The Cook’s Kitchen

As a New Yorker, for many years I have cooked in an apartment kitchen the size of most homes’ bathtubs. Or, if I was lucky, a closet. It’s shocking just how small NYC apartments are and especially those areas called non-livable spaces. No wonder New Yorkers eat out all the time.

Last year my husband and I bought our first apartment and moved into the largest place I’ve lived since I left college. My kitchen? It’s massive by New York standards. It has been wildly exciting for a variety of reasons, including my cooking prolificness. I have more storage and therefore, more STUFF now that I have a larger kitchen. As a result, I’m cooking more than ever. Some things are great enhancements, some things get shoved to the back of a drawer never to be touched again. During this winter, one of the best additions to my kitchen has been my beautiful enameled cast iron dutch oven.

I’m sure many of you have had one for years. But, do you remember the joy it gave you so long ago, when you bought your first one? Whether Le Creuset, Staub, Lodge, John Wright, Daniel Boulud/Sabatier or Mario Batali/Copco, the enameled cast iron pot is worth the heft, the investment and the storage space. I have thrown away three other pots and pans since buying my beauty. It’s amazing how evenly the heat is distributed throughout the pan. It’s wonderful that you can work on a slow-food winter stew, soup or braised meat all afternoon or evening without worry about burning, sticking or inconsistent timing of food due to the “hot spots” of the pan. While the nostalgia of seasoning traditional cast iron appeals to me, I am a modern girl at heart and I like not having to season it. I love my particular pot, for many reasons but I’m a sucker for the spikes inside the lid that supposedly drip the evaporated liquid from the inside of the lid back onto your food to baste it and keep it moist. Whether it technically works or not, I don’t know since I can’t watch it do that magic without removing the lid and defeating the purpose. Do I care? No. I believe it works because I’m in love. My soups taste better, the meats are more tender and the No-Knead Bread is beyond spectacular when baked in one of these pots or dutch ovens. Its uniformly golden crunchy crust perfectly ensconces the moist and delicately chewy aerated interior bread. In cooking, our tools and equipment have a huge impact on our results and now that I’ve got enameled cast iron in my arsenal I’m never shying away again.