Hot spots on my pride-of-the-kitchen Le Creuset pot - help!

A

anna_x

Well-known member
Every time I cook or brown on the gas stove, there are hot spots that scorch above the heat source and near an edge. It doesn't matter how slowly I heat the pan. I've tried different burners. When on the largest and turned as low as the flame can go, I get that ring. If I put it on the small "simmer" burner, it scorches there.

I called Le Creuset to see if there is a thin pad or something to cover the burner that would even out the heat, but they say no, send it back.

I don't want to give it up yet as the finish is still good and there are no chips, just light staining. It cooks beautifully in the oven. Any ideas?

 
I suspect the metal under the enamel is not properly stabilized

and this is probably why they are telling you to send it back. Either it came out of the factory that way or maybe it happened on your stove through some sort of thermal cycling like throwing cold water or ingredients into a very hot, dry pan. The normal process to stabilize steel is to heat and cool. How the steel is cooled after reaching certain temperatures affects how the steel stabilizes such as hardness. (slow cool vs quick cool) Too hard and the steel is brittle. A quick cool with water can cause fractures in the steel. Too soft and the steel is prone to warp (on a knife it would bend or dent). I've re-hardened pots that practically melted on my stove. This happened yesterday in fact when I left my double boiler on too long and the water evaporated and it sat on the stove while I was attending to something else. I had an old copper bottom pot actually melt a few years ago. And that was beyond saving. But the enamel/steel combo probably requires some very precise thermal cycling.

 
Is this enamel cast iron OR enamel on steel. The latter will develop hot spots

no matter what you do or the label on the pot (as in LC). The latter pots LOOK wonderful. You can't sear in them reliably in my experience, and are only useful for simmering and serving soup in a great looking pot.

 
WHen I bought my large Le Cruset saute pan, it was recommended to me to get a diffuser

to put between the pot and the flame, apparently the issue you describe is quite common.

 
Thank you, this is very helpful...

Doesn't it seem odd that when I called LC, they knew nothing of a diffuser, yet you were told to get one. Rather than send back what appears to be a sound pot, I will get a diffuser to try out.

 
Then I think it is faulty. I have never had hot spots in my LC enamel cast iron

and this citation indicates that cast iron is famous for not doing that, as opposed to stainless steel or steel.
Heat, be it high or low, is cast iron’s best friend. Although it takes its time to heat up, once it’s there, it’s there to stay. This makes it a great tool for searing or browning meat. In addition, this metal tends not to create “hot spots”,

 
The staff at the kitchen store where I bought the pan recommended it to me.

I think I skipped that little detail in my original response.

 
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