Le Creuset

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Round French Oven
Round French Oven

Le Creuset is a French cookware manufacturer best known for its colorful enameled cast iron dutch ovens (which the company calls "French Ovens"). The company also makes many other types of cookware from sauce pans to tajines, from both enameled cast iron and enamel over steel, and sells a line of corkscrews and wine openers under the "Screwpull" brand name. The name "Le Creuset" is French for "The Crucible".

The Le Creuset foundry uses standard sand casting methods. After hand finishing, items are sprayed with two coats of enamel, each fired at 800°C. The enamel then becomes extremely hard and durable, making it almost completely resistant to damage during normal use.

French ovens are particularly useful for cassoulet, and other long-baking stews such as chili con carne, cholent, and bouillabaisse. The company does not recommend using them for deep frying or making an oil-based roux (as for gumbo), however, because some oils can become hot enough to damage the enamel.

[edit] Cadmium

Le Creuset cookware is known for its varied and vibrant colors. Some Le Creuset glazes at the red end of the spectrum (namely red, "brick," and "flame") were originally made with cadmium, a chemical that can be toxic to humans. Le Creuset stopped using cadmium glaze in the mid 1990s (other sites indicate that the use of cadmium was discontinued in the 1970s).

[edit] History

Cast iron has been used for cooking utensils since the Middle Ages and Le Creuset is best known for its cast iron cookware, but the company only started manufacturing in 1925. The Le Creuset factory is located in Fresnoy-Le-Grand in Northern France.

Over the years, Le Creuset acquired patent rights for manufacturing enamel cookware from several companies including Copco, Descoware, and Cousances.

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