October 2023: The Last Weekend Before Halloween
I've served my corporate overlords for 20 year so they let me pick something out of the company store. Unlike some overlords I've served in the past, they have things someone might actually want in their store. I went with the Le Creuset set... I've been wanting to get a Dutch oven for awhile:
We have a freeze warning for Halloween & All Saints' Day so we've been pulling in anything that wouldn't survive the free like these tomatoes:
And these sweet potatoes because cold can negatively affect the flavor & storability of sweet potatoes:
We also covered our brassicas in the hopes they won't suffer any damage:
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If there's one thing that Simon loves about coming home from deployment, it's being able to absolutely spoil his girlfriend rotten.
There's nothing quite like coming home with a pay check lining his pockets, and a sweet little bird chirping to him about the newest lipgloss, lingerie set or outfit she's seen online, trying to be subtle in the way she asks him to buy it.
Who's he to say no? Honestly, so long as he can follow her dutifully around Sephora, carrying her little basket and getting a good look at her ass, he really can't complain. Equally, he's more than fine with being a walking lipstick tester, making sure all of her chosen products are as transfer proof as the packaging claims them to be.
Admittedly, he does have to steer her away from the pet store, following a series of bunny related incidents which don't get brought up anymore. Thankfully, the Le Creuset store is only a couple of shops down, and have just restocked the pink, heart shaped Dutch oven she's been pining for, but absolutely cannot justify spending two hundred and something pounds on. He can though. He'll let money trickle through his fingers like sand so long as it means seeing her happy.
Lucky for him, she just has to express her gratitude for him buying her all of those lovely things. Said gratitude obviously expressed in bounding out into their bedroom as he sits reading the news in bed, wearing nothing but some little lace and silk teddy, which he can't wait to sink his teeth into.
a little something to apologise for my absence 🤭
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This post mentions the Le Creuset Doufeu casserole (Dutch oven) and several comments were "I want / must get".
@dduane and I don't need one, but from curiosity I went looking to see what they cost, and what I said in the original post still applies:
New Le Creusets like the one above are hideously expensive...
Ouch!
Since buying by brand name Is A Thing, it seems to me that the words LE CREUSET on cast-iron cookware immediately jacks the price up by at least 100 £$€ currency units over similar items from other manufacturers; for curiosity I compared Le Creuset to Staub, which also aren't exactly cheap: 41cm oval Staub, €449; 40cm oval Le Creuset, €599.
OUCH!
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They can be found somewhat (and if lucky, much) cheaper on eBay and Etsy, or in yard sales, garage sales, car boot sales and thrift shops.
A bit of searching revealed that people have had some very good luck with vintage Le Creusets, quite possibly because the original owners didn't know what they'd got.
This has to be the best thrift shop bargain I've seen in a long time:
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We've got these:
Even though only the orange one is actually labelled as a Doufeu, the other two have recessed lids and also work that way, complete with condensation drip-points cast on the insides.
This seems standard on recessed-lid casseroles, Staub have them too, and makes me think that casseroles with those lids are a better buy, since they can be used for regular OR doufeu cooking while those with flat or domed lids can't.
Also, remember where I said "original owners don't know what they've got"...? I found a hint of that in a sales listing which says:
It has a multi banded lid with a sunken knob, enabling the lid to be inverted, and used as a serving dish, with raised studs to help stop the food from moving around when being carved.
I think what happened here was that whoever wrote the description didn't know what the studs were actually for, and defaulted to what they thought they were for.
They're not sharp enough to hold food in place, and while this style of lid can be balanced inverted, it's not so they become serving dishes, because they'll teeter off-balance again with the slightest sideways pressure, such as trying to carve meat. So, er, don't.
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The cream/brown Fontignac was bought new more than 30 years ago - I've mentioned the French Country Recipes (seriously yummy) cookbook that came with it a couple of times - and DD bought the orange Le Cousances Doufeu about 5 years ago on eBay.
The smaller black Tramontina (from Brazil) was bought new last year to find out if something at that price level was any good.
So far... Yes, it is.
Staub own the Fontignac brand-name and Le Creuset own Le Cousances, so here's what to look for on the base of vintage originals.
There must be other bargains out there, maybe even as good as that thrift-store capture, so good hunting!
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le creuset info! you’re partially correct, they are a legacy designer cookware brand. they where much more affordable around 40 years ago, but part of the reason they’re so expensive is that they offer lifetime warranties- my mom broke the dutch oven she got when she graduated college 30 years ago, and they replaced it with no issue. they where popularized by Julia Child in the states, and have always been a bit more expensive, but they exploded in popularity as a status symbol in 2020 and prices reflect that. I think that the only “Worth It” parts of their dutch oven brand is the number of colors they offer (another reason they’re so expensive) and that they have patterns on the pots (look at the leaf one! it’s so pretty). overall enameled dutch ovens are more expensive then other cookware because they require super high heat to bind the iron and ceramic together, but le cruset dosent really do anything hugely different to reflect its larger price tag. I’ve had a dutch oven made by the Lodge for years that works great with no problem.
hmm interesting!! the guarantee is good to know about.
& yeah they are VERY pretty. we have a le creuset shop here in edinburgh and every time i walk past im like :O at all the colours
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