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Food for Thought: Nancy's enamored of enamelware

Nancy Leson
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KNKX
Just some of Nance's enamelware, many of which she picked up cheap at thrift stores. Black one, 3rd from left is Mac's grandmother's hundred year old cast iron.

This story originally aired Jan. 17, 2018.

"Stein, some women spend money on shoes and jewelry.  I buy pots." And Nancy Leson has the cookware to prove it.

Nance especially loves her enamelware Dutch ovens.  I'm not so crazy about them.   I like enamel for cooking anything acidic like tomato sauce, which would damage the seasoning on my straight cast iron.  But even over moderate heat, the enamel pots tend to scorch thefond when I brown meats or even a mix of minced vegetables.  

Nancy claims that never happens with her enamelware.  And she says they clean up better.  "When I make thatpork roast with Coca-Cola that famously burns the inside of the pot, I just soak it overnight and it comes off."

I never have to soak my regular cast iron. Just a few passes of the fiber brush under running water and they come clean no matter what I've been cooking in them.  Probably because I have been cooking in them for decades and they're almost as slick as non-stick.  Check it out:

Credit Stein / KNKX
/
KNKX
My pressssshuss...

Though enamelware can be expensive, Nancy stresses that she's picked up many of hers at thrift stores for cheap.  To which I ask: If enamelware is so great how come so many have been donated to thrift stores? Answer me that, whydonchu?

"An unwatched pot boils immediately." –  H.F. Ellis

Dick Stein joined KNKX in January 1992. He retired in 2020 after three decades on air. During his storied radio career, he hosted the morning jazz show, co-hosted and produced "Food for Thought" with Nancy Leson and wrote and directed the Jimmy Jazzoid live radio musical comedies and 100 episodes of Jazz Kitchen.