Over the long blessed time that this house was pure sanctuary, and I would say even more markedly in the months since that ended, cooking has become very much more important to me.

During the jellyfish stinging madness of the last few days I put what concentration I could marshal into the question of tools for that cooking, both At Home (whatever that turns out to look like again someday) and in camp out on the heavy road.

I decided that in both scenarios, the main thing I lacked was what they call a dutch oven, a big pot that can double as a saute pan, a roaster, and a slow crockpot. Typically they’re based on good old cast iron, but most often they’re coated in enamel, which is basically glass.

The main advantage to enamel over raw cast iron is that acidic foods (including the tomatoes that are essential to my basic sauces platform) tend to destroy the seasoning layer you need to carefully and consistently build up on cast iron.

For the house we bought the absolute best dutch oven that money can buy, a Le Creuset from France.

For the camper I got one by Lodge for a third of the French price, mainly because I don’t want to cry four hundred dollar tears when I almost inevitably set that glass coating too close to a fire pit some day. If and when it does prove too delicate for living rough, I’ll replace it with something cheaper, like the nostalgic speckled stuff

… provided I can find a modern supplier that can convince me they’re really putting out a food-grade product …

… or maybe checking some thrift stores for old original ‘graniteware’.

Anyway, speaking of all these parallel concerns at once I want to recommend

Putting Together The Perfect Cookware Set | Healthy Cookware!

This guy is a little more bullish on carbon steel cookware than I am, but he’s also way, way smarter about culinary art than I’ll ever be, so he might persuade you (or me) about that question in time too.

Bonus: He’d also like to sell us on Easy (um, easyish) Coffee Roasting At Home For Under $20, and honestly trying it is sounding a little tempting right now, except for the part about buying green beans, special little bags, and a cooling fan all from Amazon; fuck that.