October 31, 2011 - 2:49pm
Hadn't See It Before ... Looks Like It'd Be Awesome
Perhaps this has been around for a long time, but I hadn't seen this before and when I looked at it I saw the perfect vessel for artisan breads. Deep covered cast iron pan or shallow cast iron pan with domed lid.
http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-LCC3-Logic-Pre-Seasoned-Cooker/dp/B0009JKG9M/ref=pd_rhf_ee_shvl28
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"LCC"- Lodge Combo Cooker? The pictures of each look very much the same. I wonder if this is just the "pre-seasoned" version of the cooker that Chad Robertson's Tartine cookbook brought into such a bright spotlight? It certainly is a more attractive price!
Thank for pointing it out.
OldWoodenSpoon
I bought one when I was playing around with Jim Lahey's No Knead Bread.
Never was a more useless vessel for baking bread created, not that it was made for bread.
It even failed at cornbread. Cornbread!
And to add fuss to bother, the upkeep and seasoning is ridiculous.
They should be low priced, as me thinks they're vastly overrated, nay!, useless for everything but deep fat frying (they hold oil temperature very well).
Sorry to learn that you've had such bad experiences with CA, Tom. I'm biased in favor of CA and my collection includes a lot of "Lodge" brand pieces that I cherrish. I use CA almost exclusively, except when I find a need to rely on the All Clad in my cupboard. Most of the problems with CA originate from a lack of familiarity about caring for it. For the item under discussion, did you find misalignment of mating pieces or was there some other reason you found it "useless"?
For those interested in product reviews, see "Kiki's" review here:
http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-LCC3-Logic-Pre-Seasoned-Cooker/product-reviews/B0009JKG9M/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
That's part of it: the seasoning and upkeep. Don't dare put soap and water in one, like I did. Then you have to start the whole seasoning process over again.
It's also because they're awfully heavy. I have these huge 8 qt. stoneware bowls from Le Creuset that are heavy, but they're nothing compared to the weight of a Lodge.
I guess I don't just see the value. It's not like a cloche, which seems to increase oven spring. It just seems like it adds an extra 25+ lbs and a lot of upkeep and mess to the process.
thomaschacon,
When I read your comments about how useless the Lodge Cast Iron cookware is, honestly I wondered what planet you are living on. Has no one ever taught you the benefits of cooking and baking with cast iron?
Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact that you would make such a comment says more about you than it does about the Lodge company or cast iron cookware in general. I would urge you to temper your comments and resist the urge to flame products that you have absolutely no knowledge of. I suspect any Boy Scout or Girl Scout on Earth could help you overcome your ignorance of this cookware.
Eric
...as they school me in this superior knowledge of which you profess.
I look forward to having my profound ignorance lifted, not that I'm in the habit of accepting the advice of children.
Thomas.
P.S. Considering I have "absolutely no knowledge of" these vessels, I would have difficulty explaining what two of them are doing downstairs in the garage. If you want to pay for shipping, you can have them. It'll be about $2000. I think they weigh 500 lbs each, but it's been a while since I lifted them, not wanting to put my back out.
isn't really seasoned. it needs to be thoroughly cleaned - coca-cola soak works great(on old rusty iron pans, too). after that, wipe with oil or lard and put it in the oven at 500 or so, upside down on a rack with something to catch the dripping. you could probably do this on a grill, too, if you don't like smoke in the house. repeat this several times, and....you have the original non-stick cookware.
i use cast iron to cook almost everything, the only exception being thing like carmelizing that require deglazing the pan.
if for you only ever try to use cast iron once more, try cornbread, again. in a well seasoned cast iron pan, get it nice and hot in the oven and pour bacon grease in the pan before you add the batter! as an adopted southerner, well, i might just go make some right now.
I'm a recent adopter of cast iron cookware. Since acquiring my first pan two years ago, I now have three lodge cast iron pans (a small skillet, a medium skillet, and a round griddle), and for all of them, I found the "preseasoning" to be inadequate - two of them actually had chips in the seasoning layer. I put them inside the oven for a self-clean cycle to strip the old seasoning off as well as any rust, gave it a good scrubbing, and seasoned it from scratch three times at 400. I haven't had to do any maintenance on them since, other than avoiding detergents, drying thoroughly and coating with a thin layer of oil after each use. I wouldn't sear my meat or cook pancakes (among other things) with any other pan. They really are excellent cooking vessels. I'm 4'10'' and I weigh 110 pounds. Is it a bit of an upper body workout to lift those things compared to steel pans? Yes, but it's totally worth it.
I have two CA frying pans and one Dutch oven. The frying pans are probably thirty years old; the Dutch oven is a fairly recent purchase. Yes, they're heavy. Yes, you have to exercise some care in keeping them seasoned. But I love them and would not want to use anything else for frying, sauteing, cornbread, etc. When I was making no-knead bread (before I found this site and graduated to the hard stuff :) ) the Dutch oven was essential.
this trivet inserted and underneath a few ice cubes would be awsome for making steam. Might be worth the $8.00, and a couple of books to get the free shipping ;)
I have a collection of cast cookware that goes back to my great grandmother well over 100 years old, and it cooks everything better than most of the fancy non stick crap that is just about all you can get in stores these days. Other than stainless steel cookware which I have for general cooking, and ceramic crock pots its my pot of choice.
I have a muffin tin (gem pan in the parlence of its birth) a waffle iron, at least 3 skillets that are not as old as the waffle iron or the muffin tin (misnomer as its not tin or tinned) at least 3 cast dutch ovens, in varying sizes, a set of cast iron cook ware that was made in China in about 1980 (now that had horrid crap on it, and required a wood fire in the back yard to get it off) a recent purchase is a tiny dutch oven that is a Lewis and Clark expedition memory, its less than a quart in size! And I have various pans and items for bbqing that are all recent purchases including a cast bread pan! While its heavy so is the good stainless steel ware I have for cooking especially a big pot full of potatoes with that stainless steel pot that weighs pounds to begin with.
But for durability you can't beat the cast ware. My oldest pieces the muffin pan, the waffle iron and the round griddle all went through a total housefire in 1941, my mother escaped with burns and frost bite from walking the half mile or more in snow to the nearest neighbours and spent a couple months in the hospital. Next spring she went back to the site and picked the cast iron ware up, that had survived the fire, reaseasoned it and used it for the rest of her life. How many pots can you say you have from 100 plus years ago that work perfectly and are in use daily.
Its really the original crock pot, and baking oven of choice for the entire Western expansion of the North American continent. A lot of sourdoughs had nothing but a cast iron dutch oven and fried baked and stewed all in that single pot! The only problem I have with it, is it breaks like glass if its dropped hard, and if it hits your foot you may be on crutches for awhile!
Oh yes my prized wedding gift, a genuine le cruset enameled oval cast iron dutch oven, which cost my cousin $60 dollars in 1977 but she knew that it would be a worth while gift. I still have that, and not a lot of the other wedding gifts have survived that long, the other one that I prize is a genuine 3.5 point Queen size Hudson's Bay wool Blanket.
grin, grin.....
It does. I like the 10" size, too. For some reason all my skillets, except for one 6", and the Dutch oven are of the 12" variety. The smaller size would be more useful to a single guy. The price isn't bad either, especially with free shipping.
I do dislike the pre-seasoning. I have not found it to be worth a flip. The first thing to do with a new pre-seasoned CI pan is to put it in the oven and run the self-clean cycle. I no longer do anything special to season the pan. It is sufficient to use it for bacon and eggs in the morning. Stay clear of scrambled eggs until well seasoned, as the water tends to strip the season.
cheers,
gary
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/25831/bakeware