Anyway, I've been told I should reduce cooking times and temps when using it as it holds the heat so well you don't need to cook things as long or at as high a temp as you normally would. Anyone have any tips from experience with theirs?

Lisa

SHelley

I love mine. They are easily my favorite cooking vessels.

I can't think of any tips, besides don't heat it empty, and avoid using metal utensils or abrasive cleaners on the enamel.

The 3L braiser is on my Christmas list this year. Hopefully, in kiwi green.

I don't alter the times and temps with my Le Creusets but I tend to use them for longer cooking and low temperature dishes .

I have the red too!

Have fun. It took me about 6 months to even find a spot in the cupboard for it...as soon as it was clean I was using it again - LOL.

Stacy

If you want a great reference on this, you might check out Molly Stevens' 'All About Braising: the Art of Uncomplicated Cooking'. Highly recommended. One technique she uses: take a piece of aluminum foil or parchment paper bigger than the pot's opening. Cover the pot with this material, making a upside down shallow cone--put the lid on top of this material, and it makes a fairly effective seal as well as a route for the vapors to condense and return back to the dish.

I've posted the following recipe several times, but if you want a nice lamb recipe with which to 'baptise' your Le Creuset, you couldn't do better than this one from Anthony Bourdain:

GIGOT DE SEPT HEURES (Seven Hour Leg of Lamb)
From Les Halles and Anthony Bourdain

1 leg of lamb, about 6#
4 garlic cloves, sliced, plus 20 whole garlic cloves
1/4 cup olive oil
salt & pepper
2 small onions, thinly sliced
4 carrots, peeled
1 bouquet garni
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup flour, 1 cup water
Preheat oven to 300 F. Make many small incisions in lamb, place slivers of garlic in each incision. Rub lamb well with olive oil, season with salt & pepper. (At this point I would brown the lamb on all sides—but that’s not necessary.) Place it in Dutch oven and add onions, carrots, bouquet garni, garlic, wine. Put lid on Dutch oven. Combine flour and water, make a 'caulk' and use it to seal the lid to the dutch oven. Place it in the 300 degree oven and cook for 7 hours. Yes, 7 hours. NO PEEKING--leave it alone.
Remove the Dutch oven and break the seal. You don't have to eat the cooked flour paste.
That's it. About a half hour to an hour of prep, then you leave it the heck alone for 7 hours. It's nearly foolproof. Serve it with whatever else you want, and a medium bodied red wine goes quite well with this (say, a nice Zinfandel) but a dry white (such as the remainder of the bottle you opened to get the cup of wine in the recipe) is fine as well if that's your preference. Bon appetit!

The Dutch oven is the one I use most often (I have chicken soup simmering for tonight in it now), but I also have a couple Staub brand ones in other sizes. I bought a big covered round one to bake my no-knead bread in. I don't find a difference in the quality between the brands, but I love my LC best because it was my first(grin)and the size works for so many dishes I like to make.

Can't remember if anyone mentioned this among tips, but I've had great luck cleaning mine (especially after something like coq-au-vin has really left it deeply browned inside)by just filling it w/ warm water and a squirt of dishwashing liquid and letting it soak overnight. That was hard for me to do, at first, as I don't like any dishes in my sink. But the next morning I just rinse the pot and wipe it down with a microfiber dishcloth & it looks like new without anything abrasive ever touching the enamel.

I'm sure you'll love yours, and congrats on getting it at such a good price!

I saw the green color at the store susytwo! That's one of my favorite colors, but in my kitchen, the red works better. The blue they have was a very pretty color as well, but after much thought I stuck with the red.

Thanks for the tips about the bottom and edges! I have to check to see if my bottom is finished or not - I can't remember now! And I wouldn't have thought about the exposed edge - I'll have to remember to dry it right away and give it a little bit of oil along that edge to make sure it doesn't rust. There are certain things I won't put in the dishwasher and this pot will be one of them. Altho I have to find a place to store it - it's so unbelievably heavy I need a place that has easy access so I don't kill my back taking it in and out!

Lisa

And they have a life-time guarantee. The company is very good about replacing anything that breaks, chips, etc.

Ann