Another Chinese Cookware Bargain

blades

blades

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I have two 5 qt pots. One is a granite stone stock pot that came with my EsLite cookware set. The other one is a gray enameled cast iron dutch oven made by Le Creuset in France that I have owned for about 20 years. I can't remember what I paid for it but currently it sells for $272 or more on Amazon. 5 quarts is just shy of what I normally need in a large pot so I have been on the lookout for an affordable larger one. Enter the Chinese made red enameled cast iron dutch oven shown next to it in the image. It holds 7 1/2 quarts or 50% more than the French one but cost only $30 including shipping from Amazon. Is it as good as the French one? I have no idea but it isn't a matter of rocket technology. It is just an enameled cast iron pot with a lid. It is certainly heavier than the French one. Talk about a bargain, huh?
 
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blades said:
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I have two 5 qt pots. One is a granite stone stock pot that came with my EsLite cookware set. The other one is a gray enameled cast iron dutch oven made by Le Creuset in France that I have owned for about 20 years. I can't remember what I paid for it but currently it sells for $272 or more on Amazon. 5 quarts is just shy of what I normally need in a large pot so I have been on the lookout for an affordable larger one. Enter the Chinese made red enameled cast iron dutch oven shown next to it in the image. It holds 7 1/2 quarts or 50% more than the French one but cost only $30 including shipping from Amazon. Is it as good as the French one? I have no idea but it isn't a matter of rocket science. It is just an enameled cast iron pot with a lid. It is certainly heavier than the French one. Talk about a bargain, huh?
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Well yes. I have some cheaper versions of these cast iron enamelled pots too. In fact I have one that was even cheaper than yours. Whether they are as long lasting as Le Creuset I don't know. I don't often use mine as they are so heavy and really I can cook just as well in a normal large saucepan or other lighter pot.

But at my age it doesn't really matter if they can last 20 years or more as I really don't think that I will!
 
Morning Glory said:
Well yes. I have some cheaper versions of these cast iron enamelled pots too. In fact I have one that was even cheaper than yours. Whether they are as long lasting as Le Creuset I don't know. I don't often use mine as they are so heavy and really I can cook just as well in a normal large saucepan or other lighter pot.

But at my age it doesn't really matter if they can last 20 years or more as I really don't think that I will!
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We shall see. It is hard to imagine that the difference in country of origin would have any effect on the food you cook in it. I'll make up a batch or two of soup tomorrow to break it in. 20 more years aren't in the cards for me either.
 
blades said:
We shall see. It is hard to imagine that the difference in country of origin would have any effect on the food you cook in it. I'll make up a batch or two of soup tomorrow to break it in. 20 more years aren't in the cards for me either.
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Then we will never know! I think in the short to medium term it will be fine. Which is all I can hope for myself! :laugh:
 
I hope it is well-made. I had a friend who bought some knock-off enameled cast iron pots and the finish cracked off on the insides of the pots after the first year. I bought some off-brand ones but her story made me decide to baby mine, so I keep microfiber cloths on the inside of each one when I nest them and I am careful to never use metal utensils in them (which I don't generally do with any of my cookware other than my regular cast iron). So far so good. I might be being overly cautious but I would rather play it safe.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
I hope it is well-made. I had a friend who bought some knock-off enameled cast iron pots and the finish cracked off on the insides of the pots after the first year. I bought some off-brand ones but her story made me decide to baby mine, so I keep microfiber cloths on the inside of each one when I nest them and I am careful to never use metal utensils in them (which I don't generally do with any of my cookware other than my regular cast iron). So far so good. I might be being overly cautious but I would rather play it safe.
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Think about how many dutch ovens you can buy for $272 if they only cost $30.
 
blades said:
Think about how many dutch ovens you can buy for $272 if they only cost $30.
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Think about how much food you can buy for $272!

It's no hardship for me to put the microfiber cloths in between them and not use metal utensils. I'd rather not have to replace them and maybe I won't have to do so!
 
JAS_OH1 said:
Think about how much food you can buy for $272!

It's no hardship for me to put the microfiber cloths in between them and not use metal utensils. I'd rather not have to replace them and maybe I won't have to do so!
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I'm not against your microfiber cloths. I'm just suggesting that if the $30 pot fails, you can buy another one. .......and again.......and again and so forth.
 
blades said:
I'm not against your microfiber cloths. I'm just suggesting that if the $30 pot fails, you can buy another one. .......and again.......and again and so forth.
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I agree. In fact I did once manage to crack the lid of a friends supposedly indestructable Le Creuset pot. I dropped it on a stone floor. The cost of replacing it was eye watering.

Le Creuset also does discolour on the interior after a lot of use.
 
Morning Glory said:
I agree. In fact I did once manage to crack the lid of a friends supposedly indestructable Le Creuset pot. I dropped it on a stone floor. The cost of replacing it was eye watering.

Le Creuset also does discolour on the interior after a lot of use.
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I made a batch of French onion soup today in the new pot. As I got thinking about all of this as I carmelized the onions I made a couple of conclusions. The first is that enameled cast iron isn't complicated. Iron is iron. It is melted and cast. Iron is the same everywhere. Enamel is not a secret substance. It is the same everywhere and is baked on at high temperature which is the same everywhere. The Chinese are perfectly competent to do this. They make some great knives as well, believe it or not.

So I concluded that the cracked enamel reported on this thread could well have been user error. Iron will expand and contract more than enamel with temperature and pouring water into a hot pot could cause those cracks. It would happen to any enameled cast iron cookware made anywhere on the planet. So cracked enamel could have been user error rather than some defect in the pot.

A cast iron lid should survive being dropped on to a floor, even a concrete floor. I suspect you encountered a lid with a casting defect. Even Le Crueset isn't perfect. :) By the way the new pot performed very well. I made my normal 6 qt batch and the pot had plenty more capacity available. It cleaned up easily and is now stored for the next batch. I think eye watering is a good term to use with some of the prices we see these days.

You can see the discoloration on the Le Creuset pot in the image. It is permanent. Even scouring powder fails to remove it. It doesn't affect the pot or the food and I don't see it as a problem but they all do it I would imagine.
 
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