Tuesday, November 28, 2023

157 pieces of Le Creuset? Talk about too much of a good thing.

I'm not a great cook. I don't love cooking. I don't swoon over cookbooks. 

But I'm a decent cook. I have my specialties, and every once in a while I add new recipes to my repertoire. I have a few cookbooks on my shelves. 

And I have a pretty well-equipped kitchen. 

No, I don't have everything, but I have a lot of things that cooks use. A full, not-entirely-matching set of pots and pans. Wooden spoons. Two spoon rests (one on each side of the stove.) Spatulas. Other utensils. Two meat thermometers. Pyrex baking dishes. Meat loaf pans. A garlic peeler. Multiple graters. Etc. 

My absolute favorite kitchen item is my Le Creuset Dutch oven (5 quart, Caribbean). 

If I had to keep just one pot, that would be it. It's amazingly versatile and sturdy, and I use it all the time. I also have a Le Creuset cast iron enamel skillet (12 inch, Caribbean), which I use pretty regularly.

Counting the two lids and the one silicone handle cover (Caribbean), I own five pieces of Le Creuset. 

Which seems like plenty.

Which is not to say that, when I happen upon a Le Creuset something-or-other on sale, I'm not tempted to get it. 

But what do I need with a Le Creuset baking dish? I have Pyrex. 

What do I need with a Le Creuset spatula? I have Rubbermaids.

What do I need with a set of Le Creuset ramekins? I don't cook anything that demands a ramekin, although I supposed I could use some of those cute little ramekins if I wanted to make make cute little individual quiches.

And Le Creuset is crazily expensive. Plus crazily heavy. (I live in fear of dropping that Dutch oven onto my induction stovetop and fracturing the glass.) And I don't have any place to store it. And I really and truly am not enough of a crazy cook to warrant buying any more Le Creuset. And I'm not getting any younger, and Le Creuset ain't getting any lighter. (I rue the day when I will no longer be able to heft a Dutch over full of chili.)

There are so very many reasons why I would never in a million years be interested in acquiring the 157-piece Le Creuset set that Costco has been offering. Even if it were available in Caribbean, rather than red. Even if it didn't cost $4.5K. 

I'm going to have to go on record here and say that 157 pieces of Le Creuset that has be delivered to your house on a pallet is too much of a good thing.

Seriously, if you're enough of a cook that you want 157 pieces of Le Creuset, you likely already have mixing bowls, spatulas, and a Dutch oven. Etc. And, sure, the pie bird's cute. But a pie bird? And don't get me going on the gravy boat. 

I grew up in a meat and potatoes family (fish on Fridays, of course), so there was a lot of gravy on the family table. And fancy (holiday meal) and plain aluminum (daily supper) gravy boats. Gravy was served whenever there was a roast something or other, which meant Sunday and at least one other day during the week. Or when we had meatloaf, which also called for gravy.

But I'm guessing that the era of families sitting down to a big meal composed of roast something or other, accompanied by gravy (boated or not), is long gone. 

Gravy boats, I suspect, come out on Thanksgiving and Christmas, because turkey and gravy go together like turkey and stuffing. Like turkey and cranberry sauce. You just gotta have it. But that's twice a year when you'd want to drag out your Le Creuset gravy boat. 

Admittedly, I'm looking at that array of Le Creuset, and that small frying pan looks mighty fetching. But I have a small frying pan, which I use to make an omelet. And I got it at TJ Maxx for $13.99 a million years ago. 

I guess I'm just not enough of a passionista. Maybe if I were a gung ho cook, I'd think differently.

But, seriously, who needs all this too-much-of-a-good-thing Le Creuset. 

Not me. 

Which is a good thing, given that it's already sold out.

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