Dutch Oven with Cover 8.5 qt  Product Reviews

"I am NOT impressed. This particular item is a limited offer from Calphalon & made in USA, not China as so many other Calphalon open stock pieces are. But first of all, the Retail List Price according to Calphalon's Website is $99.99, not $210.00 as shown here or on the internet store where I bought mine. It's heavy & seems to be well made but it's impossible to remove all oil from this pan even after putting Dawn Dishwashing Liquid in water in the pan & heating on the stove & then using Bar Keepers Friend. And you can't clean any hard anodized in the dishwasher. Calphalon says that if ALL OIL RESIDUE IS NOT REMOVED, (nothing shiny should be left) everything will stick no matter what you do. The main reason I bought it was to cook meat, chops, chicken (especially when wanting to make gravy) to avoid grease splatter everywhere & it did eliminate splatter. The shape of the pan is what appealed to me for that purpose. To me, there's certainly no advantage in cleaning this pan over my clad stainless. According to Calphalon, you can't use baking soda or Bon Ami on it???? I use baking soda on my stainless if I don't have Bar Keepers. The soda might not clean quite as well but it will in a pinch. Sometimes I do put my stainless on the stove, heat water with Dawn & it cleans it every time. I still have to go over the pan with Barkeepers or Bon Ami but it certainly is not a struggle as was with this Calphalon. Calphalon forbids using aerosol sprays because it "eats" the surface & leaves a sticky residue that's impossible to remove. Give me Lodge Cast Iron, clad stainless or non-stick hard anodized by JCP any day! I've only used this one time for chops (without gravy) since receiving the pan 2 days ago & I will not use it again for anything but soups, etc. I don't like to give an item a bad review (this is my first bad review & I hope my last) but the clad stainless, Lodge Cast Iron & JCP's non-stick hard anodized does the same for creating gravies with a lot less hassle."

"I am thoroughly enjoying using my new 8 1/2 qt dutch oven--and I don't even like to cook! I bought a large frypan and a sauce pan last year and have wanted the dutch oven ever since. I am retiring my crockpots; they could never cook a roast as well as this dutch oven."

"I really like this Dutch Oven. I gave away a Crock Pot in favor of it. I had tried the Smart Pot and needed a pot that I could really turn the temp down on to cook slowly. The Crock pot actually burned my food, could have been a lemon, but I was not going to try again. I cooked a roast very slowly with the lid on and it was wonderful, ready to try some more things. "

"In culinary school, we called this a rondeau. But hey, Dutch Oven works for me. I have been doing a lot of braising in the past few months and was lookng for a nice new larger braising pot. I was actually online pricing Le Cruesets when I found this. It was half the price and more in line with what I really wanted. I've used it a number of times for braising and have had nothing but success. It's also great for making soups, stocks and sauces as the wide bottom and short sides make it easier to cook mirepoix and other base vegetables and aromatics. Great companion cookbook for this pot: Molly Stevens' All About Braising."