All-Clad Copper Core Dutch Oven

Best of Dutch Ovens
Some years ago I was a professional chef, and I approach cooking in an analytical way, (cooking is science, plating is art). I learned the real value of slow cooking of some foods, especially in classical cuisine and much of ethnic cooking. The trick is a specialized slow-cook oven (expensive restaurant equipment) or a well-made Dutch oven. Assuming you are not reading this from the kitchen of a three star, the obvious choice is the Dutch oven.

My first really usable Dutch oven was a 50-year-old one, 18 pounds of solid aluminum! Eventually it pitted as to become unsafe. I've tried many of the current crop, and was very disappointed at the uneven heat distribution, with the propensity of food to caramelize and eventually burn at the transition point between the flat bottom and the sides (the metal thickness at this point is critical). In my testing, this pot is far and away the best designed, finished, and certainly the best cooking Dutch oven now being produced.

I purchased this...

Not Just Another Pot
Using anything as finely made as this is an education. Food cooks differently in this than it does in anything I've used previously. The level of control this allows is amazing, and the key to this is just how forgiving the cooking surface is. There are absolutely NO hot spots. You burn the stew in this pot, you may as well hang it up and condemn yourself to fast food. This 5-ply pot is the best thing that's ever happened to my kitchen.

This is the highest expression in cookware.

BUY THIS!
Yes, buy this dutch oven. I own over a dozen All-Clad pieces and this is far and away my favorite. It's impossible to burn food in this oven. It cooks so evenly and makes heavenly stews, pot roasts, etc. I start my stews and roasts on the cooktop and finish in the oven at 325 degrees for 1-2 hours. Everything comes out perfectly. This All-Clad piece cleans up very easily. If there is any food particles that my plastic scrubber doesn't remove, an hour's soak with 1/2 inch of vinegar in the bottom of the oven makes it like new. If I had just one piece of cookware to take to a desert island, it would be the All-Clad Copper Core Dutch Oven. If I had two pieces to take, I'd add my All-Clad Copper-core 10 inch fry pan.

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