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An enameled dutch oven is one of the most versatile cooking tools you can own! Use it on the stove and in the oven up to 500˚ F, or safely store it in your fridge to marinate food or refrigerate leftovers. Plus, the durable enameled surface can handle acidic and alkaline ingredients like tomatoes, wines, and citrus ingredients. 

To start, choose a burner closest to the size of your dutch oven and preheat with a little oil before adding food. Don&#;t preheat an empty dutch oven on your stovetop&#;this can cause your cookware to crack or break. Some bread recipes call for preheating the dutch oven in the oven. This is perfectly safe to do since the heat will be more consistently distributed across the entire dutch oven. 

Just like with all of our classic cast iron cookware, enameled cast iron has great heat retention, so there&#;s no need to cook over a high heat. We stick to a low to medium heat for best results! This prevents burnt food and stuck-on messes. 

As you cook, use wooden, silicone, or nylon utensils to stir, blend, or flip your food. This will protect the enamel finish from being scratched during the cooking process. We love to bring our dutch oven to the table for family-style serving! Just be sure to place your hot cookware over a trivet to protect your table or counter. 

If I had to pick just one kind of cookware to have in my kitchen, it would be enameled cast iron. No, it&#;s not the most practical choice (that would be stainless steel) or the sexiest (wassup, carbon steel?) or even the trendiest (we all see you, DTC nonstick). But for someone like me who does a lot of stovetop-to-oven cooking, and who doesn&#;t have a lot of time for a multistep cleaning routine when I&#;m done, enameled cast iron is as close to perfect as it gets.

Enameled cast iron works with all kinds of cooktops, including my fancy Italian induction range, and it offers amazing heat distribution and retention. The porcelain enamel isn&#;t just for looks; it protects the cast iron, making it rust-resistant and nonreactive to acidic foods like tomato. The most ubiquitous enameled cast iron pieces, Dutch ovens, are great for simmering soups and stews, braising big cuts of meat, frying chicken, and even baking bread. At my house, an enameled cast-iron pan is also the go-to for flawless pancakes, seared steak, and crispy grilled cheese.

Le Creuset Signature Dutch Oven with Gold Knob

The moral of the story here is that enameled cast iron is the best because it&#;s incredibly versatile, amazingly durable, and easy to clean. But there&#;s one thing it&#;s not: nonstick.

The nonstick misconception

Last year, when researching enameled cast-iron skillets to test for Epicurious, I learned that a lot of people expect enameled cast iron to release an omelet as easily as traditional nonstick cookware. Among the most popular and top-rated models, nearly every bad review was from someone complaining about the fact that food stuck to the cooking surface. Take, for example, the &#;Amazon Customer&#; who was very disappointed that Le Creuset&#;s &#;nonstick promise is bogus.&#; The real problem, of course, is that Le Creuset doesn&#;t make a nonstick promise because enameled cast iron is not supposed to be nonstick.

I understand why people who aren&#;t used to cooking on enameled cast iron might be confused. Enameled frying pans with light interiors kind of resemble those aesthetically pleasing ceramic nonstick pans that are nowhere near as durable as enameled cast iron. A textured black enamel could easily be mistaken for pre-seasoned raw cast iron. Even I was fooled by Staub&#;s traditional cast-iron skillet the first time I laid eyes on it, mistaking the matte black-enamel for a high-end factory seasoning job.

But now, I know better&#;and my enameled Staub is one of my favorite pieces in my kitchen because it&#;s a low-maintenance pan that (if you don&#;t look too closely) seems like meticulously maintained raw cast iron.

Staub Cast Iron 11-inch Traditional Skillet

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Cooking with enameled cast iron

While most Dutch ovens feature a smooth white porcelain interior, enameled frying pans usually have a darker, slightly textured cooking surface. When I tested 10 different pans, I found that the darker, more textured enamels did a much better job of browning food and of releasing it. The texture helps to prevent sticking by allowing a tiny bit of fat to move around between the food and the surface.

To get the best performance out of your enameled cast iron, you have to follow a few rules. No matter what the inside of your enameled cast iron cookware looks or feels like, food will stick to it if you don&#;t allow it to fully preheat. Five or six minutes usually does the trick. You&#;re also going to have a sticky situation if you try to skip the butter or oil.

On the flip side, enameled cast iron doesn&#;t require seasoning, so cleanup and maintenance are pretty simple. With very little effort, high-quality enameled cast iron cookware will last a lifetime&#;which is more than you can say about any nonstick pan.

Made In Enameled Cast Iron Skillet

Le Creuset Enameled Cast Iron Everyday Braiser Pan, 3-Quart

Lodge 3 Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven with Lid

If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Easy Cleaning Enamel Cast Iron Pots And Pans.