Colin Goh and Woo Yen Yen

With great apologies to Keats’ Ode to a Grecian Urn, this little entry is to pay homage to positively the best piece of cookware I have ever purchased. Ever. As far as equipment goes, it ranks second only to my Mac Powerbook. Serious!

The item of which I speak is the fabled Le Creuset enamelled cast iron dutch oven.

I’d read about its prowess in many magazines and news articles, and frankly, was a little skeptical. It was supposed to be easy to clean and non-stick, even without Teflon (which is now supposed to be poisonous), and is so versatile, it can be used on a gas-fire, in the oven and can even bake bread!

But so what? It’s frickin’ expensive, and I’m generally pok kai, so I decided to take my chances with the Teflon poisoning. (I’ve been a cooking maniac ever since I studied in England, a passion I picked up by necessity rather than design. This was in the days BEFORE ‘Cool Britannia’ and Gordon Ramsay and Jamie ‘Tongue Depressor’ Oliver, et. al. If you didn’t cook, it was greasy fish and chips or whatever the refectory served up.)

Things changed this year, when we went for our traditional Boxing Day shopping trip to Woodbury Common.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the “W.C.”, it’s New York’s most famous, and ostensibly the world’s largest factory outlet mall. Well, it’s not quite a mall, it’s more like a theme park village, with each designer brand operating its own little house store. It’s compulsory for every Singaporean stopping in the East Coast, and it always consumes an entire day. On Boxing Day, we set out at 6.30 am, in order to reach it around 8 am, just to beat the crowds.

Anyway, I was surprised to see that Le Creuset had opened a branch in Woodbury, and were selling slightly imperfect dutch ovens at a cheaper price, with a post-Christmas discount on top of that too! It was too much to resist.

The prices were so good, we even picked up a stovetop grill (for those grill marks), a whistling kettle and even - a wok! Le Creuset makes an absolutely gorgeous cast iron wok, the best I have ever used. The mainstay, however, is the classic flame-coloured oval dutch oven.

Anyway, I really regret not buying a Le Creuset earlier. It’s true that it’s easy to clean, and it really does cook stuff better. To date, I’ve cooked a Cajun cassoulet, Nyonya chap chye masak titek, and the best chok (congee) ever. Something to do with the even conduction, I think.

For those of you itching to try something fun, here’s the recipe for cassoulet I followed:

CASSOULET Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse

Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 3 hours 25 minutes Yield: 6 to 8 servings

4 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon butter 2 (6-ounce) veal shanks 1/2 cup flour Essence, recipe follows 1 cup diced onions 1/2 cup diced celery 1/2 cup diced carrots Salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 pound white navy beans 10 cups water 2 bay leaves 2 ham hocks, about 4 to 6 ounces each 1/2 pound andouille sausage links, cut into 4 equal portions 1/2 pound smoked sausage, cut into 4 portions 3/4 cup dried fine bread crumbs 1/2 cup grated Parmesan 3 tablespoons chopped parsley 2 tablespoons olive oilEssence (Emeril’s Creole Seasoning): 2 1/2 tablespoons paprika 2 tablespoons salt 2 tablespoons garlic powder 1 tablespoon black pepper 1 tablespoon onion powder 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano 1 tablespoon dried thymeCombine all ingredients thoroughly and store in an airtight jar or container.Yield: about 2/3 cupPreheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 13 by 9 by 2-inch rectangle pan with 1 teaspoon of the butter. In a large saucepan, melt the remaining butter. Season the veal shanks with Essence: season the flour with Essence. Dust shanks with seasoned flour. Sear the shanks for 3 minutes on each side, or until golden. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the onions, celery, and carrots. Season with salt and pepper. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes, or until slightly wilted. Add the beans, water, ham hocks, shanks and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until beans are tender and most of the water is absorbed, about 2 hours. Add the sausages and cook for 30 minutes. Reseason the mixture if necessary. Remove the ham hocks and shanks. After the meat has cooled, using a fork, shred the meat into small pieces. Add the shredded meat to the bean mixture. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. For the Gratine, in a mixing bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheese, parsley, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Mix well. When the bean-meat mixture is cooked, spoon the grantine` evenly over the top and bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve warm. Recipe from “New New Orleans Cooking”, by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch. Published by William and Morrow, 1993.

Share on Facebook