Le Creuset versus a cheap enamelled dutch oven — is the money in the enamel or the name? Cast Iron

Two mid-price enamelled pots in this house, one about eight years old, neither chipped. The one that went brown inside went brown because I kept searing at maximum heat in a light-coloured interior, which is a technique problem rather than a quality one. Sear in bare iron, then braise in the enamel. Cheapest fix in this thread.

The enamel is where the money goes and in my experience it's a real difference — but so is the returns story. Le Creuset's cast iron carries a lifetime limited warranty for the original purchaser, conditional on following their care instructions, and people do get pots looked at years later. That's not a name, that's a contract. Whether it justifies five times the price depends on how many decades you intend to braise.

Compare the handles and the weight, not the brands. Cheap enamelled pots often have small loop handles you can't get a gloved hand into, which is genuinely dangerous with four kilos of boiling stew coming out of an oven. Put your oven gloves on in the shop and try to lift it.

I'd buy the cheap one and spend the difference on a second pot. Two 4-litre pots beat one 6-litre for how I actually cook — stock going in one, braise in the other, both on the hob at once. No warranty gives you that.

Whatever you buy: no metal utensils, and no thermal shock. Cold water into a hot enamelled pot is how most of the chipping stories in this room begin.

Factory seconds and outlet stock. Same pots, cosmetic flaws, considerably less money, and on the two seconds I've bought I could never find the flaw they were downgraded for. Worth checking before you settle for the supermarket version.