10 hours Ago By [email protected] (Haley McNamara)
This past holiday season, I was gifted my first cast-iron Dutch oven. I was thrilled to wash, season, and find the perfect, easily accessible spot for it in my kitchen for all the I promised myself I would do in the new year. If you're unfamiliar with the tank that a Dutch oven can be, I'll put it into context.
My seven-quart Dutch oven is about 16 inches long, 7.5 inches tall, 10 inches wide, and weighs 15 lbs. — approximately the weight of a six-month-old baby — and these are the dimensions without its lid.
Due to the hefty nature of a Dutch oven, storing it can be more tricky than knowing . I've often witnessed others storing their Dutch oven inside their stove and simply removing it once they need to use it. I've also seen someone (my mother) creatively store their Dutch oven on their stovetop, acting as somewhat of a statement piece due to lack of space.
The trickiest part in my recent experience with efficiently storing my dish is that darn lid. This is usually the same problem other home cooks run into with their pots and pans. However, I just discovered a way to conserve space by storing my Dutch oven in both my kitchen cabinet and the fridge when I need to transfer leftovers or chill something in it.
Turn that lid upside-down Clever storage discovery number one may not be the most revolutionary, but I still found it eye-opening: Turn the lid of your Dutch oven upside-down and store smaller items like a frying pan on top of the lid. It's genius. Again, this may come as an obvious switch to some, but my OCD brain likes to keep everything in its original state, appearing untouched.
This hack applies to not only storing it within a cabinet but also in the fridge — as long as the Dutch oven isn't entirely full, or your lid will be a mess. However, if the inside isn't too full, flip the lid so it's resting on top of the Dutch oven, and then place that right on top of your new flat surface. My second storage discovery was that although I wanted to make my Dutch oven easily accessible, I could also nest my individual-sized cast iron skillets inside of it and save space for both.
I'd like to say I have a third storage discovery, but this is really just a general safety disclaimer based on the mistake I've already made with my toddler-sized oven: Make sure your Dutch oven is not stored higher than your shoulder height — anything higher than that is just asking for an accident in the kitchen! Recommended.
