with lids and a skillet with lid. All full enameled in robins egg blue outside with white inside.

We've since added a few more pieces from that old style design but they are getting harder to find now that they are close to a half century old.
 

Isaac

B&B Tease-in-Residence
I was actually debating this in a way with my stepfather. If one were given the choice of a complete set, would you go with All Clad or La Creuset? I would think La Creuset, but he chose All Clad. He has both, and i have neither..ROFL
 
Staub uses a different kind of enamel. The interior is black, which is supposed to reflect more heat. (I say supposed to because I can't wrap my head around how this works for a cooking pot, despite the proof from the oven and the theory from 27 credits of college physics.) The interior is not as smooth of a finish, which has pluses and minuses. On the minus side, you do need to scrub it a bit more (I use a dobie pad or a sponge with a fuzzy side). On the plus side, it seems to make a slightly nicer crust if you cook something dry, like my braises that end up cooking for the last hour in nothing but fat. Finally, the ceramic is supposed to be thicker and tougher than what's used in the other brands. I suspect the particular ceramic material Staub uses also contributes to some of the other nice cooking properties: ceramics are very easy to modify to have all kinds of different properties, some good and others bad, so there's plenty of options there. As mentioned before, you get the removable metal handle instead of bakelite (though you can purchase a metal handle as a replacement from Le Crueset), and it has the ribbing on the interior of the lid, though I don't find this last feature very useful. Perhaps it depends on what and how you're cooking.

Do not buy a second if any of the ceramic is chipped or damaged, inside or out. I bought one with a slight crack on the outside ceramic, and it rusted through to the inside within a year.
 
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the wife and i were planing on getting a le Creuset over the Christmas holiday for some general cooking. At the time we decided against it because of the high price. Fast forward to this weekend where we walked into a kitchen store only to see them listed at over 50% off! Needless to say we picked up two and couldnt be happier. They were marking them down because it was the purple colour that apparently they are changing to a different purple? Either way we were happy because we wanted the purple ones anyways lol
 
I have several LCs that get a lot of use in my house. I love them. I did, hoever, have a problem with one that chipped after a few years of use and LC replaced it with no questions asked. Great customer service.
 
I checked out all 3 and ended up with a Staub...marvelous cookware ! Check out the quality of the handle material,the fit of the lid to the pot (wiggle it around to see how tight is the tolerance),and under the lid,where Staub uses "dimples" for even steam dispersion.The quality of the enamel itself is first class as well,you can't beat this pot !
 
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