He's right - and it's not for the impatient! You have to let it warm up slowly and cool down slowly or the surface starts to crack (which is what happened to my first one before I read the instructions!). And it weighs a ton. But it looks lovely. I tend not to use mine these days and went back to my tefal frypan ... simpler and just as effective!
If you travel, you can also get enamelled cast iron (basically what Le Creuset is) in Target in the US for about $30 a pot.
I'm not quite sure if there's something more than branding to Le Creuset to justify it's pricing, but I rather suspect not. Cast iron and enamel have been around for centuries so it can't be rocket science.
The only downside of getting it from, say, Target, is lugging the stuff back.
I wonder if our time-cousins back a few hundred years would be surprised to hear we are still using cast iron in this day and age.
(no offence to cast iron cookwear, i love it)
At least we've come quite some way in terms of applying heat to our cooking equipment, e.g. induction, Charles Dickens didn't see that one coming!
I'm looking for a less expensive enamel cast iron dutch oven (similar to la creuset or martha stewart). Does anyone know where/if they sell the martha stewart line or something similar?? Thanks
Pantry Magic Pantry Magic Hong Kong Home carries their own line of enamelware which is priced less then LeCruset