Welcome Fall Flavors with a Dutch Oven

Published on 10/06/2020

As the air finally starts to cool, our minds suddenly shift to all foods warm and hearty. A Dutch oven is the perfect cooking tool for Fall! It is a heavy cooking pot with a tightly fitting lid that is good for braising, making soups, stews, and sauces. Surprisingly, it can also be used to make bread (try the Le Creuset recipe), fry chicken or make lasagna!

It’s also the way to soften root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, and turnips, as well as hardy greens like collards and kale. Slow cooking also mellows the pungent flavors in onions and garlic, helping to bring out their sweetness.

A Dutch oven can be used on the stovetop, in the oven, on the grill and even in the freezer. It is typically made of cast iron. The beauty is that the same pot can be transferred from the stovetop to the oven to finish cooking, so you make the entire meal in one dish. This is convenient for when you’ve finished browning your meat on the stovetop over high heat and are ready for the second, low-temperature phase of cooking. Be warned though, Dutch ovens are HEAVY, so make sure if you plan to transfer your full Dutch oven from the stovetop to your kitchen oven that you are able to lift it!

Dutch Over Options

While the Le Creuset Dutch oven is the gold standard, it retails for $150-500 depending on size. If you’d like to try out a less expensive brand, both Lodge and Ayesha Curry carry a Dutch oven that retails between $50-$70, and are of great quality.

Here are some Dutch oven recipes we offer at Foodom

Meatless Borscht

Cabbage with Turkey Roll Soup

Meatballs in Roma Tomato Sauce

Braised Chicken Thighs, Garlic, Lemon and Olives

Mediterranean Fish Stew

Beef and Green Beans Stew

A Variety of Soups

Whether you cook by yourself or have a Foodom personal chef or a home cook prepare meals for you, adding such a versatile kitchen equipment is fun and rewarding. I opens the door to new creations in the kitchen to fuel the food passion!