Being Right… or Being Happy? 31% off New Le Creuset Ceramic could mean both.

Preamble

Today I’ve got a bit of a treat for you if you’re a Le Creuset fan, love non-stick cooking but would rather avoid plastic-based coatings.

However before I get to that, I want to tell you about a short video of Julia Samuel's that was entitled "What if being right is hurting your relationships?" That title quite intrigued me.

I laughed out loud when, in the first minute, she quoted the couples therapist Terry Real, who says…

“You can be right, or you can be married”

It may be almost five years since Babette (my wife) died but I still have vivid memories of our disagreements, that could sometimes be quite animated. And although the most vociferous of our arguments didn’t last more than a few days at worst, I recall wanting to win. Wanting to get her to see it my way, because naturally of course, my very reasonable way, was the right way! In these cases, I can't speak for Babette, but it seemed that that was her aim as well (to win). To begin with at any rate. However, on probably more occasions than I want to admit, she could either put her pride to one side (before I could) or she found a different way of expressing her concern, and this allowed me to let go of my entrenched position.

Why, entrenched? Well, I’m a bloke, aren’t I? I had insecurities that, more than once, led me to become defensive, and feel the need to win, even with Babette, whom I loved very dearly. At the same time, I don’t think it would be speaking ill of the dead to say that she could also on occasion be a right 'so and so'. But I was aware that during our 28 years together she often led the peace making, and I shall always be grateful to her for that. And that’s because this usually resulted in taking some of the heat out of the situation and then genuine communication could ensue.

In fact, I'll never forget the Sunday Babette came home from one of her Metanoia* training weekends with a phrase we had neither of us thought of using before: "Help me to understand” ( ... what this feels like for you). It doesn't concede the argument. It doesn't apologise. It simply says, “your experience matters, and I'm trying to see it from where you're standing.”

Between two people who loved each other but could be spectacularly blind to one another, that phrase opened our eyes up to each other’s point of view, more than almost anything else.

Samuel's point, from both Real and from Gottman's research, is that the couples who ‘last’ aren't the ones who avoid conflict**, they're the ones who stay curious about each other, even in the middle of it. The moment we feel attacked, we stop listening and start building a case. We think the goal is to be in the right. When in fact, it isn’t! So often, being right closes the conversation. Whereas being curious, opens it.

So, the goal isn’t to win.

It’s to feel heard

To know the other person cares enough to ask why you feel the way you do. To feel understood, or at least know they’re trying.

And those two approaches are entirely different.

* The Metanoia Institute specialises in professional training for counsellors, psychotherapists, supervisors, and coaches.

**I had dinner a few nights ago with a couple (close friends) who will probably be reading this together and smiling broadly at each other…they definitely don’t avoid conflict and yet are still happily in love, 30 plus years in.

Ok, to Product

Which, odd though it may sound, brings me to frying pans…. casseroles, saucepans et al

However, the devil is in the detail.

If you heat a ceramic based non-stick above the manufacturer's recommendation (usually around 280°C) then the surface loses some of it non-stick qualities. This is true for all the ceramic non-sticks that I’ve come across, even though they have improved over the last 17 years, this is ceramic's Achilles' heel.

To illustrate what I mean, the difference is that a fried egg will cook without oil on ceramic that hasn’t been heated too high. Once you’ve overheated it, it's still very usable, but when frying eggs, you'll either need skill or luck or oil hence forth.

By comparison, a plastic non-stick, subjected to excessive heat will degrade its coating, and subsequently start peeling, and will no longer be safe to use.

Give me a ceramic coating every day of the week.

Ceramic's other, less important, weakness is its chipabilty.

The clue is in the name. Ceramic does chip, whether a mug a plate or a coating. In the non-stick case, it’s more than up to the job on the working surface of a frying pan or saucepan.

​But if the manufacturer coats the top rim and (Le Cresuet have done), or the outside, (ditto), damage can occur. In fact, I’d say that it’s almost bound to, on the rim. ​ And to a lesser extent the exterior can get chipped depending how cavalier you are and especially how you store them. ​ If you store them inside each other, it’s arguably more likely to happen, especially if you don’t use pan protectors.

So, although any chips are likely to be cosmetic and wouldn't affect the performance or health aspects of the pan, in a conversation with Lee the other day I suggested that when revising the range, if they do, then they might consider some changes. Leaving the rim uncoated and maybe enamelling the exterior would strengthen the non-cooking surfaces and so improve matters cosmetically.

We’ll see if he thinks it’s worth doing.

Right. I've done my usual trick and told you all the things that aren't perfect, but that's because if I'm asking you to spend your money, I think you should understand the good the bad and the ugly. All non-stick finishes have their down sides, plastics are fragile, both mechanically and to heat!

Ceramics are much tougher, albeit in use a bit less non-stick (once overheated), and are chipable. I rarely use non-stick these days because I’ve "seen the light" and cook on uncoated surfaces, scrambled eggs and some fish apart. But ceramic is a healthy, more environmentally safe material on which to cook, that is far more non-stick than it isn’t.

The Offer

For this week we are offering 10% OFF Le Creuset Ceramic when you buy one item and 31% OFF when you buy two or more. (It's a maths and discount off a discount thing! Andi)

Use code CERAMIC26 or let us know who you are when coming into the shops.

We've been selling ceramic non-stick since 2009. We've seen what works, what doesn't and how the technology has steadily improved.

This latest Le Creuset version is, in my view, up there with the best.

As ever, time will be the final judge. Cookware, rather like marriages, isn't really tested on the good days. It's what happens after years of daily use that tells you whether you've chosen wisely.