When Christopher Kimball, gear-testing celebrity and the cofounder of America’s Test Kitchen, describes your pots and pans as “the Tiffany of cast iron cookware,” you’re doing something right.
Based in Owego, New York, Borough Furnace just launched a Kickstarter for what will be the only American-made enameled Dutch oven. A semi-gloss, blacked-out, hand-enameled pot that combines the company’s modern touch with designs from classic French brands like Le Creuset and Staub.
As with Staub Dutch ovens, Borough Furnace’s 5.5-quart pot opts for the tight-fitting lid and basting knubs on the ceiling of the oven. And like Le Creuset pots, the cooking surface is a same semi-gloss enamel, which enables more effective browning than the matte interiors of some Dutch ovens.
Perhaps the most notable attribute of the Borough Furnace Dutch oven is its handle, cast into the lid as a single piece of iron. Because Staub, Le Creuset and other cast-iron cookware makers attach lid handles after casting, the pots are always temperature-capped (neither are safe to use above 500 degrees) and the handles can show wear quickly, as the screws holding them in place can unfasten or rust over time. In designing its alternative, Borough Furnace addressed both issues while creating a handle shape and size more friendly to a gloved grip.
And unlike many macro or craft cast iron makers of today, Borough Furnace melts, pours, casts and finishes all its own iron. For the Dutch ovens, Seru and Truex will be applying the enamel coating to them as well.
The first batches of ovens will be available to Kickstarter supporters for $180, almost half the eventual $350 retail cost. The campaign is live for the next 30 days.