Le Creuset Cocotte

90th Anniversary Limited Edition

Heavy metal

"Careful, it's hot," always announces the arrival of the Le Creuset pot, as it's heaved onto the table. Whenever one of these heavy, colourful cocottes arrives, steaming hot, to the table, everyone starts to salivate like Pavlovian dogs, as they know they're about to eat some magnificent food.

When Armand Desaegher, a metal casting specialist, and Octave Aubecq, an expert enamelist, met at the 1924 Belgium Fair, they decided to set up a business together making cookware. They established their foundry in Fresnoy-Le-Grand in Aisne, France. This location was chosen as it was at the crossroads of the transportation of the raw materials coke, iron and sand needed to create their cookware. In 1925 they produced their first Le Creuset Cocotte in an orange hue called "Volcanic". A quintessentially French icon was born.

Each cast iron pot is made in its own sand moulds (one for the outer shape, and one for the inner) which are then destroyed and the sand recycled: this means each one is unique. They are all hand-finished to produce that wonderful, smooth surface, before the high-fired enamelling process which gives them their distinctive colour. These pots are durable, hygienic and shock resistant. Moreover, prior to Le Creuset, there was no colour in the drab world of cookware. 

The 90th Anniversary Special Edition is a replica of the original 1925 cocotte, and only 1,925 of them were made. Each one comes with its own vial of sand from the mould that created it. It's heavy too.

Details

Category: Cookware

Country of Origin : France

Brand/Make/Model: Le Creuset

Type: Cocotte

Year: 1925 to date

Why: Durable and colourful French icon of cookware.

Website: www.lecreuset.co.uk

Photo: Ray Massey

Location: Camden Park Studios