What is your Favorite Dutch Oven to cook with?

[Cheryl Watson]

Welcome Will!  Now that you are a registered guest, you will find much more information to read!  :)

And keep in mind that Forum Visitors, only see about 25% or the information available here on our Forum. :)

Now you have Stolen that DO... ;D

[Mike Turcotte]

Great find Will! Out of curiosity, what size is your GSW pan? I am trying to find out as much info I can about the Canadian manufacturers, including what sizes were produced, and trying to find a timeline of sorts.

As for favorite dutch oven, so far I have only had experience with new Lodge's, which has been pretty good so far, just struggled to keep a decent seasoning on my most frequently used one (L8DO3) but I think it is starting to get up there. My opinion may change soon however, as I have a Smart Brockville #8 DO coming out of the lye bath today and WagnerWare 1268 #8 DO in a few days. The Lodge's have a slightly rough surface but is cast thick and sturdy and holds lots of heat. The Smart is cast thinner and extremely smooth, so I am sure they will have much different personalities

[Claudia Killebrew]

This may smack of heresy, but my favorite DO is an old Dru Holland enameled one. It's oval so things fit in it better, and because of the enamel, I don't have to worry if I don't get around to cleaning it right away.

[Jeff Parsons]

You can get a Lodge 7 1/2 qt porcelain-coated DO from Wal-mart, picked up at the store, ordered online, for about $80. No worries about spaghetti sauce, sauce piquant, vinegar, etc., and no shipping charges.

Also, made in Denmark until about 1980 by Copco, a porcelain stove manufacturer, are some nice DO's on Ebay. Be very selective about quality of the porcelain (chips, etc.). The Copco #4 is about 7 qts, the #3 about 5 or 5 1/2 qts. I picked up an almost perfect #4 in a local shop for $25 recently. The shop is closed Sun, Mon, Tues and the vendors reload their areas. Opens 10 AM Wed, best time to be there. I saw that beautiful DO about 10:05, and didn't hesitate.

Also picked up a Lauffer oval roaster with lid, English porcelain-coated CI, off Ebay recently. Kind of disappointed how shallow it was, until I bought a chuck roast, looked at the Lauffer, YES! moment. Bed of sliced onion, chuck roast, onion, bell pepper, celery, seasonings, in the oven at 300 degrees for 3 hours.... Pull out the roast, use an immersion blender on the stuff in the pan, awesome gravy.

You can leave the porcelain-coated stuff soaking in hot soapy water, basically just rinses off.

[Nick Niacaris]

You can get a Lodge 7 1/2 qt porcelain-coated DO from Wal-mart, picked up at the store, ordered online, for about $80. No worries about spaghetti sauce, sauce piquant, vinegar, etc., and no shipping charges.

Also, made in Denmark until about 1980 by Copco, a porcelain stove manufacturer, are some nice DO's on Ebay. Be very selective about quality of the porcelain (chips, etc.). The Copco #4 is about 7 qts, the #3 about 5 or 5 1/2 qts. I picked up an almost perfect #4 in a local shop for $25 recently. The shop is closed Sun, Mon, Tues and the vendors reload their areas. Opens 10 AM Wed, best time to be there. I saw that beautiful DO about 10:05, and didn't hesitate.

Also picked up a Lauffer oval roaster with lid, English porcelain-coated CI, off Ebay recently. Kind of disappointed how shallow it was, until I bought a chuck roast, looked at the Lauffer, YES! moment. Bed of sliced onion, chuck roast, onion, bell pepper, celery, seasonings, in the oven at 300 degrees for 3 hours.... Pull out the roast, use an immersion blender on the stuff in the pan, awesome gravy.

You can leave the porcelain-coated stuff soaking in hot soapy water, basically just rinses off.

Jeff you are right I picked one up on Amazon in December in blue for 77 shipped. I have some old copco skillets but have not ran across a good condition DO to buy. I have a nice 2 qt sauce pan with lid in the orange color from copco. In fact all my copco is orange or red/orange.

[Paul Okarma]

I use a newer Lodge 12-inch, 7-quart DO.

http://www.lodgemfg.com/seasoned-cast-iron/dutch-ovens/dutch-oven-with-spiral-handle-bail-and-iron-cover-L10DO3

The older ones are all in the basement.

[Nick Niacaris]

I use a newer Lodge 12-inch, 7-quart DO.

http://www.lodgemfg.com/seasoned-cast-iron/dutch-ovens/dutch-oven-with-spiral-handle-bail-and-iron-cover-L10DO3

The older ones are all in the basement.

How do you like it compared to various older DO's. I was considering one of those .

[Mark Zizzi]

I think I'm going to look for one like Claudias. I grow a LOT of tomatoes and need something big for sauce. Do the enameled ones have any sticking issues?

[Claudia Killebrew]

I would say enameled stick about the same as stainless steel. There is no way you can make it non-stick like bare cast iron.

When I do a roast in one of mine, yes I have more than one, I just plop the meat in and add whatever veggies and liquid I need. Stuff it in a 325 oven for a couple of hours and dinner is served.

The clean up isn't bad. Just a little meat residue on the bottom and a little browned gravy remains on the sides. A light scrub with a Teflon safe sponge and it's clean.

[Mark Zizzi]

Well I just looked at them on ebay. They're nice but I don't see anything big enough. I need something like 10 or 12 qt.
Besides Griswold, are there any other vintage American made enameled or porcelained big DO's?  Any recommendations appreciated.  :)