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How to use a French Oven
Author: Siobhan Thomson Date Posted:14 June 2021
What is a French Oven?
A French oven is almost the same as a Dutch Oven, i.e. it is a heavy pot made out of cast iron provided with a tightening lid at the top. The difference between the two is that the French oven is a modern/updated version of the Dutch oven and is always enameled. It is a pretty simple piece of kitchen equipment. It doesn’t come with dials or fancy features or attachments or floor-standing racks or anything else.
The French oven is essentially a stew pot. However, it’s incredibly useful in a modern kitchen, for slow cooking and combining various flavorful ingredients in ways that create those magical taste sensations that you want your kitchen to be known for!
Using a French Oven
The use of a French oven is pretty simple. Essentially, you put everything in your dish into the french oven, and put it in a traditional oven. The tight-fitting lid of the french oven ensures that the items inside stay moist and retain liquid that might otherwise evaporate, leaving your roast or chicken or other ingredients dry, or brittle.
Some recipes call for extra steps like pre-searing the meat, or blanching vegetables to take out starches, but the key to most french oven recipes is to keep temperatures low, and simmer/slow cook what's inside until it’s bathed in its own glorious juices.
Caring for you French Oven
Before using your French Oven for the first time, remove the stickers, clean it with hot water and leave it to dry. Then brush the inside with a small amount of vegetable oil. Warm it over a low heat for a few minutes and wipe off the excess oil. Your product is now ready to use!
Chasseur enamelled cast iron products can be used with all sources of heat: gas, electric, vitroceramic, induction and oven (with the exception of cookware with wooden handles).
- Match the size of your hob ring to the size of the receptacle to avoid concentrating the heat in one area.
- If you are using a glass hob, lift the cookware rather than dragging it.
- With induction hobs, you must never use the BOOSTER function. Start off with the minimum setting and then increase the heat very gradually so as to avoid creating thermal shock and cracking the enamel.
- Do not heat the cookware when it is empty: the enamel may be damaged irreversibly.
For stirring, do not use metal spatulas or utensils, do not tap the edges of the container and never cut food inside the cookware as you risk scratching or damaging the enamel.
Leave your cookware to cool down before washing it with a non-abrasive sponge.
If any food residue is still stuck, soak it in warm water and washing up liquid.
You can put your Chasseur product in the dishwasher (with the exception of products with a wooden handle), but we don’t recommend that you do this regularly. Modern cleaning agents could attack and tarnish the enamel.
Wipe your cookware thoroughly and make sure it is dry before putting it away.
BCE Catering Equipment Ltd has a wide selection of French Ovens from Chasseur for you to choose from. The Chasseur Range, is superior quality enamelled cast iron cookware, perfect for all cooks. Novices or experienced chefs will be able to recreate traditional recipes or use their imagination to create new ones.
Browse our selection today or contact us for more information if you would prefer to talk to one of our experts.
