Thursday, April 1, 2010
Kitchen Tool Corner: the Le Creuset Saucier
As much as I know one can technically do most things in the kitchen with one good knife and one good pot or pan, I am a tool for kitchen gadgets and cookware. Every once in a while, Dan will come home to find me sitting in the dark surfing Williams-Sonoma.com or some other website full of shiny, fancy kitchen toys and he'll look at me hopelessly and say, "Cooking porn again?" Had he only known he could have proposed to me with a KitchenAid Stand Mixer with full attachment suite, he could have saved himself a lot of time and money.
And while Dan may not appreciate it, I am very pleased to introduce you to a recent addition to my cookware collection, the 2.25 Qt Saucier from Le Creuset. My father told me I had to have it. I debated it's merits. I wanted it for sure, who doesn't want new Le Creuset cookware, but I grew concerned that I would catch hell for bringing home yet another pot. "You have to have it," he insisted, hands wildly gesticulating in the air. "I use it for everything. Where is the button? Oh here, add to cart." And with that, a beautiful friendship between lady and pot was formed.
This thing is The. Best. And I have indeed used it for "everything." Just this past week I have used it to make caramel, poach prunes and kumquats, whip up a cream sauce, shore up my gravy, reheat soup.... the list goes on. This is a total kitchen workhorse and my only regret is not owning two of them. Maybe I will also have to get the 3 qt, after all one can fit inside the other for storage right? It cooks great, cleans like a breeze, and is safe for the stove, oven, and fridge. Like most good cookware its a tad heavy and a decent investment at mas o menos $165, but it is useful beyond compare. Do not cheap out and buy the Martha Stewart version or any other version. Buy this pot. There is nothing like real Le Creuset and taken care of properly it will last forever. Like my mother always says, "Why do you keep buying them, one day you'll have all of mine."
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To answer your mother, the more pots you buy, the longer she'll live.
ReplyDeleteYou haven't gotten into knives yet, have you? Because they are big trouble too. Though, if I had someone at home stewing kumquats, whipping up cream sauce, and shoring up gravy, I wouldn't complain, though I'd probably need to have my mother make pants for me.
Ah Knives. I have an 8 inch Wusthof chef's knife that I love, but like most girls after a while I was pining for the 10 inch. Dan did a smart thing, however, and bought me that 8 inch, thereby preventing me from feeling OK about buying another knife (although I am not sure he would notice if I just replaced it with the same knife one size up). I have some Henckels as well but the Wusthof is my favorite in terms of weight, feel and blade. Hone it often and you'll have it forever!
ReplyDeleteOh, and if your mother isn't much of a seamstress I know someone's who is. With one notable exception she has only ever worked in black though.
They came in a color other than black? Certainly not horizontal stripes, I hope.
ReplyDeleteIf you were going to replace your Wusthof, I recently picked one of these up (10", natch) and highly recommend it. It weighs only a hair more than my 8" Wusthof, and the balance is beautiful. As for the edge, I figure I could use it to shave if I ever run out of razor blades. One other knife I have and use a lot is a Shun Classic nakiri. It's great for all sorts of fine prep where the size of a chef's knife is a downside.
eh... link
ReplyDeletehttp://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/shun-kaji-chefs-knife/
To get a sense for how these pots fit in our kitchen, you have to get a sense for how small our kitchen is. It's already tiny and getting more and more cramped by the day.
ReplyDeleteWe now no longer have space to fit anything. The microwave? Storage. Oven? Storage. Stove top? Storage! There is nothing scarier than seeing a Williams-Sonoma box show up because I know it means I'll have to throw out some of my stuff. I'm convinced that I'll come home some day and find my bike in the trash room.
Honey, the "stuff" you own owns you! Except kitchen stuff.
ReplyDeleteI have the extra large saucier, and I use it all the time to make pasta sauce and then to coat the pasta in it. The ONLY downside to it is that it is so heavy that you could easily kill somebody with it or break your leg by dropping it. Otherwise, it is a dream. They need to think about replacing some of the inner cast iron with titanium alloy. Now that would be a winner.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment Older and Wiser. I love my 2.5 quart but it isn't quite big enough for pasta tossing thereby requiring dirtying one more pan or bowl, which is my only significant complaint really. Thanks for helping me lobby Dan to let me get the 3 quart!
ReplyDeletesomething tells me your dad was cooking meat:) I have been wanting to increase my le creuset collection (so far collection of one).
ReplyDeleteYou're birthday is coming up, Ariel, treat yourself! Williams-Sonoma has the 3.5 quart oval on sale for $125 (full retail $255, big savings http://www.williams-sonoma.com/shop/cookware/cookware-le-creuset/?cm_type=gnav). I have this piece courtesy of Leslie (thanks, Mom!). If you can only have one I say the 7.25 round is the best all around kitchen athlete but if you can deepen your bench this is a nice addition. I made a good rabbit ragu in it and another nice feature is it is big, but still can fit pretty easily in the fridge if you need it to (I made ratatouille in it a day ahead and stuck in the fridge as is and reheated it the next day).
ReplyDelete