Dutch Oven Buying Guide

Dutch oven is one of the most worthwhile investments in the world of cooking equipment. What other tool can bake, fry, boil, and braise with such ease? Like its many talents, there are also many variations of the how the Dutch oven got its name. One version tells the story of an Englishman named Abraham Darby who, in the early 1700s, observed the Dutch using sand to cast cooking vessels out of brass. He returned to England, and in an attempt to make a cheaper product, turned to cast iron. In 1707, he patented the process, and it’s thought that he named the pot after the Dutch method of casting. Others suggest Dutch traders who peddled cast-iron pots popularized the name Dutch oven, and still more believe the name came from Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania who cooked with cast-iron pots and kettles. So,