Care and Use Instructions (or: "It Broke")

I recently received the stunning gift of a beautiful bright-green Le Creuset Cookware Set. I had baked my last loaves of No-Knead Bread with my Dad's older 7-qt Le Creuset dutch oven, so naturally I was eager to christen the Dutch oven in this new set with another batch of bread.

Well, last night I was reading the little booklet that came with my set, and noticed that the black phenolic knob on the lid was only oven-proof to 375 degrees. "Hmm..." I thought. "The NYT No-Knead Bread recipe is so popular, that surely many people have been able to use these pots at 450 degrees with no problems, and I've been able to use my older pot with no problems... so, eh, it'll be fine."

As you can probably guess... it was not fine. The knob was loose after taking the lid out of the oven 30 minutes later, and while nervously trying to screw it back on, the knob chipped right at the base, and I realized that my beautiful little brand-new pot was busted.

After several hours of panicking and fretting, a late night web search directed me to several wholesalers who sell Le Creuset pot knobs: not only the replacement black phenolic knobs, but hardcore, sure-thing, 100% heatproof stainless steel knobs, at just $10 a pop. Most dealers only sell one or the other, but I found this handy dealer who sells both: IraWoods.com. Here are the links for the Le Creuset Stainless Steel Knob and Large Phenolic Knob.

What really made me feel better during this web search was discovering that I wasn't the only dummy out there, stubbornly destroying her perfect cookware. It turns out that after the New York Times published the Mark Bittman No-Knead Bread recipe back in Nov. 2006, so many folks damaged their LC knobs that people took to stealing knobs from display models at department stores: see article Knob Heads: No Knead Bread Update.

So, the moral of this story is: when you receive a lovely and valuable gift, always read (and believe) the Care and Use Instructions, to ensure the gift stays lovely and valuable.

But don't feel so bad if you do mess up: a lot of people out there are just as stupid as you are, and are more than happy to blog about their mistakes.