Actually, it cost less than $20 before shipping. And now you've gone and hurt its feelings. :(

I have selected a Rick Bayless recipe to break it in. I will be making a pork roast braised in green salsa. I'll let everyone know if it lets me down.

edited to add: I think the offical recipe name was pork loin braised in tomatillo sauce. It came off quite well and I liked taking the unit directly from stovetop to oven. I did keep forgetting to use a cloth to grab the handles while I used it on top of the stove, though. And, I had to guess on timing since my pork loin was 2.5 times the size of the one in the recipe. I'm thankful for instant thermometers. Since it braised at 325, there was little risk to the pan finish.

I finally found out last night why my kids snickered every time I say "dutch oven". :D

Real cast iron dutch ovens are too heavy to ship and if it was shipped, you hurt its feelings. A yuppie product, a yuppie recipe, high priced yuppie flesh, thermometers etc. Oy!

MisterNice

So would a "dutch oven" blow pot smoke in their faces?

So you're from Tennessee (pronounced TIN uh SEE) live in Alabama (pronounced TUSK uh LOOS uh) and we've PM'd about Ocean Springs and Biloxi, Miz-sip-i. What you really need in your dutch oven is something from a little further southwest at http://www.gumbopages.com/recipe-page.html

or perhaps you need the New Orleans Smothered Chicken, The recipe calls for a whole bird, but I use about 4 pounds of split breasts with the skin on...

lay about a a half pound of bacon on bottom of the cool oven
take 2 large or 4 small lemons and holding them vertically slice the pith off them in about six strokes; tilt them to slice the pith off the ends; slice in about 5-6 disks per inch and pick the seeds out; lay on the bacon, (it's bitter if you don't cut the pith off)
cover with another layer of bacon. Pig Is Good!
add a pound of carrots, sliced lenthwise if they're thick
add about a pound of sliced onion, Vidalia is very good
layer on some spice - I generally use some tarragon & a few bay leaves; & too much black pepper
add the chicken till it's near the top of the pot
add some chicken bouillion, about two tsp dissolved in warm water to cover it all
put the lid on tight

heat GENTLY! don't fry the bacon! let it heat up slowly!
Do Not Stir! Blot up the mess if it boils over!
cook on SIMMER about an 40 minutes or more until the chicken is done.
Do Not Stir!

Use tongs to pull the chicken out. Pour everything else through a colander. Eat the chicken, bacon and veggies. Put the insanely rich stock into the fridge to scoop most of the pig/fowl fat off the top. Cook some rice or veggies in the broth the next day.

Ask your darling wife (or ungrateful teenagers) to clean the yuppified dutch oven since you've slaved over the hot stove and drank too much beer.

Look up "dutch oven" at the Urban Dictionary.

Wow, that's a heck of a recipe!!!!!!! I like your instructions!

Some excellent recipes for REAL (cast iron) dutch ovens

The Geezer Dutch Oven Cookbook

I'm sure they could be adapted for indoor yuppie oven use.

Thats the English trying to give the Dutch a bad name back in the 17th century (when the Dutch still topped them).

I make pot-roast in mine pretty regularly. As yet, it hasn't let me down. The recipe I prefer is here.