My Le Creuset Mug Obsession. Pictured: Le Creuset mugs in White, Soleil, Flame, Pink, Truffle, Cherry, and Marseille.
I’ve been obsessed with Le Creuset for as long as I can remember. My infatuation with the colorful cast iron cookware brand started many years ago when I was making No Knead Bread and the recipe recommended a heavy-lidded cast iron pot such as a dutch oven, which I didn’t have. I learned that Le Creuset was the brand of choice for cast iron dutch ovens so I went shopping for one and was shocked at the price. I decided then that I would register for a Le Creuset dutch oven when I got married.
Fast forward to last year. I’d been cooking and baking a lot more than usual and needed some new tools in the kitchen. I decided I couldn’t wait until I was married to stock up my kitchen and didn’t want to buy anything just to make do. I also figured that I can still register for Le Creuset stuff for my wedding if I wanted to, and then I wondered why I was so concerned with a wedding registry when I’m not even engaged.
It wasn’t long before I amassed quite a little collection of Le Creuset kitchen products. I’m happy I decided to pull the trigger and it makes me so happy to see their bright colors when I use them in my kitchen. They make me feel like a very legitimate cook.
Le Creuset Heritage Wooden Handle Cast-Iron Saucepan. The wooden handle makes it comfortable to hold and keeps it cool to the touch. Perfect for stove-top cooking. I bought mine at Williams-Sonoma.
My first cast iron Le Creuset purchase (to differentiate it from my large mug collection that started many years ago) was a wooden handle cast iron saucepan, pictured above, that I bought from Williams-Sonoma. I was a little hesitant to buy it because unlike the full cast iron saucepans, it is not meant for the oven. Now that I’ve used it I can say that the wooden handle is one of its best features, especially now that I know how well cast iron transfers heat. It’s comfortable to hold and cool to the touch. I love the rustic look as well. I use it for everything from heating up soup, making hard boiled eggs, to poaching pears.
Le Creuset Signature round Dutch oven, aka. my 5 1/2 qt (5.3L) cast iron beauty :). I bought mine from The Bay. It’s available at Williams-Sonoma, Nordstrom, Sur La Table, and Amazon.
Of course, the Le Creuset’s signature round Dutch oven, the object of my desire for many years. It wouldn’t be a collection without it. This was the most expensive item of them all. It’s worth it, because I’ve used it for everything from baking my No-Knead bread to searing chicken to making one-pot dishes from my favorite cookbook, Jerusalem. The hardest part in making this purchase was picking the color. I chose Marseille, a deep and beautiful blue with graduated tones.
Le Creuset 7-piece silicon utensil set in White, shown with the rake and spatula that came with the crepe pan.
I couldn’t resist getting the 7-piece silicon utensil set. I needed a utensil set and the Le Creuset one was so pretty. The utensil heads can be removed from the wooden handle, making them easy to clean and dry. I got my set as a whole from Amazon, but you can also buy the holder and the tools separately.
Cutest little Le Creuset mortar and pestle.
Grinding cardamon pods in my Le Creuset mortar and pestle to make a recipe from the cookbook Jerusalem.
Cooking Middle Eastern food requires grinding spices and pistachios, so I bought a cute little mortar and pestle from, surprise, Le Creuset.
Le Creuset cast-iron crepe pan. Comes with a wooden rake, spatula, and several crepe recipes.
I don’t think many people know that Le Creuset makes a crepe pan. It’s one of my favorite purchases. I love using it to make crepes for breakfast. I got mine from Amazon and it comes with a wooden spatula, a rake, and a little booklet of recipes that I use for different kinds of batter. I also own a De Buyer crepe pan, which is what they use to teach crepe making at the Dirty Apron cooking school. The De Buyer pan does the job well and is about 1/5 of the price, but the Le Creuset pan is just so good looking.
A bonus advantage of owning cast iron products is that you’ll develop stronger muscles as a result of all the heavy lifting (some people consider the weight a heavy disadvantage, pun intended). It does take some getting used to and one-handing some of the pans is difficult for me.
Spicy Scrambled Eggs recipe from Plenty More by Yotam Ottolenghi. The eggs shown were laid by my own hens 🙂
I didn’t really need a frying pan the way I needed a dutch oven because I already had a frying pan, but you know, it was on sale. It’s not as easy to use as non-stick pans, even after seasoning it several times, but I hope that it’ll become better and better with each use.
Making egg recipes using eggs from my hens. Pictured: Le Creuset 10″ cast iron frying pan in Soleil and the cookbook Plenty More.
Le Creuset 26cm Square Skillet Grill
Last but not least, I present to you my Le Creuset cast-iron grill pan, which I bought to grill vegetables, grill fish, and cook a steak on very rare occasions. While I’ve used all my other purchases many times I actually haven’t had a chance to use my grill pan yet. There’s a grilled fish recipe I’ve been wanting to try so it won’t be long before I use it!
Cleaning: The best tip I received for cleaning my Le Creuset products was to dry them thoroughly after each wash. They continue to look brand new as a result. When there were black marks on the enamel that I couldn’t wash off, I used Le Creuset’s cast-iron enamel cleaner (which I was fully prepared to return if it didn’t work) and it scrubbed off easily leaving a nicely polished surface.
I considered getting all of my kitchen products in one color for consistency but decided against it because there were so many beautiful Le Creuset colors to chose from and I didn’t need anything to match. I think that all of the colors are complimentary anyway. I chose Cherry (red) for my crepe pan and sauce pan, Marseille (blue) for my dutch oven and grill pan, Soleil (yellow) for my frying pan, and White for my utensil set and mortar and pestle. I love having the variety in colors and hope to have some in Flame (Le Creuset’s original trademark orange color), Cassis (a vibrant purple), and Cotton (a soft and pretty off-white/grey).
Le Creuset came out with their newest color, Oyster, a beautiful grey inspired by the Canadian Maritimes.
On my wishlist: Le Creuset Dutch Oven with a gold knob (it’s so pretty), mini cast iron cocottes, and the cast iron heart-shaped dutch oven. How about you?
Thanks for reading and for allowing me to introduce you to my collection! What are your cookware obsessions and favorite products?