Staub 4.5 Quart Oval Cocotte, Lemon

 (3 customer reviews)

This is a wonderful pot, as beautiful as it is useful. Although large enough for a big dish, it's also good for moderate-sized recipes, where for example you fry onions and have to stir a lot -- the ingredients don't overflow the pot or splash out. Seasoning it was a snap: just rub in a bit of cooking oil. Because it heats up well on low heat, there's less danger of burning the food. And of course, this glossy red pot looks great! The interior finish is black enamel; has to be treated carefully (wooden or plastic utensils), but can't, I assume, discolor or show scratches. The only drawback for some may be its weight: the pot alone weighs 8 pounds and the lid 5 pounds. Add some contents and you have a hefty piece, which might be too much for some to lift out, hot, from the oven.

I love this pot... but I rarely use it. I bought this cocotte about 2 years ago and may have used it twice in that time frame. I consider it to be a medium size, and for some recipes, even small. I expected to use it mostly for cassoulet but my recipe overflows from this pot so that didn't work out so well. Depending on the volume you typically cook, it could be an absolutely fabulous pot but I almost always defer to my Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron 7-1/4-Quart French Oven. I tend to make big pots of soups or stews, or occasionally roast a chicken, so the cocotte is a little less convenient. This may be just me, but I tend to think of it as more of an oven piece than a stovetop piece, maybe given the shape. I plan to find more ways to utilize it, but if you have other enameled cast iron pots in this size range or bigger, this may...Read more

I purchased this item to make dishes such as beef bourginon.
It was fabulous, and resulted in a perfect outcome. It is a superior product.