Let me start by saying: This was not a scientific experiment. This was one little mouse in her kitchen with 2 pots and 8 lbs. of short ribs.

If you want science, check out Cook’s Illustrated exhaustive test. (Nitpickers, please pick nits over there.)

When it comes to cast iron, to a lot of people, there’s Le Creuset and Staub, then there’s everybody else. They’re the Rolls Royce and Bentley of cast iron cookery. Of course, they also both come with hefty (think $200+ in many cases) price tags.

So when a couple of folks asked me recently what kind of cast iron they should buy, I wasn’t sure what to say.

Dutch oven love

I love my Le Creuset dutch oven. It’s actually the only one I’ve ever had. I picked it up on a super sale at Marshall’s maybe 15 years ago for well under $100. (Get the same pot today on Amazon.com for $279. Yikes, right?)

That said, it felt totally irresponsible to recommend that anyone go drop almost three hundred bucks on a pot, when a less expensive brand would do just as well.

Or would it?

And so I decided to test a few for myself.

Over the last few years, a handful of more economical dutch ovens have cropped up at stores like Target. They’re colorful and enameled and every bit as heavy as my Le Creuset. Lodge, my favorite maker of non-enameled cast iron skillets, happens to be one of them.

So, I e-mailed Lodge to see if they’d be game for a comparison. Less than a week later, two shiny, new Lodge pots—one green, one blue—arrived on my doorstep. (Thank you, Lodge!)

The recipe

I wanted to test the pots by cooking something that I’ve made a zillion times before in my Le Creuset, so I’d be able to tell just how the Lodge model compared. I picked short ribs, something I make probably 2 dozen+ times every fall & winter. I followed a slight variation on my Guinness-Braised Short Ribs.

Now, cooking short ribs is one of those ineffable acts of culinary magic.

I mean, start with meat that’s tough as nails. Simmer it slowly in a covered pot for a few hours. The low, slow cooking breaks down all that tough, fibrous fat and tissue. And…voila! Succulent, moist, fall-off-the-bone, melt-in-your mouth meat + velvety broth that just might be the pinnacle of comfort food.

I’ve been braising short ribs for years, and it never ceases to impress me.

I got 8 lbs of ribs, and planned to cook 4 lbs. in each pot.

The Reigning Champion

In one corner, we have my big red pot, a 7 quart Le Creuset. She’s a tried-and-true kitchen veteran with 15 years of service.

Aside from a little discoloration on the interior enamel and a few exterior scratches, she performs just as valiantly as they day I brought her home. I love her dearly. We’ve been through thick and thin together. I’ve lugged her from apartment to apartment all through my 20s and early 30s. She’s cooked for happy and not-so-happy occasions. There’s just something so nice about a big, heavy pot bubbling away on the stove.

Am I overly sentimental? Without a doubt. Would I save Big Red if my house were on fire? I might think about it for half a sec. Regardless, it’s hard to imagine that another pot could perform as well.

The Contenders

Now, Lodge was kind enough to send me two pots. One was a 6-quart green pot from their L series.

(So pretty, right?)

I’m a sucker for little design details, and love the stainless accents on the handles and the swirly handle on the lid.

You can get her in Apple Green on Amazon.com for about $84. The same model in Liberty Blue goes for about $65.

The other was a 7.5 quart pot in Caribbean Blue from their Lodge Color series. This baby is just about $90 on Amazon.

This one has a more traditional dutch oven design, like my Le Creuset.

The Match Up

I decided to pit the blue model against my Le Creuset. Both are cast iron. Both are enameled. Both have domed lids with heat-resistant handles. Not exact duplicates, but close enough for my purposes. (After all, I’m making short ribs here, not splitting the atom.)

In case you’re (rightly) thinking I might be biased towards my Le Creuset, I had a team of testers ready to sample and compare my short ribs, including the Barking Sous Chef (who you can see presiding over the proceedings in the background below).

The test

With my kitchen full of cast iron, I hit the butcher to pick up the ribs. Eight pounds of meat later, I was ready to start cooking.

The first part of braising short ribs is to sear them in oil, which creates a ton of flavor.

I got the oil nice and hot in both pots, then added the meat (in batches…crowd a hot pot, and your meat will steam, not sear).

I got a good, brown sear from both pots in the same amount of time.

I flipped the ribs and got consistent results from both pots on all sides.

When the meat was seared on all sides, I added it all back to the pots (remember, I seared in batches)…

…then dumped in the Guinness.

I turned the heat to high to bring the liquid to a boil. Both pots started to bubble at about the same time.

Once they reached a boil, I added in the rest of the ingredients, then knocked the heat way down (so the liquid would just hold a simmer), and covered them.

Heat Resistant Handles

After about an hour on the stove, I peeked under the lids. The Lodge handle was actually cooler to the touch than my Le Creuset. One point for Lodge.

The finished ribs

I cooked the ribs for just a hair under 3 hours.

The pots really were virtually identical. The ribs from each were tender, with the meat falling off the bone.

There was about the same amount of liquid left in each pot.

We had a small party to feed a handful of our hungriest, carnivorous friends, and all agreed: Both batches of ribs were absolutely delicious, and folks couldn’t tell the difference between those cooked in the Le Creuset vs. the Lodge.

My verdict

In the end, the Lodge performed just as well as my tried-and-true Le Creuset. I highly recommend the Lodge pot. It did the same work that my Le Creuset did, at a fraction of the cost. If we had a money tree in the backyard, I’d have cabinets full of Le Creuset and the like. However, until then, if I needed new cast iron now, I wouldn’t think twice: I’d definitely go for a Lodge.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not retiring Big Red. Let’s just say that she has a new baby brother, and he fits in really well with the family.

*Please note that Lodge donated the pots for this post. My opinions, however, are strictly my own. The Lodge pot really did perform just as well as the Le Creuset. I don’t endorse anything I can’t get behind 100%.

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Sel de la Terre, Boston’s bastion of Provencal cuisine, is infamous for its rosemary pomme frites.

With good reason.

They’re cut thin as shoestrings, fried perfectly (crisp not greasy), and seasoned well with salt and rosemary. Believe me, my picture doesn’t do them justice.

I hit Sel de la Terre the other day for lunch with my friend Nicole. Hands down, it’s one of my favorite spots in Boston. Here’s a quick review of our meal.

I have a big post on tap about the etiquette of taking pictures in restaurants, so more on this topic soon.

For now, suffice it to say that the food at Sel de la Terre is so good, I couldn’t NOT take pictures. I snapped some quick shots with my phone before we dug in.

Sel de la Terre

So Sel de la Terre is located down on the wharf in Boston, by the New England Aquarium. It’s a few blocks from my office in the financial district, so it’s a really convenient place to grab a fabulous lunch.

The front window is lined with flour-dusted, crusty loaves of fresh bread. (Hungry yet?)

If you don’t feel like dining in, Sel de la Terre has a great little front take-out area. You can get soups, salads, sandwiches, and some of the best coffee downtown there.

I love the inside of the restaurant. It’s warm and inviting, with high ceilings and well spaced tables.

A note on the wine list

It’s huge. Seriously. We didn’t drink, but I couldn’t keep myself from peeking at their lengthy offering.

Nom, nom, nom

Warning: When you tuck into your table at Sel de la Terre, you’ll be presented with a basket of unbelievably chewy and crusty fresh bread. Don’t eat it all. You’ll be tempted. It’s that good. But you’ll be stuffed. Save some room. (I’ve been known to take bread home in a doggie bag that is most decidedly NOT for the dogs…)

My friend ordered a salad and the grilled steak frites with red wine-shallot reduction.

I ordered the three-course prix fixe lunch menu. For $24, it included a choice of starter (mixed green salad or potato leek soup), entree (crispy confit leg of duck or sauteed trout), and dessert (brown butter financier or honey-vanilla coeur a la creme).

Our salads were lightly dressed and really fresh. My salad had thin slivers of grilled onion and small bits of sun-dried tomato.

Nicole’s salad was dotted with toasted sunflower seeds and (ever so slightly under ripe) papaya.

Nicole’s steak was totally yummy. Perfectly cooked medium rare. Thinly sliced across the grain. Drizzled with red wine reduction. Crisp rosemary fries piled nearby.

My duck confit was meltingly tender. It arrived with topped with a couple of sweet potato chips (they were delicious…I wanted more). It was perched happily on a bed of earthy french lentils, carrots, and snappy haricot vert.

If you’ve never had confit, definitely seek it out. Basically, to confit a piece of meat means to slow cook it in its own fat. It’s an ancient method of preserving meats like duck and pork. (Which is great, but totally anecdotal in this case. I think my confit disappeared in all of 10 minutes.)

The skin was crisp and the meat was so tender you could basically pull it apart with a spoon.

I stopped just short of nibbling on the bones.

Dessert was delicious and impressive. It was a brown butter financier with blackberry ricotta and tarragon ice cream. I definitely want to figure out how to make these.

A financier is a little French cake made with beurre noisette (butter cooked until it’s nutty and brown), and crushed almonds. It’s kind of like a deliciously chewy shortbread.

It was topped with piped meringue that was browned on the top and soft and fluffy inside. It was sweet but not too sweet.

The blackberry ricotta had great fresh berry flavor. The tarragon ice cream was amazing. Another one on my list to experiment with in the kitchen. It was light, almost like gelato, and was faintly fragrant with licorice. Definitely more subtle than anise. It was just lovely.

Two thumbs up from The Mouse

Thanks a heap to the good folks at Sel de la Terre for a fabulous lunch. The service was attentive (not intrusive) and the food was great. I’ll definitely be heading back soon. If you’re in Boston, I definitely recommend stopping in for an hour or three.

Location & contact info

Sel de la Terre has a few different locations in Boston. Find them online at SelDeLaTerre.com.

Downtown
255 State Street
Boston, MA 02109
tel. 617.720.1300

Back Bay
774 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02199
tel. 617.266.8800

Natick
1245 Worcester Street
Natick, MA 01760
tel. 508.650.1800

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They were the kind folks who sent me all that cheese a month or two ago, which I used to make my Harvest Cheese Bread Wreath. (I should also note that they’re also paying us for our participation in the program…thank you, guys! You’re helping to keep The Hungry Mouse humming.)

As part of that partnership, we’re heading up to Sam’s Club this weekend for their Eighth Annual Holiday Taste of Sam’s Club Event. It’s a three-day event featuring gourmet food, recipes, and entertaining tips.

After all, we love to try before we buy, so we’re really excited to check out their holiday wares. Because we do so much cooking here at The Mouse House, we love stores like Sam’s Club. In fact, that’s almost always where we get all our bulk staples like flour, sugar, and oil, etc.

Eighth Annual Holiday Taste of Sam’s Club Event

It’s this weekend (Nov 19-21), from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at more than 600 Sam’s Clubs across the U.S. Here’s what Sam’s Club has to say about the event:

“The event will feature nearly 50 menu items, totaling more than 500,000 pounds of food, served during the three-day event. Shoppers will be able to sample the best flavors of the season, from hand-cut USDA choice beef and boneless spiral hams to delectable appetizers, premium side dishes and elegant desserts.

Additionally, Sam’s Club will host a Trim-A-Tree demonstration workshop for members to learn affordable and creative decorating tips on personalizing their trees and homes for the holidays. Each member will receive a complimentary 20 page booklet…while supplies last. Choose from glamorous to whimsical looks and the season’s coolest color trends.”

Find an event near you

Visit samsclub.com to locate a Holiday Taste of Sam’s Club event near you. They also have a ton of recipes, instructional videos, daily tips and deals, at Holidays Made Simple.

We’ll report back!

We’ll be there this weekend. We’ll report back with the full scoop in a few days. Stay tuned!

*Please note that Sam’s Club compensated me for my participation in this campaign.

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This is, hands down, the best peanut butter I’ve ever had.

(There, I said it.)

Let me back up

So last December, I had the pleasure of meeting Lee Zalban, founder and president of Peanut Butter & Co., when I was down at Bon Appetit’s Culinary Studios for their Holiday Bake-Off Party. He’s known as “The Peanut Butter Guy.” (Can you tell I knew we’d get along?)

Lee opened Peanut Butter & Co., a New York City sandwich shop, in 1998. A few years later, he was approached by Dean & Deluca about carrying his peanut butters in their store, and it sounds like the rest was history. Today, Peanut Butter & Co. is sold around the world in more than 10,000 stores.

(Now that’s my kind of small business success story…)

When Lee and I were talking at the Bon Appetit party, I happened to mention that we love (like, love love) peanut butter at The Mouse House. A few weeks later, I had a big box of peanut butter sitting on my doorstep.

How big, you may ask?

He sent me 10 (yep, ten) pounds of peanut butter. For free. (Thank you, thank you!) And I couldn’t be happier.

Here’s what 10 lbs. of peanut butter looks like

Peanut Butter & Co. takes peanut butter to a whole new level. They have 10 flavors of peanut butter, and I loved almost all of them. (The ones I didn’t were a matter of personal taste, and had nothing to do with their obvious awesomeness.)

You might have figured out by now that I only bother reviewing products that I feel really strongly about and am 100% comfortable recommending. (But as you also probably know, when I do like something, I like it genuinely, wholeheartedly, and with every ounce of mouse enthusiasm I have.)

The best part about the Peanut Butter Company’s peanut butter? Not only is it all natural—but it doesn’t separate.

So, on top of being delicious and good for you, you don’t have to contend with stirring the oil back into the peanut butter before spreading it. A total plus. (Unless, of course, that’s your thing, in which case, they do have one or two products that separate on purpose.)

Good peanut butter that’s good for you

These guys do an excellent job when it comes to selecting ingredients and concocting peanut butter recipes. From their website:

“Peanut Butter & Co.’s line of all-natural peanut butter contains no hydrogenated oils, no cholesterol, no trans-fats and, no high fructose corn syrup. Our flavors are gluten-free, vegan (except for The Bee’s Knees which is vegetarian), and certified kosher. Lastly, but just as importantly, we only use USA-grown peanuts in our peanut butter.”

Our favorite: The Heat is On

Hands down, our favorite of the bunch was The Heat is On, a peanut butter is kind of like a chili-laden, spicy hummus. It’s hot, but not too hot.

As you can see, The Angry Chef got into the jar before I got around to taking my pictures for this post.

I managed to wrangle a measly last spoonful of it. (Which The Angry Chef and I had a small tussle over immediately after I snapped this picture. We reluctantly agreed to share it.)

Cinnamon Raisin Swirl

This was my second favorite. The Angry Chef didn’t like it because he doesn’t like raisins. (More for the Mouse, then, eh?) This one is actually flecked with little pieces of raisins. It was sweet, but also nice and earthy.

Mighty Maple

This was The Angry Chef’s second favorite. Think maple syrup + peanut butter and you’ve got the general idea. The flavor was oh so good, and very, very natural.

Dark Chocolate Dreams

This stuff is like Nutella’s hunky big brother. The flavor is more chocolate than peanut butter. Seriously good stuff.

The Bee’s Knees

It’s one of the immutable laws of The Mouse Empire: If you put honey in it, I will eat it.

White Chocolate Wonderful

We weren’t crazy about this one, since neither of us really like white chocolate. If you do, I’m sure it’s amazing. Regardless, it gets points for originality. Never seen this flavor combination before in a packaged peanut butter.

Crunch Time

Totally blows your standard chunky-style peanut butter out of the water.

Smooth Operator

Thick. Classic. Creamy. Delicious.

Old Fashioned Smooth and Old Fashioned Crunchy

They even have something for you folks out there who like to kick your natural peanut butter old school, separated style.

Where to buy

Convinced you need to try some? Most of their jars of peanut butter are between $5 and $6. Pricier than your average supermarket spread, but well worth it in our minds.

Look for Peanut Butter & Co. peanut butter on the shelves of a grocer near you, or buy a jar (or three) online. Here in Salem, MA, I found it at my local Stop & Shop.

Have you had it?

What did you think? If you haven’t, what’s your favorite thing to do with peanut butter?

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So last week, I posted a giveaway for one of the most fabulous crafting tools known to man- and mousekind: The Silhouette Digital Cutting Tool.

If you haven’t entered yet, click here to read the post and learn how to enter to win. The contest ends TONIGHT at Midnight EST.

If you need any more convincing about how cool this thing is, here’s a walk-through of how it works, including a video of the tiny digital ninja in action.

OK, so here’s the box.

Like I said, you can use this little beastie to make all sorts of crafts and sundries, including:

The box says that it’s easy to use, and it really is.

The hardest part is setting it up the first time, and that’s not even that hard. The biggest blunder I made was not fully removing all the packing tape that secured the inside cutter (totally my fault). Once I figured that out and removed it, the cutter worked like a charm.

The box included diagrams of what each part does, so you can see what the different parts do (you know how I love visual diagrams…)

Out of the box

Here’s the Silhouette machine sitting on my table.

The digital display is easy to read and use.

The front panel flips up to reveal the cutting apparatus.

Fire up the computer & start designing!

The software is easy to install…just pop in the CD and follow the instructions that show up on your screen. Once it’s installed, launch the program.

You’re greeted with a blank page. This is your canvas, so to speak.

Now, you can create your own own design, import an existing design, or choose from one of the included clip-art images.

Seeing as Halloween is just around the corner (and we do live in Salem, MA, so I need to get a jump on decorating for the season…), I picked the spiderweb image as the first one to test. It’s also fairly intricate, so I figured it would really show how well the Silhouette cuts.

So you click on the design…

…and it shows up on your blank canvas. You can resize it, etc., just like you would resize a picture in programs like Microsoft Word or Adobe Photoshop…just click on the side or corner and drag until you’re happy with the new shape.

Once you’re happy with your design, it’s time to load the paper.

Loading the paper

The Silhouette comes with 2 cutting mats. One that’s thinner, for regular paper, and one that’s thicker, for vinyl and other substrates.

The cutting mat is sticky, so you have to peel off the center protective panel.

Grab your paper. I used regular old, text-weight printer paper for my spiderweb test.

Stick the paper to the cutting mat. The mat has a grid on it so you can be sure to align it correctly for cutting.

Commence cutting!

Position the mat on the cutter (there are markers to show you where). Press the “Load” button on the machine’s digital control panel. It will suck the mat in, align it, and then hold ready for cutting.

When the mat is loaded and your design is set, click the “Craft ROBO” button on the toolbar.

The program will take you through a series of screens that asks you about this size of your paper and the weight, etc. It will tell you what blade to load onto the cutter, etc. Just follow the on-screen steps. There’s even a tip at the bottom of each screen to clarify what you’re supposed to enter.

Once you’ve selected the right settings, you’re ready to cut!

*dramatic music*

Click CUT and watch the machine go to work.

Go, tiny ninja, go!

The finished product

Once your design is cut, you have to peel it off the mat.

How cool is that?

Convinced that you need one?

I thought you might be! I can’t wait to get down to some serious holiday crafting.

Click here to enter to win one.

Two Fabulous Money-Saving Promotions

If you can’t wait to see if you won and absolutely have to have one, like, right now (and I don’t blame you, this thing is awesome), use the following codes for special savings.

1) Code = “AWESOME PROMO” (Ends tonight, September 30, 2010 at midnight EST)

Buy a machine for $249.99 and receive the following (a savings of $137.97! Just think of how much you’ll save on gift giving this year…):

• $50 off the Silhouette Craft Cutter
• fuzzy white vinyl (Valued at $7.99)
• light blue smooth heat transfer (Valued at 14.99)
• yellow flocked heat transfer (Valued at $14.99)
• Home Décor CD (Valued at $50)
• $10 Gift Card to the Silhouette Download Store (comes in the box)
• Cutting Blade (comes in the box)
• 2 Cutting Mats (comes in the box)

2) Code = “GOOD PROMO” (valid from October 1, 2010 – October 4, 2010 at midnight EST)

Buy a machine for $249.99 and receive the following (a savings of $79.98):

• $50 off (receive for $249.99)
• 2 rolls of Heat transfer ($29.89 value)
• $10 Gift Card to the Silhouette Download Store(Comes in the Box)
• Cutting Blade (comes in the Box)
• 2 Cutting Mats (comes in the Box)

Good luck!!!

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