Le creuset: Is it worth it?

[cardamoncoffee]

I've been wanting to invest buy the largest casserole dish (6L) for ages but keep stalling at the price. Is it worth the £250? I'm envisaging me throwing stuff into it, bunging it in the oven for a few hours and then lovely meals.

Tell me the good, bad and the ugly please.

I find Le Crueset doesn’t stand up to Indian or East Asian cooking.

In what sense? I have one that was a gift and I cook curry in it all the time.

I have various size cast iron cookware from the Linea range at House of Fraser... I've had for about 8 years... brilliant and lasting well!

I've got one it's about 10 years old but everything sticks to it and always has. Maybe I'm just a crap cook.

I have mine to the charity shop. Way way too heavy when full and a bugger to clean.

I’ve got a couple of le creuset and they are great, but to be honest, so is the cast iron shallow casserole dish I got from Sainsbury’s. Unless I find le creuset on offer I’ll just stick with the Sainsbury’s ones as and when I need replacements. They are also sometimes offered for half price so are a real bargain then. Points to think about are the weight, if it’s a big dish and it’s full they weigh a ton getting them out of the oven, also if cooking food catches on them they can be a nightmare to clean.

I would get one when they are on offer, 20% off at John Lewis until Sunday, Amazon sometimes has deals on these or as pp have said TK Maxx are cheaper, also Harts of Stur also sometimes have offers. I wouldn't have them myself even though they look lovely they would be too heavy

I found a huge blue cast iron le creuset at a car boot sale. It had been well used to fry chips by the look of it. I was unsure but my mum knew the quality and said it would come up perfect and it did. Best 8 pounds I ever spent. Still going strong 12 years later.

Our IKEA clone of Le Creuset does exactly the same thing for £19 that a £250 would do. Doesn't have the cachet, but our cookware isn't on display. Our Le Creuset wedding present frying pan is 30 years old, and a pita. Too heavy for DW, needs oiling after every use, sheds patina at random. Don't get me wrong, it's great for cooking an entire full English, but if 8t wasn't an heirloom I'd get a big alloy one and replace it every other year like I do with the woks.

Get a slow cooker.

Not relevant (sorry) but does anyone know if the TKmaxx LeCreuset range is the real deal? I'm sure I read on here that it's a separate range just for TKmaxx?

I second others and suggest Sainsbury's. I have a gorgeous purple Le Creuset that is still going strong and fab to use after around 15yrs but have just bought a shallow cast iron dish from Sainsbury's and it is great. Very very similar to the LC one but £45.

Sagradafamiliar

I think TK Maxx Le Creuset is real but often discontinued or unpopular colours, I got some there in a green colour which I think had been discontinued as I couldn't get it anywhere, apart from the mugs which were in the sale on Le Creuset website. The green had been a colour you could buy anywhere though as I remember it coming out and wanting it but not wanting to pay that much so when it appeared in TK Maxx at a third of the price I stocked up.

I have the toughened non stick le creuset - I can’t lift the traditional pots when full - and they are brilliant. Definitely worth the £.

I've just gone back to buying Le Creuset after many years of thinking cheaper options were just the same, then watching them chip, colour fade, food stick to them, never quite come clean ...

So I'd say yes, totally worth the investment.

Oh, interesting, thank you Ring. There are certainly bargains to be had then if they are real!

Oh, and the real clincher that pushed me back to LC is that I've had so many bloody casserole dishes where the lids don't fit properly, so they dry out when cooking long and low.

Sagradafamiliar I think they are just made for TK Maxx.
I bought mine from Selfridges on sale , I rate them better than Staub which is supposed to be the best.

Too heavy when full & food sticks.

I agree with others here.The casserole dishes are very heavy to lift out of the oven when full ,and had to ask DH to lift them out sometimes.Look great and possibly OK for cooking on the rings .As far as the price goes ,I think very expensive TBH. I had a set and gave them away as couldnt manage any more !

It's all too heavy. I'd go with a pyrex casserole dish instead

My mum still uses the Le Cruset dish she got as a wedding present almost 40 years ago

Mine is 28 years old going strong. As are the pans.

Think dm still has 2 from the 70s.

There are some great Le Creuset factory shops so I don't think you need to spend £250.

We’ve got a 13 year old chasseur pot that is still going strong alongside our le creuset. I think the le creuset casserole dishes are amazing but agree the large one is too heavy. We also had a large non stick frying pan that really didn’t last that long - 7 or 8 years so would agree that the non stick definitely isn’t worth the money. Check out Aga cast iron pots as well, they can have good sales from time to time and we have one which is still going strong after a decade.

Not according to Shop Welk For Less. I have an Aga so I need heavy pans. I have both Le Creusrt and Sainsbury’s own brand and as far as I can see there’s no difference between them.

Depends what you want. The heaviness is due to the thickness not the iron which provides a good even heat and cooks more consistently. Downside is the weight though.

Also the non-stick is not like modern Tefal coatings: you should hear it up slowly for maximum effectiveness, not put straight on at high. We find that we never need to go above mid heat to fry when we've heated it up properly as the thickness also retains heat well. Love ours!