DEBORAH CROMBIE: One hundred years ago this year, a couple of Belgian entrepeneurs, one an expert in cast iron, the other an expert in glass-based vitreous enamel, built a foundry in northeastern France to produce their latest innovation, enamel-coated cast iron cookware.
Le Creuset cookware was an immediate hit in Europe, but it wasn't until the 1950s that it began to trickle into the US market. In the 1960s, the growth of Pottery Barn on the East Coast and Williams Sonoma on the West Coast introduced the colorful cookware to an even bigger market, and as Le Creuset brought out ever more colors and products, it became the darling of collectors as well as of serious cooks.
I have to say that I was a late adopter. I started out my just-out-of-college kitchen with a couple of hand-me-down Paul Revere pots (remember those?) and maybe some aluminum Faberware. Then I discovered Cuisinart stainless pots and pans, which I still own and still use. But it was my mom who started my love affair with Le Creuset, although not in the way you might expect.
For some time after my parents were no longer able to keep up their big house, they lived in a nice apartment complex. My mom was famous for her daily walks, and one morning she spied a large cardboard box, open, sitting next to the trash dumpsters, so of course she had a peek. Inside was a set of brand sparkling new, black Le Creuset cookware. She picked it up (ouch! Le Creuset is heavy!) and carried it back to their apartment, then called me to see if I'd like to have it. Of course I said yes, and we had a lot of fun speculating as to why someone would have left hundreds of dollars of new cookware by the trash. Wedding gift, and they both hated black? Wedding gift, and the bride left the groom holding the cookware?
At any rate, I was hooked, and not too long after that I discovered that there was a Le Creuset outlet store not far from where I live. Color fiend that I am, I started with the Dutch oven that matched my apple-green kitchen, and added more colorful pieces. The black set was passed on to my daughter, as it's much better suited to her neutral kitchen. My pieces live on my cooktop, as you can see from the first photo above. Partly because they are in constant use, partly because I just like looking at them.
However, I can't call myself a collector, because these three pieces and an aubergine grill pan are all I have room for. Serious Le Creuset fans build entire kitchens around their collections! It is tempting, when the company comes out with some lucious new color, but I just have to turn my face away and say "No room at the inn."
Le Creuset cast iron cookware is still made in that foundry in northeast France, although some of their other products are made overseas.
Reds and readers, What is your cookware of choice, and what did you start out with in your kitchen?
Mostly I have a bit of this and a bit of that . . . though cast iron is a staple. I do have one Le Creuset piece. [And, yes, I remember Paul Revere pots!]
ReplyDeleteI still have the Revere set I bought when we first go married (mumble mumble) years ago, but I don't use the skillet any longer. I keep searching for the perfect nonstick pan that isn't going to kill me with a toxic coating. I recently bought an off-brand ceramic skillet that I love so much, I bought a second smaller one. Now I'm going to buy a third in a size between huge and single-egg. Ask me again in a couple of years, because if they're still nonstick, I'll be singing their praises. If not, I'll be searching for a new set.
ReplyDeleteAnnette, I am dying for a non-toxic, nonstick skillet. Please keep me posted if your new ones do the trick. I’ve dragged out my father‘s old cast-iron frying pan, but it’s definitely not nonstick!
DeleteI have several enameled cast iron casserole dishes, one a wedding present and the other two inherited from my mother, but none of them are Le Crueset. The rest of my cookware is plain black cast iron and yes, Revere copper-bottom stainless steel pots and pans, plus stainless steel stock pots and bread pans. I lived in a boarding school for 40+ years and often had to cook for 10-14 children so I needed a lot of cookware. I have been realizing recently that I should part with some. It would make sense to let the black cast iron go, as the pans weigh a ton — the big 12" skillets and dutch oven particularly. But I collected it all from junk shops decades ago and I'm very fond of its indestructibility. (Selden)
ReplyDeleteI wanted to add: I envy you your eye for color! (Selden)
DeleteSeldon, a boarding school cooking for 10 to 14 children?? You need to write a memoir! You’ve had an interesting life.
DeleteI love Le Creuset! Somehow in my thirties I happened across a sale for a set of five or six pieces in cobalt blue for $100. I still use the Dutch oven, but most of the smaller pots drifted away over the years, and I never liked the skillet. That Dutch oven is my go-to for stews, soups, chili, you name it.
ReplyDeleteThe most amazing thing is that all Le Creuset have a lifetime guarantee. If the pot is damaged or the enamel cracked through normal household use, you can send it (at your own expense) to the company and they will replace it for free, NO QUESTIONS ASKED, no receipt required. Yes, you can pick up a pot at a yard sale and get it replaced. I think I'm on my third Dutch oven.
Which reminds me that the handle on my Dutch oven lid is partly broken. Must send it back! https://www.lecreuset.com/warranty.html#castiron
I’ll have to look and see what our current cookware set is as my husband is the cook and he bought it new after we moved. We started out with a copper bottom set 40 years ago. They were not as good of quality as my mother’s set; so probably not Paul Revere. Seems my husband is always upgrading to something different and getting rid of the old ones. He went through a phase when he only cooked in the cast iron skillets which we did move. I know we had a red Dutch oven at one time because I gifted it to him for Valentine’s Day, but I think it may have been Rachael Ray’s brand. We had a black Lodge cast iron one too.
ReplyDeleteI love your cooktop with the pots and flowers, Debs! QWe have 2 Le Creuset pots, both blue. The larger one is in constant use in the cooler months. The smaller one is perfect if we’re only cooking for 2. (We are fans of leftovers) I have a Revereware pot and steamer that we use often, it was a gift from my Mom 40 years ago. Now I’m thinking about more Le Cruset pans…
ReplyDeleteDebs, I also love how you embrace color. It's wonderful!
ReplyDeleteLike Annette, I too have my original set of Paul Revere copper bottom cookware with a couple of my mother's Revereware pots and also a couple of extra large pieces that I bought for big holiday meals. I enjoy them and they have held up amazingly over the years! I also have an enameled cast iron pot that I use for baking crusty bread and also for very specific recipes. When it is full, it is as heavy as I can manage. I have a large Lodge frying pan that is my newest piece of cookware and I have my family's brisket pot which I used to use every Passover. We don't get the big crowds like we used to. When there are sales on Le Cruset, I look at the gorgeous pieces and think where would I put them. My kitchen is very small on my shelves in the basement are already packed. Besides, I only cook for us 2 these days and there is the issue of my dining room.