Lodge USA Enamel Cast Iron Dutch Oven Smooth Sailing (3 Sizes)

Cleaning

The best way to clean Lodge enamelled cast iron is simply with warm soapy water. Allow your enamelled piece to cool, then use a gentle dish soap and reach for a scrub brush or pan scraper to easily remove food from the cooking surface. For stubborn residue, Lodge recommends soaking your Dutch oven for 15 – 30 minutes before washing it. Technically, enamelled cast iron is dishwasher safe, but to best preserve your piece’s finish, we recommend hand washing your cookware.

After you clean, dry your cookware completely before storing.

(Note: Citrus juices and citrus-based cleaners, including some dishwasher detergents, should not be used, as they can dull the exterior gloss. It is not harmful and will not impair the cooking performance; however, the use of these products is not covered by warranty.)

Storing

We love to store our Lodge enamelled Dutch oven on our stovetop—but any cool, dry place will do! Before you store, ensure your enamelled cast iron has been dried completely and use the handy rubber pot protectors to prevent moisture buildup and chipping. We recommend not to stack your enamel cookware.

Please note: a small amount of staining is expected with enamelled cookware and does not affect performance.

To start, choose a burner closest to the size of your Lodge Enamelled Dutch Oven and preheat with a little oil before adding food. Make sure when using gas that the flames are underneath the base of the Dutch oven and not up the sides. Don’t preheat an empty Dutch oven on your stovetop—this can cause your cookware to crack or break. Some bread recipes call for preheating the Dutch oven in the oven. This is perfectly safe to do since the heat will be more consistently distributed across the entire Dutch oven. Always heat some liquid or fat in your Dutch oven before cooking begins.

Just like all of Lodge’s classic cast iron cookware, Lodge enamelled cast iron has great heat retention, so there’s no need to cook over a high heat. Stick to low to medium heat for best results, even when frying or boiling water! This prevents burnt food and stuck-on messes. Keep an eye on your cooking; you do not want your Dutch oven to boil dry, which may damage the enamel. Always lift the Dutch oven off and on glass hobs to lower the risk of damage to the product or the glass. In the oven, place the Dutch oven on a rack up to 260˚C.

As you cook, use wooden, silicone, or nylon utensils to stir, blend, or flip your food. This will protect the enamel finish from being scratched during the cooking process. Do not use sharp utensils, as these may damage your enamel. We love to bring our Dutch oven to the table for family-style serving! Just be sure to use oven mitts and place your hot cookware over a trivet to protect your table or counter.

You can safely place your Lodge enamelled cast iron in your fridge to marinate food or refrigerate leftovers. Plus, the durable enamelled surface can handle acidic and alkaline ingredients like tomatoes, wines, and citrus ingredients.

Why is my Lodge USA Enamel Dutch Oven Stained?

Sometimes, scrumptious meals may result in a slight stain or a trail of discolouration on the bottom of your cookware. No need to fear—Lodge has developed a handy guide on removing stains from enamelled cast iron.

To remove slight stains, begin by cleaning your enamelled cast iron as usual.

1. Let your enamelled cast iron cool before you hand wash with warm soapy water and a nylon scrub brush to preserve the cookware’s original appearance.
2. Rub your cookware’s surface with a damp cloth and Lodge Enamel Cleaner or another ceramic cleaner according to the directions on the bottle. And voila! Slight stains will be gone.
3. For persistent stains, first clean your cookware normally
4. Next, soak the interior of the cookware for 2-3 hours with a mixture of 3 tablespoons of household bleach per litre of water.
5. Sometimes, in this process, you may realize it isn’t a stain but baked-on food. To remove those stubborn bits, boil 2 cups of water and 4 tablespoons of baking soda for a few minutes. Then, use a pan scraper to loosen the food. Follow this process with a good cleaning with soap and a scrub brush.

To Avoid Staining

While it isn’t completely possible to avoid stains, there are some tricks you can employ to reduce the likelihood of damage or discolouration to your cookware’s surface.

Lodge recommends you always use oil or cooking spray and never preheat the pan without oil or water in it. Preheating your enamelled cast iron without oil or water can scorch your pan and damage its finish. When you use oil and cooking spray when cooking, you get a better cooking experience by reducing the risk of baked-on food and it also makes for easier cleanup.

It’s also smart to use low-to-medium heat when cooking on the stove. Like traditional cast iron, enamelled cast iron never requires high heat. While the vessel may take a few minutes to heat up, the heat is evenly distributed and retained as long as it remains on a heat source. Low and steady wins the race!

The rim is rusting on enamelled cookware

If rust develops around the rim, it may be that the pan has been in a damp area. Leaving pans on a draining board to drip dry or cleaning in the dishwasher can cause a rust deposit. Rust can also form if the rim of the pan is not dried sufficiently after being washed. Should rust develop, Lodge recommends cleaning with a nylon sponge and dish detergent and drying thoroughly and rubbing a small amount of cooking oil around the rim to create a seal and prevent rust from re-appearing. Rub with oil periodically to prevent rusting.

Can I preheat my enamelled cast iron?

Lodge DO NOT recommend preheating an empty piece of enamelled cast iron on the stovetop as it could damage the enamel coating. Instead, make sure the cookware has water or oil inside it to distribute heat evenly and be sure to start with low heat while the vessel is getting warmed up.

It is perfectly safe to preheat empty enamelled cast iron in the oven since the heat will be more consistently distributed across the entire cooking vessel

For over 125 years, we’ve been your trusted partner in the kitchen. We promise to continue making high-quality cookware you can rely on for the next 125 years. We promise you’ll love your Lodge cookware so much you’ll pass it down to the next generation. With that promise in mind, each new piece of enamelled cast iron comes with a limited lifetime warranty. We will repair or replace defective cookware free of charge.

Like all Lodge seasoned cast iron pieces, USA Enamel starts in their Foundry. The enamelled Dutch ovens are made from an iron core, cast in the same Disamatic sand moulding machine they use for their skillets, grill pans, and more. From there, it goes through grinding and cleaning to remove gating, bumps, and sharp edges—all of which are normal in the sand moulding process. The rough iron pieces are then moved to their Enamelling Facility and cleaned one more time to prepare them for the hours-long enamelling process to come.

Applying the enamel to iron

The enamelling process starts with a frit, which is a glass powder that we add to a water-based solution to create a clay. This clay is aged in a temperature-controlled section of our Enamelling Facility, then added to a specialized pressure pot and transported to our spray booths. Air pressure turns the clay into a fine aerosol, which our spray technicians artfully apply to each piece of iron. “As much as this is science, there’s also art to it,” says Kevin Rusch, Enamelling Operations Manager. “Each piece being hand-crafted requires just the right touch to complete it to the high standards that we hold.” This is especially true in the spray booths, where the technicians have dialled in on a unique process that helps bring consistent, brilliant colour to each Dutch oven.

From there, the pots move down the enamelling line—their next stop is a dehydration oven, where they are cooked at a low temperature that removes all the water from the enamel coating, leaving behind a powder coating we call the bisque. After a quick dressing of the exposed iron rim, the ovens and lids make their way to the furnace.

Mastering the furnace

The heart of the enamelling facility

One of the focal points of our enamelling facility is a 45-metre-long furnace made of over 100,000 moving pieces. Designed in Italy, it’s one of only six in the world—and the only one of its kind in the United States.

The oven can reach up to 900˚C—though we don’t need to keep it that hot to fire enamel. It takes the pots 45 minutes to move through the furnace, during which time the bisque is fired into the bright, glossy, glass coating that makes each piece of USA Enamel centerpiece-worthy.

Once the cooked and cooled Dutch ovens are out of the furnace, they’re inspected by hand using our rigorous quality standards. Some don’t make the cut—and we take that as a point of pride. But those that do meet our standards are accented with stainless steel knobs and hardware—all by hand—and then packed into their cartons. We add pot protectors and a Use & Care booklet to each carton and then send the enamelled Dutch ovens to our distribution centre across campus.