Le Creuset Dutch Oven

Le Creuset's Dutch oven is a kitchen object where the weight tells you everything about how it's made. A 5.5-quart round oven in Flame orange weighs about 11 pounds empty and the cast iron holds heat so evenly that a low braise will cook itself for hours without hot spots. Enamel coating means you don't have to season it the way you would bare cast iron. The interior surface has stayed smooth after 2 years of weekly use in my parents' kitchen. Colors are what separate Le Creuset from Lodge or Staub, because the Flame, Marseille blue. Cerise red are bright enough to leave on the stove as decoration between meals, and the company has been making these since 1925 in the same factory in Fresnoy-le-Grand, France. My mom got hers as a wedding gift and it still works perfectly. At $380, the cost per use over 25 years comes out to pennies, which makes the price feel less absurd. I like how the handles are wide enough to grip with oven mitts, and the knob on the lid is oven-safe to 500 degrees. Soup, bread, stew, and braised short ribs all work equally well, and the thermal mass keeps food warm on the table longer than any serving dish.