# Do I need a dutch oven or a roasting pan?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 25, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332 "2005-09-25T13:41:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MsMitey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsMitey)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/1 "2005-09-25T13:41:14Z")
I have a set of great cookware. I have a giant stockpot. I have a slow cooker. I love all of them dearly. However, I don’t have a dutch oven or a roaster. How useful are they? Are there things one can cook in a dutch oven that I can’t make in my crock pot? Are real roasting pans a lot better than the cheapo aluminum ones at the grocery store? Is it worth trying to find space in our tiny apartment kitchen for these things? I’m going to roast my very first chicken this afternoon, but I need a pan first! Help a girl out!
Mods, if this is IMHO, please move it. It seems like the food questions end up all over the place, so I wasn’t sure.
---
### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/2 "2005-09-25T15:29:56Z")
I love my dutch oven. I’ve only just got it (already burned stuff onto it, grr!) but it really is great - I really spent the money and went for Le Creuset, though. Personally I don’t see the need for a roasting pan because the aluminum ones at the grocery store don’t need to be cleaned, but I’d be willing to have somebody try to change my mind if they see any real taste benefits…
---
### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/3 "2005-09-25T15:35:03Z")
The only real advantage to a dutch oven over a crock pot is that you can brown a pot roast before cooking it. Dutch ovens tend to be thicker material, so heat distribution/retention is good. I’ve never owned one and don’t feel there’s a great hole in my cookware.
---
### Author:  [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/4 "2005-09-25T15:48:24Z")
I use a vitreous enamel roasting pan to make gravy from the meat juices after roasting. (it can be put over direct heat without any damage) and so there’s one less pan to wash. It doesn’t take up space because it just sits in the oven when not in use.
---
### Author:  [@misshannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misshannah)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/5 "2005-09-25T16:00:02Z")
Just a side note for **Zsofia** : Try Bon Ami to clean your enameled cast iron like Le Creuset. I had a problem with burn/scorch marks in a shallower roasting pan, and it worked like a charm. I’ve since used it with my dutch oven and now it’s always all pretty inside. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/6 "2005-09-25T18:05:18Z")
I couldn’t live without my dutch oven – it gets used several times each week. OTOH, I don’t have a crockpot OR stockpot, so some of the things I use it for won’t apply in your case. And you likely don’t have a husband who says he will die if he doesn’t get dumplings at least once a week.
I think the biggest advantage of the dutch oven is that you can get it (and contents) up to cooking temperature fast, so it useful even when you didn’t plan your meals in time to start them before work.
Mine is plain old cast iron, btw, inherited from my grandmother who got it as a wedding gift so it’s just about at the century mark and absolutely in just as good a condition as the day it was made. Bet you can’t say that about any other material they make pots out of. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/7 "2005-09-25T18:08:03Z")
Forgot about the second part of your question – nope, I don’t have a roasting pan. Since I don’t (generally) cook for large groups, I found a 13 X 9 cake pan with a roasting rack set in the bottom works just fine 363 days a year.
When it comes time for the whole ham for Easter and the monster turkey for Thanksgiving, I go aluminum.
---
### Author:  [@MsMitey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsMitey)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/8 "2005-09-25T20:39:54Z")
Thanks everybody! The dutch oven does sound nice (I love cast iron), but I can put that one off for awhile.
---
### Author:  [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/9 "2005-09-25T20:50:47Z")
Oh, I forgot to say _why_ I love my dutch oven so much - I love my crock pot, in fact it’s cooking right now, but you can’t really smack it on the stove, brown your onions in it, make a stew in it _after_ you get home from work, take it from oven to stovetop to fridge, etc. The dutch oven is very convenient that way, in terms of cleanup. Also enameled cast iron can go in the dishwasher, according to the Le Creuset website.
---
### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/10 "2005-09-25T21:02:03Z")
For those outside North America, Crock-Pot® is a brand of _slow cooker_.
---
### Author:  [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/11 "2005-09-25T22:00:56Z")
We have a pair of old style, oval, black and white flecked enamel, roasting pans that go way back (Probably older than me) and we use them for everything. They are the all purpose pans in our kitchen. We make roasts, stews, meatloafs in them- whatever needs to cook at length in the oven. I wouldn’t know how to cook without them. Definitely handy, but absolutely necessary? Probably not, but I don’t think there is a better way to make a pot roast or roast a ham.
---
### Author:  [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/12 "2005-09-25T22:04:44Z")
…or roast a turkey, or chicken. The pans are deep enough to collect and hold the juices and it’s straight from the oven to the stovetop to make the gravy right in the pan. You get a great gravy from a roasting pan. That’s a basic advantage.
---
### Author:  [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)
#### Post date: [September 25, 2005, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/13 "2005-09-25T22:16:37Z")
…you just can’t get a fond in a crockpot at all, but you can in a roasting pan.
Sorry for the triple post but my mind is on slow roast… ;.)
---
### Author:  [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2005, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/14 "2005-09-26T03:11:10Z")
If you do a lot of braising, then a dutch oven significantly improves the quality of your braise ([cite](http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=61901)).
---
### Author:  [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2005, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/15 "2005-09-26T03:22:14Z")
I wish I had one. I can’t wait to get married so we can get the Le Creuset cookware we’ve planned to put on the registry.
---
### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/16 "2005-09-26T03:23:57Z")
Oh my god, this thread is cracking me up. I had no idea a Dutch Oven was a real piece of cookware.
---
### Author:  [@stringy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stringy)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/17 "2005-09-26T03:42:18Z")
> [@Cisco](#):
>
> Oh my god, this thread is cracking me up. I had no idea a Dutch Oven was a real piece of cookware.
I had the same reaction when someone told me they’d bought a Dutch Oven - took me a while to believe it was the proper name for a piece of cookware.
Back to the OP: I do a lot of roasts, so having proper roasting pans is much less wasteful for me than buying aluminum ones all the time. But there’s nothing wrong with the aluminum trays at all, if you don’t roast very often and don’t have a lot of space to store things.
But if your roast chicken works out so well you want to make it a regular meal, I’d definitely recommend getting a nice roasting tray and rack.
---
### Author:  [@DrMemory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrMemory)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2005, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/18 "2005-09-26T12:54:51Z")
If you give your S.O. the _Other_ “Dutch Oven”, you’ll likely be getting the
Stink-Eye for days…
---
### Author:  [@parthenokinesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/parthenokinesis)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/19 "2005-09-26T13:12:45Z")
> [@Cisco](#):
>
> Oh my god, this thread is cracking me up. I had no idea a Dutch Oven was a real piece of cookware.
My first thought was “I know what a Dutch Oven is, but just what the hell is a Roasting Pan?”
[Link](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Dutch+Oven&defid=517479#517479) for the confused. So who wants to define Roasting Pan?
---
### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [September 26, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332/20 "2005-09-26T23:26:25Z")
> [@Cisco](#):
>
> Oh my god, this thread is cracking me up. I had no idea a Dutch Oven was a real piece of cookware.
How old are you?
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-i-need-a-dutch-oven-or-a-roasting-pan/323332.md?page=2)