Hey, sam-i-am! Where ya been?

Sorry about your difficulty- beautiful set of cookware, though. Sounds like there is a manufacturing defect with those pans- possibly a problem with the enameling process?

Will Le Creuset stand behind these? I see your problem- persuing this through eBay might allow you to return the pans, but all the other goodies as well.

Good luck- tell us what Le Creuset 'will do for you'.

I have a lot of Le Creuset and love it, but I don't have a frying pan. My father wanted a cast iron frying pan that was enameled, so I bought one for him. He hated it. Everything stuck to it he said.

I use my Dutch oven as a frying pan sometimes, frying sausage for red sauce. Things stick, but I am always able to get it off later with soaking and a scrubby sponge. I don't know if I get them back to "original" condition, but they are clean.

I don't have any problems cleaning mine. I usually let it sit for a few minutes with a mixture of soap and hot water and everything comes out without any type of residue.

I fried chicken in my Le Crueset dutch oven yesterday, and needless to say, (after three batches) it was a mess. I let it soak for a bit, and today it looks like new. I think something might be wrong with yours if it's not coming clean. I hope you figure out the problem!

Hi sam_i_am,

Try Dawn Power Dissolver.

I had a problem with food getting stuck on my Le Creuset. It got the crud off, but there is still a slight stain where the food was.

I had let the food burn quite a bit, so it wasn't a regular cooking session with normal food getting stuck. If it was, I'm sure the Power Dissolver would get everything out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dawn Power Dissolver

I scrub with little baking soda if there is anything left on mine after washing. (Mine is a clone though, not the real Le Creuset).

Here's an old cleaning trick that a friend told me about that her mother-in-law told her about,(she said it was the only useful thing her mother-in-law ever told her !!) and it's worked for pretty much all hard-to-clean things . . .pots, pans, casserole dishes . .
Put really hot water into the pot, or whatever, cover it tightly with aluminum foil, leave it overnight, and in the morning, all the crud and stuck on stuff comes off like magic !!! I don't have LeCrueset, so don't know if it would work on that, but it's worth a shot !!

For my Le Creuset pans with stained interiors, I found the best solution was to use OxiClean Laundry Stain Remover. Spray about ten squirts into the pan, fill half way with hot water and simmer on the stove top. The stains disappear. The Le Creuset enamel cleaner, in my experience, has no effect on stains.

I vote with momof1 on this. I make a paste with baking powder and let it sit with a wet rag/sponge over it. Later I use a sponge and some elbow grease. I tend to burn things in my dutch oven but so far I have gotten it clean this way.

I have found the interior enamel cleans easily after soaking even when I thought it wouldn't. Then the other day I let some onions get dry and burn and it would not come off in days of soaking and scrubbing with a blue scrubbing sponge. I don't want to use anything harsh, like cleanser or a green scrubbing sponge, which I'm sure would haze the enamel. I also tried boiling vinegar, like in a deglaze, was sure that would work and it had no effect at all.

Today I tried a little baking soda and the burned onions came right off.

Boil a little water with cream of tartar in it and let sit for several hours. It has worked for me many times.