Kitchenette

In my (Mr. K’s) opinion, our dutch oven is the best $39 I’ve spent on a kitchen appliance. Before I get to why, though, I should probably explain what one is to those of you who haven’t heard of it. And, why I ended up getting one for my wife for Christmas.

A Dutch oven is at its core a large, heavy pot. In the last Christmas season, the linked Dutch Oven was actually called a casserole. The best known ovens are made by Le Creuset, which makes a 7.25 quart Dutch Oven that retails for about $225. Since I didn’t really want to spend more on a Dutch oven than our stand mixer (which technically was a wedding present, but still), I picked up the 6.5 quart Tramontina at Wal-Mart - at the time, the only store selling it.

Dutch ovens are typically made of cast iron, but Tramontina, Le Creuset and other oven manufacturers now bake an enamel coating onto the cast iron. This is done for a couple of reasons - it’s easier to clean food off of an enamel surface, and baked enamel doesn’t require seasoning. With bare cast iron you have to season the oven (which pretty much means “bond fat to the cast iron by heating it up at high temperatures”) to prevent the pot from rusting, the food from tasting like iron, and to make the pot nonstick. (See here for more info.)

Dutch ovens can withstand temperatures of up to 800° F as the enamel is bonded to the cast iron. Compare this to your typical nonstick cookware, which is oven-safe to 450° or so (find out your cookware’s oven-safe temperature by going to the manufacturer’s website). The Tramontina Dutch oven is rated to 450° F (because of the plastic resin knob), but if the knob is replaced with a stainless steel knob, for all intents and purposes the Dutch oven becomes oven-safe to any temperature.

In addition to our pot being larger than the 4 quart stockpot we used to use, it’s also heavy. As in, 15 3/4 pounds heavy. Fill it with food, and it may very well be impossible to lift (work those biceps, people!). It is easily 3 times as heavy as the next heaviest pan we own. So what do we use it for?

1.) Soup and chowder. Enamel coatings don’t quite have the properties of non-stick coatings, so as a result you get those “brown bits” when browning meat in a Dutch oven. Those brown bits come in handy when you’re making soup, because that’s where all the flavor is!

2.) Frying meat. Okay folks, a little bit of high-school physics: cast iron holds its heat better than stainless steel. If you’re trying to fry chicken in a skillet, you’ll find that it takes a while for the oil to come back up to heat again after you drop in the chicken. That’s because the temperature of the oil drops when the chicken is added, and so does the temperature of the skillet. On the temperature rebound, nonstick pans and skillets are prone to reheating meat unevenly, possibly resulting in both undercooked and burnt meat.

When you toss chicken in a Dutch oven, the temperature of the oil drops, but the temperature of the Dutch oven does not. As a result, you get more even browning of your meat.

3.) Deep frying. Okay, I admit, I haven’t come up with something to deep fry yet… but four quarts of evenly-heated vegetable oil at 350° is good for something, right?

4.) Braising. A sufficiently large Dutch oven is big enough to hold a whole chicken. Combine that with a lid that weighs 2 pounds, and you find that nearly anything stews in its own juices very well.

5.) The infamous no-knead bread. You know the one…the one that everyone’s talking about. It calls for a “6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic)” - a.k.a. a Dutch oven!

Is it possible to cook without one of these? Sure. But if you get one, you’ll find that the flavor of your dishes will go up - and at $39, ($59 at Target, for whatever reason), it ends up being quite the deal.

Note from Kitchenette Jen:

Isn’t my husband adorable? Who else would be so crazy about a Dutch oven? I mean…seriously!

Mr. K is a huge kitchen gadget nerd, so expect his equipment reviews to become a regular thing around here. No one is paying us to say good things about any of these products (although, we’re not above selling out to the corporate machine…any takers? Anybody?)- we just happen to like them and use them a lot.

In the spirit of Dutch oven goodness, I bring you this recipe for Chicken Tortellini Soup. Mr. K and I visited the great state of Alaska last summer and were lucky enough to go on an all-day wildlife cruise. The first mate on the ship was in charge of preparing lunch, and he delivered the absolute most amazingly delicious chicken tortellini tomato soup I have ever had. I have been trying without success to recreate it ever since. This is the closest I have come so far, although it’s still miles away from the Alaska soup.

If anyone knows of a fabulous tomato-based tortellini soup recipe, send it my way!

Tortellini and Chicken Soup
From SparkRecipes

2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp olive oil
2 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 pkg cheese tortellini
47 oz chicken broth (give or take, vegetable broth would work as well)
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 pkg fresh baby spinach
1/4 c chopped fresh basil

1. Saute garlic in olive oil in large pot or Dutch oven until fragrant.

2. Add chicken broth and chicken. Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat for five minutes.

3. Add tortellini and cook per package directions.

4. Add tomatoes, spinach, and basil and cook until spinach is wilted. Serves 8.