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Lodge cast-iron cookware is affordable, of high quality, and made to last for generations.

At this point, you’ve probably been bombarded with a ton of cast-iron–related content, so I’ll cut to the chase: Lodge cast iron reliably stands out from the competition for its quality and especially for its value.

Yes, Le Creuset cookware is pretty. Yes, Finex has that modernist thing going for it. But Lodge will provide you with a quality skillet or Dutch oven for a fraction of the cost of those brands. And with proper care, Lodge cookware will last just as long—in many cases for a lifetime. You can’t say that of many $50 items.

This Dutch oven works just as well as pricier ones we’ve tested. And it’s one of the easiest to use and move around the kitchen.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $70.

I bought my first piece of Lodge cookware—a green enameled 6-quart Dutch oven—back in 2011, and I still use it on a weekly basis. Ten years is a long time in kitchen terms, and this piece certainly has its battle scars—chips from the occasional drop, some scratches from careless cleaning, and stains from cooked-on oil. But it’s still my go-to for making chili, stew, and biryani.

I’ve made this incredible Ghanian chicken and peanut stew in it dozens of times. The enamel finish is easy to clean and surprisingly resilient, and the cast iron holds and distributes heat exceptionally well. For a long time, it was my default bread-baking vessel, too.

Until, that is, I met the combo cooker.

If you bake bread regularly, you owe it to yourself to grab this two-in-one marvel. Made from seasoned black cast iron, it’s essentially a skillet and a Dutch oven in one. Since buying mine in July of last year, I’ve baked at least two sourdough loaves per week in it, bringing my tally up to about 80 boules. (Yes, I give a lot of it away. I’m not a monster.)

After testing 16 cast-iron skillets, we recommend the Lodge Chef Collection 12 Inch Skillet . It’s lightweight, sears well, and releases foods easily.

The biggest upside to the combo cooker over my enameled Dutch oven is that I can use it inverted, with the shallow “lid” (the skillet half of the combo) as the base. The low sides of the skillet make it way easier to load the dough and remove the loaf when it’s done baking, but I still get the steam-trapping capabilities of a regular Dutch oven. This ensures that I get the beautifully burnished, blistered crust that all sourdough bakers strive for.

What better way to test cast-iron cookware than to cook with it? We put 16 cast-iron skillets through six tests, including frying bacon, baking cornbread, and searing steaks. Our pick, the Lodge Chef Collection 12 Inch Skillet, excelled at every task.

Read more in our review of the best cast-iron skillets.

We have a guide on how to clean and season cast-iron cookware. But if you’re looking for the TL;DR version, read on.

If you’ve got an enameled Lodge Dutch oven (or another enameled cast-iron piece), never use metal kitchen implements in it—instead stick to wood and silicone. Wash it by hand, using a soft sponge and gentle detergent, and avoid anything containing citrus. If there’s stuff that’s seriously stuck to the enamel, boil some water in the Dutch oven, and use a wooden spoon to scrape it off.

Black cast iron from Lodge comes preseasoned, but you can add more layers of seasoning to get a truly nonstick finish faster. Place the pan in the oven, and preheat it to about 500 °F. Then carefully remove the pan from the oven, add a small amount of vegetable oil or other neutral oil, and wipe it across all of the pan’s surfaces with a paper towel. Spread the oil very thin, until it looks almost dry. Then return the pan to the oven, inverted, and bake it at 500 °F for another hour. Repeat as many times as you like.

To clean a black cast-iron pan after cooking, you can use a soft sponge, hot water, and mild dish soap. If there are hard, stuck-on bits of food, use large-grain salt, water, and a sponge or soft-bristle brush to scrub it off. If that fails, use the boiling-water trick above. After your pan is clean, dry it thoroughly to prevent rust, add a very small amount of neutral oil, and spread it in a thin layer over the entire surface.

There are usually good prices on the Dutch oven around major deals events like Prime Day and Black Friday, with the occasional deal in early spring. Typically we only see a few deals per year, so it's worth jumping on when you see one

Best price we’ve ever seen: $37

Ben Keough is an editor covering powering, home office, and hobbies at Wirecutter. He previously spent more than a decade writing about cameras, printers, and other office equipment for Wirecutter, Reviewed, USA Today, and Digital Camera HQ. After four years testing printers, he has confirmed that they all suck, but some suck less than others.

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