Doufeu Oven Views
The following makes me think that the premise behind the doufeu is somewhat less silly: According to Richard Olney's "Lulu's Provencal Table:", a traditional Provencal daube is prepared in a heavy pot with a plate set on top into which wine is poured, and periodically refilled as the wine evaporates. This supposedly promotes condensation within the daubiere, keeping the contents moist.
La Grubbe invested in a Doufeu about a month ago, & she has cooked chicken, lamb, & pork in it. [Our kitchen already sports LC dutch ovens & ass't other pots.] Le Doufeu is, in a word, INCROYABLE. Skeptical tho I (& many of you) may have been, this thing works. Never -- never -- have roasts been so thoroughly infused w flavor. 1st dish was a simple chicken stuffed w thyme from the garden. Amazing. Not certain how it works, but it surely does. Because it is a"self-bastingl", less liquid than usual seems needed & because it works in a sealed environment, none of the flavor escapes. All of the benefits of old-fashioned pressure cooking w/o the deterioration. This is a GREAT, GREAT device. Je ne suis plus un sceptique.
I wish I could remember the particulars, but sometime in the last year Cooks Illustrated tested this sort of vessel and concluded that it was a lot of $ for a lot of bunk. I can't say whether I agree since I've never used one, but I find my LeC dutch ovens (large and small) do every job I could imagine needing to do. On the other hand, the doufeu is a really attractive piece, and there is definitely something to be said for the pleasures of cooking with beautiful accoutrements...
That's exactly what I was thinking. While reading all of the raves above, and I have no doubt that the posters are getting great results, have these posters compared the Doufeu versus a standard LC Dutch oven? I've had great results with the Dutch ovens over the years, and I think the secondary question to pose here is: Does it really perform better than the LC Dutch oven? You never have to remove the lid on a Dutch oven to pour out melted water. I have held off buying one of these special pots for the very reason you mention -- who wants to empty the lid? I can't imagine the nuisance of emptying the lid when using it in my electric oven.
Doufeu Oven Images
