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What's better: My Lodge Blacklock Dutch oven or my girlfriend's Le Creuset Dutch oven?

This is the most objective comparison review you'll ever read.

Joshua Sargent
12

In 2019, cast iron juggernaut Lodge released the “Blacklock” line of cookware, a lighter, more refined (and more expensive) line of products named for the original Blacklock foundry purchased by company founder Joseph Lodge in 1896. As a bona fide cast iron fanboy, I was pretty excited to test out their Dutch oven, which retails for $150, when Lodge headquarters sent me one a few weeks ago.

The issue is that my girlfriend already has a Le Creuset oval Dutch oven in honey yellow (currently on sale at Sur La Table for $307.96). She loves that pot, for good reason: It’s an incredibly well designed piece of cookware. We had already planned on eating pot roast, and she was set on using hers. Ever the diplomat, I suggested a simple solution: We make two pot roasts. Twice the deliciousness, everyone wins, and then we compare pot roasts (we’ll find out how much trouble I get in for writing this article).

So let’s get into it, and hopefully I’m not single before I reach 1,000 words.

Le Creuset Signature Oval Dutch Oven, 6.75 qt. - surlatable.com

384.95Shop Now

Lodge Blacklock vs Le Creuset looks

Let’s just make subtext text and address that the Lodge dutch oven is stocky, rugged and the most traditionally masculine looking thing in my kitchen. The lid screams “BLACKLOCK” in stamped iron, and the handle is chiseled with a padlock logo to communicate strength and durability and being slightly impractical – you know: Man stuff. That sounds sarcastic, but I genuinely love how this thing looks.

The Le Creuset is inarguably softer and far more suited to the dinner table. This thing doesn’t just cook your food: It presents it when you’re done. It’s hard to look at it without imagining it resting daintily on a floral trivet as the centerpiece of a major meal with other dishes carefully arranged around it.

Lodge Blacklock vs Le Creuset cooking

We decided to cook the same recipe for the sake of science. But then I decided I wanted to add apples to my pot roast, and she didn’t, but I did it anyway, because pfff… science. Still, it’s a close enough comparison to make my point.

Before I cooked with my Blacklock, I was impressed: It’s a fraction of the weight of its bulkier, cheaper cousin, and the pre-season Lodge provides is rugged but even. The inside of the lid contains concentric “basting rings” that evenly distribute moisture over the food as it cooks. Interestingly, the lid’s handle is the only part of the pot made out of aluminum instead of Lodge’s light-weight cast iron alloy, which means it cools down faster and can be gripped by hand only a few minutes after the pot is removed from the oven.

The Le Creuset is, of course, an enameled cast iron, which means it has a fundamentally different relationship with the food. When I was browning the vegetables in the Les Creuset, they stuck slightly and left a brown residue on the bottom no matter how much oil I used. Not so with the Blacklock (though it’s possible I couldn’t tell, because the interior of the Blacklock is, well, matte black). The deglazing process was virtually identical.

Lodge Blacklock vs Le Creuset food

Yeah, I’m not touching this.

Lodge Blacklock Triple Seasoned Cast Iron Dutch Oven, 5 1/2-Qt. - williams-sonoma.com

149.95Shop Now

Lodge Blacklock vs Le Creuset clean up

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I have to hand it to the Le Creuset here: When it comes to pot roast or any other recipe that's likely to end up with leftovers, it has an inherent advantage in that you can take it right from your stove and stuff it in your fridge until you want to eat again (after letting things cool down, of course). Try that with seasoned cast iron and you’re gonna find yourself with a rusty roast. And “Rusty Roast” isn’t a special seasoning or a jam band from the early 2000s. I’m talking about literal rust in your food.

The clean up itself seemed similar, but that’s also because I’m well versed in seasoned cast iron and know how to keep stuff from sticking. If you’ve mastered the skillet, you’ll have no problem cleaning your Blacklock (or any other seasoned Dutch oven), but if you’re a non-stick aficionado, you’ll probably be more comfortable with the Le Creuset.

At the end of the day, I’ll be sticking with Lodge because I’m kind of a snobby, seasoned-iron purist. But I’m well aware that the Le Creuset is better suited to certain recipes, and I feel lucky that I have the option to pick up the phone and say, “Hey sweetie, uh, you feel like making some mac & cheese?”

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