Table of Contents
You may have searched for enameled cast iron because you heard about its great cooking performance(as classic cast iron) as well as the absence of the need for seasoning and demanding maintenance. Additionally, you may search it with a desire to get a cookware piece, perfectly safe for your health, and the health of your loved ones.
During your search, you might have come across Le Creuset cookware, one of the most renowned brands with nearly a century of experience in the cookware industry. While their premium-priced enameled pieces might seem too much for a home cook like myself, I’ve long considered getting one of their enameled cast iron skillets.
In the past, I was using enameled skillets from some less-known brands like Heirol, but I wanted to try the high-end enameled product and see what the difference would be. In the Kee takeaway section below, I will share my main impression about using Le Creuset skillet weekly for more than a year now and the main pros/drawbacks of using it. (See summary in first upcoming table)
Finally, In the main text, I will bring a lot of experiences and pictures from daily cooking and some important impressions about the pan weight and design, nonstick performance, amount of food you can prepare, maintenance, and more.
Moreover, I will bring some data about the Le Creuset skillet heat retention, heating up speed and some other interesting parameters I have followed with the IC thermometer while cooking with this pan. Finally, I would give examples of the amount of food that I was able to prepare in 10 inch Le Creuset pan, so you get a better impression of what skillet size you need.
Kee takeaways
After a year of use, I can say that Le Creuset cast iron skillet provided surprisingly high value for the money. The skillet has demonstrated versatility in cooking recipes from delicate food like eggs to searing steak, braising large meat cuts and even making skillet pizzas.
Additionally, the skillet’s enameled coating showed great resistance and stayed almost intact after a year of use (even though it happened multiple times that me or my family exposed the skillet to temperature shocks like adding water to a heated up skillet or overheating it empty on the stove).
It will be important to mention that the learning curve of cooking with this cookware was not very quick, but after two to three weeks of almost daily use I got used to it
In the future, I am looking forward to testing more Le Creuset enameled cast iron products, and finding out if they will leave the great impression like their enameled cast iron did. However, I would not recommend this pan to everybody, about which I have written, For who is this skillet?(and for who Not)? chapter.
Moreover, In the table below, I have summarised some of the main pros of this pan, as well as some of the cones(while some of the pros in the table are specific to Le creuset enameled cast iron skillet, most of the cones I found are general for all of the enamel cast iron products)
| Main Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Resistant enemel surface that left intact after more than a year of weekly use(find pctures in upcoming thext)* | High initial investment |
| No change in enamel outer color | Heavy |
| Lifetime guarantee | It requires a week or two of leaning curve(cooking 2-3 dishes for a few times) before you get on how to cook with it |
| Very versatile(I experienced a good performance of thisskillet in everything from frying eggs and searing meat to preparing risottos and baking skillet pizza:) |
For who is this skillet? (And for who Not)
Before buying consider first how often you are going to use it and what type of dishes you are going to prepare mostly.
For people who want to have a universal skillet that is going to be used daily or several times a week, this will be an ideal choice. If you plan to have one pan on which you can do amazing meat searing and cook sauces or braise meat cuts for hours, Le Creuset may be a good choice.
Finally, it will be a piece of cookware you will use for a long time since it is covered with a lifetime guarantee, which is rare for enameled cast iron pieces.
However, if you need the enameled cast iron for use several times a month to prepare some dishes this pan is too pricy for its investment. Moreover, if you don’t need the full versatility of this pan, and you mainly plan to fry the food(like eggs or veggies) and sear the meat without making sauces, braises, or any liquid dishes then you can get carbon steel or classic cast iron which are usually more affordable.
1. Skillet Weight and Design
The 10.5-inch Le Creuset pan weights around 2330g or 5.135lbs.
In the contrary to some lightweight skillets like stainless steel-based ones, the le Cruset cast iron is not comfortable for moving freely in the air in hand, for food flipping or tossing(same is true for all other cast iron pans, with or without enamel). Like other heavily built pans the best to use a spatula for moving food while the pan is in place.
-The handle is not designed for holding in one hand, but there is a peak on the other side which makes pan holding very easy(that was my impression, even some people find it unnecessary).
During longer cooking handle gets hot, it is best to hold it with a kitchen towel or silicone cover for skillet handles(See the Heating performance chapter)
The skillet wall slopes are very gentle, which helps fast release of vapor from food during frying (Very handy during searing) or reducing the water content in sauces. However, due to shallow and gentle walls not too large a volume of liquids can fit in these skillets(For the sauce or liquid that will be boiled I feel comfortable putting up to 600-700ml volume in the skillet, but not more)
The maximal skillet holding volume is close to 1500g of water which is around 1500ml.
The well-looking exterior is amazing for directly serving dishes, keeping color, and is not hard to clean(See Maintenace chapter).
2. Le Creuset enameled cast iron skillet heat transfer performance
2.1.Preheating speed
Le Creuset recommends preheating the skillet on low or middle heat for 5 min before frying, as they state in their manual(1). However, I wanted to measure how much the pan would need to reach temperatures that I commonly use for skillet preheating before starting to fry at 160-200C(320-390F) and if 5 min is enough for that.
Back in the time I just got the pan, I measured the change of pan surface temperature after heating on the middle-high setup of my electric stove. I used 4 out of 6.
After the 5min pan reached the temperature was around 116C(240F). The temperature of 160C(320F) was reached after around 6min 20 s, while 200C(390F) was passed around 7min 40sec. This meant that good cooking temperatures were reached around the time recommended in the manual, but the timing can vary depending on the type of stovetop you use.
Nevertheless, the 5-7min of preheating on middle heat seems like a good starting point with this frying pan.
Finally, you may ask why you don’t heat up the pan at high heat(e.g. 5 of 6 or 6 of 5 on the stovetop). Even, the most common people will say:,, You will damage the enamel coating” I would say that this is fully true for good quality enameled cast iron pans with brittle black enamel coating like Le Creuset.
As I mentioned it happened to me and my family to expose Le Creuset to high-temperature shocks(e.g. I saw my mother a few times putting the pan from the hot stove straight to water in the sink when it was too late to say anything (: ).
So, heating up the skillet on the highest stovetop setup probably won’t cause a nearly fast temperature change and would not damage the pan even if you use it that way often.
However, when it comes to preheating the enamel cast iron on high heat, I rarely see the problem of cooking performance. After you expose any kind of food to an enamel cast iron pan preheated on a high setup, due to the high accumulation of heat in heavy cast iron and fast heat transfer, your food will get burned in a few seconds of contact with the pan.
So don’t make the mistake of heating up enamel cast iron(or cast iron in general), as I was doing at my beginnings of using enameled cast iron cookware.
2.2. Heat retention performance
As you could see in the previous chapter Le Creuset enamel cast iron pan(or any other cast iron pan) takes some time to preheat before adding food. Some other cookware types need much less.
For instance, full-clad stainless steel cookware needs around 2-3 min to preheat to the same frying temperatures (160-200C/320-390F) as le Creuset’s enamel cast iron. However, this slowness in heating up consequently leads to one good thing: The enamel cast iron holds heat longer, and cools down slower than most other cookware types(nonstick, full-clad stainless steel, aluminum..)
To measure how long the Le Creuset enamel cast iron stays warm after cooking I heated the pan to 200C(390F) on the stovetop and moved it on a wooden board and measured the temperature drop. After 16min min pan temperature was 50C(122F), which is between warm and hot
Moreover, this is just an empty pan. With the food inside the pan keep the temperature even longer. E.g. after baking pizza in enameled cast iron at 250C(480F) and placing it from the oven on a wooden board, it stayed at 40C temperature even after half an hour.
When I baked the same pizza size and recipe on the aluminum baking sheet, after I pulled the baking sheet from the 250C(480F) oven to the wooden board it pizza dropped 40C(122F) after just 6 minutes.
For looking on tips, showcases, and examples on how to bake and fry with enamel cast iron, take a look at my recent post where I demonstrated this on a Le Creuset skillet.
2.3.Panhandle heating up
Among the other parameters, I wanted to measure the Le Creuset skillet handle heating up during cooking. I found that panhandle can get very hot(as it is common with cast iron). However, cooking something on a stovetop for less than 10-15min allowed me to grab grip the handle directly(without glows or a kitchen towel)
As a showcase, I measured the panhandle temperature 5 cm apart from the joint placed with the pan body after cooking the eggs. I preheat the pan on high middle heat for 7 minutes (stove setting 4 out of 6) and then put the eggs on the skillet, and cooking them till the end on the reduced heat(2 out of 6) for 5 minutes.
The temperature of the panhandle was around 44C which is warm but still not hot (By the way, by cooking the eggs this way and leaving the skillet after frying for 4-5 min on a side after cooking almost every time I get perfect eggs and no sticking)
However, for longer cooking the panhandle gets quite hot. E.g. After preheating the pan similarly in the case of eggs and searing 500g of chicken breast for 15min without turning off the stove the temperature of the panhandle 5cmcm apart from the joining part with the body gets more than 70C.
So in case of cooking something on a stove for more than 10-15 minutes, U usually use a kitchen towel. Moreover, many silicone grips for pan hands are sold on Amazon, which may be a handy option.
3. Le Creuset enameled cast Irion skillet non-stickiness and cooking performance
3.1.Nonstick performance of the skillet
Many people will doubt the nonstick performance of the Enameled cast iron, but I found Le Creuset is pretty convenient in this sense even for frying delicate dishes like sunny-side up or scrambled eggs. Experience with this pan has shown me that it is all about good technique and timing. Moreover, it is quite easy.
To speed up your learning curve for cooking with enamel cast iron(if you are new to it) I will share 3 simple steps that gave me great nonstick performance with black brittle enamel cast iron pans Like Le Creuset’s one. So, they might be also an interesting starting point for you:
1. Preheeating-I preheated Le Creuset enamel skillet on middle high heat(4 out of 6) for 6-7min when it reached around 180 degrees on the electric/glass stovetop(As I discussed in the chapter above)
2. Adding a little oil– Then I practice adding a little oil. I found out that for eggs I get great results with 6-7 g for a 10-inch pan ( for using less than 4-5 I start to observe some sticking). Moreover, I found that 6-7g of oil was sufficient for any other good I was making(fry/sear meat, veggies, tofu, mushrooms, etc.)
3. Adjusting the temperature- Finally I would keep the temperature setup on 3 or 4 out of 6 during the rest of the cooking, or reduce it if I am cooking something longer than 5-10min without moving(e.g. larger cuts of meet). If I constantly steer the things I cook(e.g. when I saute veggies or mushrooms) I keep the setup on 2-4 out of 6 till the end
See the sunny-up eggs fry on the mentioned method with Le Creuset
3.2. Cooking performance(versatility, browning, reactivity with sauces)
The cooking setup mentioned In the previous chapter gave me great results both in terms of the nonstick effect and fry performance(getting beautiful crust or browning on food).
The formation of a good golden crust on food cooked in enamel cast iron can be explained by the accumulation of heat in high amounts during the preheating, which is followed by the fast heat transfer to food in the first few minutes of cooking. Finally, this fast heat transfer results in fast caramelization or Maillard reaction which leads to a golden brown crust.
Compared to the other lighter construction cookware pieces like clouded stainless steel enamel cast iron provide meat browning, or creating the crust in fired food is much higher.
In this picture, I demonstrate the meat browning of the same size meat cuts cooked on the stainless steel and enameled cast iron(le Creuset) preheated at 180C and cooked for 6 min (Find more in my in-depth post on enamel cast iron frying tips and showcases )
I could say that enamel cast iron is one of the most versatile cookware pieces you can use. Even many cooks will keep enameled cast iron as one of the best tools when it comes to searing meat, it can be used successfully for many other techniques.
I loved this pan used for sauté veggies, searing or braising meat, and frying delicate food like eggs.
I also had a lot of fun making one-pot dishes that I start on the stovetop and finish in the oven
Finally, Enamel is not reactive so I can prepare dishes that include acidic sauces, unlike in classic cast iron or carbon steel pans where such cooking is not possible(contact with liquid and acids in e.g. classic cast iron negatively impacts its seasoning and causes rusting)
In the end, the enamel Le Creuset products come under rigorous safety control, which applies in EU countries like France and Germany where these pans are sold(and produced). If you are more interested in the cookware safety regulations in the EU In the US and how to protect us to be on the safe side from health-affecting cookware, see my in-depth post here.
4. Durability
I was using Le Creuset enamel cast iron skillet for more than a year for a few times a week or sometimes much more frequently. I have applied it on different stovetops, mainly electric and ceramic/glass ones and I frequently prepare the dishes that go from the stove to the oven. Finally, In the oven, I frequently exposed it to temperatures around 240-250C/465-480F(which is the maximum for a few ovens I use).
In most cases, I utilized a wooden spatula with the skillet. However, from time to time when I serve the dish in a skillet on the table It has happened that me or my family would use metal utensils to take the food out.
Regardless of that, I can say that after all this time and use the enamel surface is intact as it was when I got the pan. I tried to take a few clear images of the pan’s inner surface so you can see.
I need to say that this was not the case with all of the other enameled skillets I have used. In the picture below, you will see one of the 40-50e skillets that I bought from a non-well-known producer from the EU that I wanted to test for curiosity.
The surface of this skillet changed its color over time but this is not a minor point since I would say that it is normal for a light-colored enamel to become darker after a longer period of use. However, you may observe small cracks on the enamel, which is something that should not happen in high-quality products.
Compared to some other enamel producers, the great things about the Le Creuset is their almost 100 years long experience with cookware and the long-time optimized enamel technology that they have been able to make. They are known for the resistance and overall quality of the enamel they produce.
Additionally, this is what my experience confirmed up till now and I will keep updating this post possibly in 6 months or so.
Finally, LE Creuset provides a lifetime guarantee, which is not common among other enameled cookware brands.
I need to say I never had experience with eh returning policy of le crust so I could not say how it works in practice from my experience directly. However, I saw many people being satisfied with le Creuset customer service when they had to claim the replacement for the cookware.
5. Cleaning and Maintenance of Le Creuset Cast Iron skillet
Generally, many of us decide to choose enamelled cast iron among other cookare(e.g. cast iron o carbon steel) because of its easier use(no need for specific cleaning or seasoning of the cookware)
Cleaning of the enamel cast iron can be done both by dishwasher and by hand. Enamel surface is fully compatible with using soap(unlike cast iron or carbon steel) and it is pretty inert towards any kind of cleaning soap that you will use.
From my experience, cleaning Le Creuset was quite easy after I found a good cooking practice explained in the nonstick performance chapter.
And how do I clean it?
In most cases, I use the rough side of the sponge and a little of the soap is more than enough for cleaning. Like with other cookware, it is easiest to clean Le Creuset enameled cast iron after it is still warm(Usually 5-15 minutes after the cooking is finished). Moreover, the cleaning process usually takes me a few minutes.
I prefer to do the hand cleaning even if this enameled cast iron is fully compatible with the dishwasher.
In some cases when I bake or roast something in the oven(e.g. potatoes), the food can attach more seriously to the pan surface. In these cases, apart from sponge and soap I gently use cleaning wire.
As I have shown in the durability chapter the Le Creuset enamel surface is very resistant, so I haven’t observed any scratches or damage because of using mentioned cleaning approaches. See
Finally, before I get used to the right frying technique with this Le Creuset skillet I have observed more serious food sticking when preparing eggs(sunny side up). I was solving this with the gentle use of the cleaning wire mentioned above.
In my post about small home-cook secrets for enameled cast iron cleaning, I covered the mentioned cleaning practices on Le Creuset example more in detail(e.g. cleaning steps after food burning), so you can see what to expect maintaining this pan.
6. Which size of enameled cast iron skillet to choose?
It is hard to give some objective data about how much food you can prepare in some pieces of cookware, It is a bit subjective to say how much of the food prepared in the pan is too much. However, I will provide you with some examples of the amounts of food I have cooked so you can get some initial impressions
I would say that a 10.25-inch pan was most of the time enough for preparing the main dish for 1-2 persons during lunch or dinner.
I was comfortable preparing 5-6 sunny-side-up eggs at a time or frying 500-600g(1.1- 1.3 lbs) of the chicken breast, depending on the number of pieces on which the breast is cut.
However, if you plan to use the skillet for cooking dinner or lunch main dish for 2-3 persons or even more, the 12-inch pan will for sure be a better choice.
Finally, If you plan to use a skillet for preparing breakfast or light dinners for yourself, from my experience with some other enamel cast iron skillets 8 inches will be a good size.
So even if it is a subjective experience, these measures can be a starting point for you in deciding the size of the skillet you are searching for.
