3L Kettle/Dutch Oven

This is my second winter of using this pot inside my multi-fuel stove, several times a week.It'll hold ample portions for two adults. I bake potatoes on a circular rack, or do one-potmeals with two or three layers of outer cabbage leaves at the bottom to take the scorching.My dog loves these, even when they've turned mainly to charcoal!The description says it's enamelled, which isn't the case. It was seasoned, perhaps to protectfrom rust as much as anything. I'm not sure of the usefulness of the legs, and they make thepot unwieldy to use in an oven, and unsuitable for use on a hob. I have a smaller Dutch oven,without legs, which I use for baked apple or baked beans, cooked in a small tin standing ona trivet in the pot. There would be less risk of scorching if the pot was hung higher from theembers/flames, and sawdust briquettes work best in my situation, with baked potatoes takingabout an hour. When burning solid fuel, they take about 20 minutes each side, then a further20 minutes to finish in their own steam while the beans are heating. A shovelful of ash couldbe used to make the fire less ferocious.I use a welder's glove to hold it by the handle, and a 25cm long set of tongs which are rigidand strong enough to support its weight from underneath, and also to remove the lid and placeit on a trivet or the top of the stove. If you use gloves for grabbing the lid, they'll eventuallyburn through at the contact points and you'll receive a warm reminder that new gloves arerequired.A slight niggle is that the lid handle protrudes above the height of the rim, so the lid won'tsit flat on a firm surface when it's upturned. On the other hand, this ensures there's a gapfor picking or levering it up, which might be a fraught experience while you build confidencehandling hot iron.I haven't used the rimmed lid for holding hot embers or coals because indoors and with limitedspace it would be difficult to keep at least a bit of the ash from falling onto the food. Mycooking therefore receives intense heat from below, but I am able to prepare delicious, simple,hearty meals, independent of mains gas and electricity.

Good value for the money spent. The description says it's enameled, which isn't but that's not a train smash. It has served us countless times times (about twice a month, every two weeks) now (purchased on the 14 February 2014) and if you follow the maintenance, as with any cast iron pot, this will last you a life time. While using this with briquettes I have found the following to be true:Bottom 3 Top 5 (temperature inside: 120 - 150 Celsius)Bottom 4 Top 6 (temperature inside: 150 - 200 Celsius)Bottom 5 Top 7 (temperature inside: 200 - 240 Celsius)The correlation does seem to be linear. I have never gone beyond or under this temperature range but I guess it all depends on your type of cooking. I hope this helps anyone who is trying this for a first time. It took us a bit of time but now we have it down to a fine art. I bought this with a great book "Cook Wild - Year-round cooking on an open fire". Although not specific to the "Dutch Oven" it has brought a range of innovative ideas to our outdoor cooking.We've (family of 4) been using this to cook beef roast, kidney beans with duck giblets, veal with vegetable stew, oxtail with vegetable stew, ham & potato bake, Steak & mushrooms, corn flour bake (in South Africa we call it paap or sadza), Chipolatas with hash, etc. I guess the combinations are endless and the memories never ending. There's really nothing quite like a fire and a meal to bring family and friends together.We have even used the inverted lid to fry our eggs (I would recommend you cut an onion ring and break the egg into this circular shape. It contains the egg and allows you to have 3 to 4 eggs done on a lid) while cooking the bacon or gammon or sausages or chipolatas in the main vessel with your mushrooms and hash.You get the idea! Happy cooking!

Call me old fashioned, but I prefer my traditional cast iron cookware without a big ugly logo permanently cast into the lid.In fact, the reason I chose this dutch oven over similar products available is because unlike the others, this one looked to be without the heavy-handed branding. Perhaps the photographer had a similar reaction to the logo and made sure it wasn't visible in the photo.I'll get over it eventually. Maybe.

Fast delivery fantastic product my father in law loves it thank you for brilliant service!

Our bbq will never be the same. We cook everything in this pot. It's marvellous and versatile.