Fantastic Quality! For the price these cannot be beat.
I will be honest I am not a brand snob, and I am always most loyal to the brand that offers the best bang for the buck. When it comes to enameled cast iron or cast iron in general, I almost always choose Lodge. I step out of my Lodge comfort zone when they do not offer a specific Pan or Pot thats fits my needs, and in this case their brasier pots are only 3.6 Qts. I wanted a large,wide,deep walled 5 Qt pot in brasier format, that I could cook anything from large roasts to steaks to casseroles/pasta dishes in. In this case I feel Lodge has shot themselves in the foot by not offering a 5qt size. So while searching I came across these Crock-Pot Brand Braisers. I saw these and my Jaw dropped. Because the comparable Le Creuset Pot is 414.00 these are only $53( at the time of purchase). I saw the reviews, and I know Crock-Pot isn't going to release anything with their name on it thats going to ruin their company reputation. I clicked BUY. 2 of them to be exact. Mine arrived in flawless condition, thanks to my Delivery Driver for that btw! Amazon Packaged them well enough, but also of note was Crock-Pots own packaging which was quite sturdy, double walled card board and every piece was individually wrapped in card board or plastic protection. I think they may have noticed alot of complaints with the packaging and improved their packaging substantially since, because mine came without a scratch. On to initial impressions: These are beautiful if you are a lover of Red, Cast Iron shiny glossy things... These fit the bill. The fit and finish were great and I would say easily on par with Lodge, cast Iron Enamel. I have Included my 8 year old Lodge Cast Iron Enameled 7.5 qt pot in the middle of the two in the picture for size and color comparison, which present themselves as a matching set if you dont look at the handles, the color is that similar. The Iron is ever so slightly thinner on the walls of the 5 qt pots compared to the 7.5 Qt, but thats explained because they are meant for different purposes, and the walls dont need to be as thick on Brasiers. This also helps with the weight reduction. However there is more weight to the lids of the 5 qts braisers because they are wider and have substantially more material to cover such a large opening. All in, I got 2 of these for 106.00 with free prime Delivery and based on all the things you can cook, bake, broil, saute, roast, fry and DEEP FRY (deep walls), Stir-Fry... yes these make great huge Enameled WOK's for fried rice nights, I'd say this is easily some of the best money I've ever spent in my kitchen. These are such good quality out of the box that I am now considering their other Enameled Cast Iron products. You can't go wrong here. NOTE: Please know what you are buying here, these are not teflon non-stick pots/pans. You have to use good cooking techniques to get the most out of cast iron, and proper temperatures to avoid burning and sticking etc, like with any pot. Learn the Techniques and watch some videos and how-to's and you are set. Read more
