This weekend I bought a Le Creuset pot! I had been looking at them for a while because I like the cast iron with enamel coating. It’s perfect for cooking – providing for a very balanced heat distribution. And the enamel coating gives them a great look and makes it easy to clean and maintain them.
Looks and quality do come at a price, so I have been doing some comparison shopping. I do find the number of models they have confusing and there is little usable information available on the web.
In the end I bought a 22cm soup pot for EUR 69,- from a local store here in Amsterdam. I could have probably found it for EUR 5 – 10 less, but I got good advice from the shop owner and went with it.
The soup pot is a new model and specially priced as an introductory offers. I saw that many stores, online and offline, have the soup pot on special offer.
When I first saw the pot, I was a little confused: Is this the standard Le Creuset model? Or one of the many specialty items they started making when they became popular? I was in the market for an all purpose, everyday pot. So I did some research online which proved much more tedious than I had imagined. I am summarizing it here for everyone interested in going for the special offer.
So first of all, I was interested in pots and during my research disregarded the plentiful mini cocottes, exotic stuff like woks and tajines, pots in the shape of vegetables, plates, spatulas and anything else that is not a container for cooking.
That narrowed my choice down to the following three model: The Round Oven (Cocotte Ronde) shown on the lft, the Oval Oven (Cocotte Ovale) shown in the middle, and the Soup Pot (Madeleine), shown on the right.
But that’s only the start. The model come in many different sizes and colors. I didn’t think color was important (altough I like – and got – the classic red look shown above). But choosing the right size is very important – the pot should be large enough to hold the quantities of food you are usually preparing, but also not too large because it takes up space, is harder to clean and makes it more difficult to judge quantities of ingredients.
I could not find a good overview of size, so I made my own. Here it is:
| Model | Diameter | Volume |
| Cocotte Ronde / Round Oven | 16 cm | 1,3 l = 1½ qt |
| Cocotte Ronde / Round Oven | 18 cm | 1,8 l = 2 qt |
| Cocotte Ronde / Round Oven | 20 cm | 2,4 l = 2½ qt |
| Cocotte Ronde / Round Oven | 22 cm | 3,3 l = 3½ qt |
| Cocotte Ronde / Round Oven | 24 cm | 4,2 l = 4½ qt |
| Cocotte Ronde / Round Oven | 26 cm | 5,3 l = 5½ qt |
| Cocotte Ronde / Round Oven | 28 cm | 6,7 l = 7¼ qt |
| Cocotte Ronde / Round Oven | 30 cm | 8,4 l = 9 qt |
| Cocotte Ronde / Round Oven | 34 cm | 12,4 l = 13¼ qt |
| Model | Diameter | Volume |
| Cocotte Ovale / Oval Oven | 23 cm | 2,6 l = 2½ qt |
| Cocotte Ovale / Oval Oven | 25 cm | 3,2 l = 3½ qt |
| Cocotte Ovale / Oval Oven | 27 cm | 4,1 l = 4½ qt |
| Cocotte Ovale / Oval Oven | 29 cm | 4,7 l = 5 qt |
| Cocotte Ovale / Oval Oven | 31 cm | 6,3 l = 6½ qt |
| Cocotte Ovale / Oval Oven | 35 cm | 8,9 l = 9½ qt |
| Cocotte Ovale / Oval Oven | 40 cm | 14,8 l = 15½ qt |
| Model | Diameter | Volume |
| Madeleine / Soup Pot | 22 cm | 2,5 l – 2¾ qt |
| Madeleine / Soup Pot | 26 cm | 4,2 l – 4¼ qt |
| Madeleine / Soup Pot | 32 cm | 7 l – 7½ qt |
I went for the Madeleine becuase it was on offer, opting for the smallest one. I think the soup pot is very versatile but will mainly be useful for soups and sauces. Later on I hope to add a round pot, going for a little extra volume for preparing veggies, pasta, etc.