Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Long live Cast Iron! : Chantal Cast Iron Review

How many of us dream of our perfect kitchen?

If we were all sitting in a room together right now I bet I'd see a whole lot of hands in the air! I had been living in temporary conditions and saving to move for so long I kept putting off buying the kitchen items I so badly wanted. How many of you are nodding your head right now? "I know how that feels", you're thinking.
I would spend hours browsing around alluring kitchen shops, always tempted to buy buy buy. Every item in the shop speaking to me. All the beautiful stainless steels, pastel colours and shimmering copper. I'm in a dream world in these stores. It's like Kitchen Disneyland for me. But I could not hop on the rides.

Well now that we've finished our move and live in a city where we plan to hopefully stay for a very long time, I will now begin slowly collecting these kitchen items I have been dreaming of for so long.

First on my list has always been the cast iron dutch oven. You know, the ever famous Le Creuset beauty. I won't lie to you, the pot in the image is not Le Creuset. I admit I was stuck on the idea of the trustworthy brand from French cuisine, but who am I kidding, I can't afford such luxury right now. I've purchased the Talavera Cast Iron Dutch oven from Chantal. Chantal vs Le Creuset cast iron pot is purchased at about 1/3 of the price! So why not right?

I've read many reviews on Le Creuset vs Chantal. I have to say that most are in favour of Le Creuset claiming Chantal's enamel begins to chip away after a while. In the same breath, however, I have noticed some of these people talking about their pot being in the oven at 450 degrees. The instructions on my Chantal tag says max 400 degrees..... hhhmmmm....
You can also check out this review from the Boston times - Pot vs Pot.

So far, my Chantal Dutch oven works brilliantly! I've used it about 4 times in the past week and no problems yet. I am very pleased so far. I want to cook everything in this thing. It's so addictive! Long live cast iron! The journey to my perfect kitchen begins. Kitchen Disneyland here I come! One piece at a time though. That's fine by me :)

Note: You may find that Chantal website does not advertise their Talavera Cast Iron Collection. I am also boggled by this. Seems Chantal do not normally produce cast iron so this is a special edition line sold only in certain stores ?? I found mine at HomeSense.

Oh and if you have bought a cast iron pan and would like to season it, please read my post about how to season a cast iron pan.

20 comments:

Sonia Scriven said...

Sarah congratulation for your pots.. I have one of them as well.. using for stews etc..

btw.. when I used to work as cleaner.. very often I have been left to wash "lots of LeCreuset" tough job.. so dont burn it anything in them.. :))

Sonia

Kathy Blais said...

I just stumbled across your blog when I was looking for reviews of the Chantal cast-iron pot... I just bought the exact same pot (but in lime green) at HomeSense in Regina tonight, so I hope it's a good one! I look forward to following your blog - feel free to check mine out at kitchenkathy.blogspot.com

Sarah @ Taste My Plate said...

Hi Kathy, thanks for checking out my blog! glad you found my post about Chantal cast Iron pot useful ;) I'll be checking out your blog too :)

Hi Sonia, I'll take good care of my pot of course...cross fingers no bad burned dishes!

Unknown said...

I came across your website when looking for Chantel Dutch Oven reviews. I had my eye on this exact pot for months at Marshall's until my best friend got it for me for my birthday. I love this pot. My question to you is, do I need to season this dutch oven?

Sarah @ Taste My Plate said...

Hi Shaquana, That's a very nice gift for your birthday ;) I also love this pot. I still can't stop using it for so many meals! To answer your question, as far as I know, only bare cast iron pots need to be seasoned. The purpose of seasoning cast iron is to protect and prevent from rusting. The enameled pots need no seasoning since the enamel is the protection. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll be happy to try and answer them for you. Happy cooking!

Unknown said...

Thank you so much for taking the time out to answer my question:). I searched several different sites for the answer but didn't have any luck. Happy Cooking:)

Sarah @ Taste My Plate said...

It was my pleasure Shaquana!

arjay said...

i was looking for reviews on chantal enameled cast iron
that i just purchased from tjmax. thank you for your blog i will definitely follow the warnings and instructions that came with it. I do have a le creuset duch oven and loving it. hopefully the chantal will keep up with le creuset. thanks

Sarah @ Taste My Plate said...

Hi Arjay,
Thanks for visiting. I'm glad this review could be of help to you. I am still using and loving my Chantal Cast Iron dutch oven. It's my best friend :) ha!

Anonymous said...

I bought a Chantal cast iron pot and could find no information about it anywhere. Thank you for sharing your experience. I feel much better about the purchase.

Sarah @ Taste My Plate said...

@ Anonymous, I'm so glad I could be of help! It's been 2 years and I still love my Chantal cast Iron pot :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the great review! I purchased a lovely 8 quart at TJ Maxx for 70. I only saw red and blue which have silver Chantal top lid knob. I only see these during fall to Xmas (not always Chantal). They never make it to clearance. So happy to hear the great review. I have not heard great reviews on the Stainless steel with enamel dutch oven, it has a glass lid.

Sarah @ Taste My Plate said...

@ Anonymous - I'm glad I could give you some peace of mind on your purchase. I still use mine a lot and it's still going strong! :)

Best Cast Iron Reviews said...

Le Creuset wins hands down in my books.

Sarah @ Taste My Plate said...

Thanks for visiting my blog and for your comment Best Cast Iron Review. I cannot argue since I have still not had experience with Le Creuset. My Chantal pot is still going strong :-).
Do you have points to add why Le Creuset wins hands down for you? I'm curious and love to learn :-)
Cheers!
Sarah

Geneva L. Everett said...

WOW! lovely like this post.its really amazing .this post is very valuable for the cast iron cookware users .even now I have known about this and follow this .cast iron cookware has excellent heat retention properties, and can be produced and formed with a relatively low level of technology.
I will also buy this cast iron cooker .i will try to cook in my favorable kitchen for my family .I love cooking with cast iron.
Thanks for sharing this!

Learn more said...

Don't waste your money on these pans. they work for a few weeks, but after that you'll be using more and more oil to keep food from sticking. Eventually even the oil won't help. One of the worst kitchen utensils I ever bought. 

Fran said...

Hi Sarah I love mine I got it a year ago in tj max for 40$ I make everything in it works awesome I just looking for other similar material but I can't find Chantal as a brand 😭 they not making it anymore ?

Sarah @ Taste My Plate said...

@ Learn more. Thank you for your comment. I have not experienced any issues with my Chantal cast iron dutch oven. I'm sorry to hear you have not had the same fortune. Although the enamel on the pan helps with sticking, it is not considered "non-stick".
Perhaps you will find this article helpful - https://www.ehow.com/how_12109679_keep-enameled-cast-iron-sticking.html

Good luck! :)

Keep on cooking, for the love of food!

Gary said...

i have a 6 qt Chantal cast iron pot and love it. Easy to clean and not a lot of discoloration/staind after 10 years.

great for soups/stews and making onion soup