South Pittsburg, Tenn.-based Lodge Cast Iron has always prided itself on being a fifth-generation family-owned company that bases its manufacturing in the United States — with one exception. While the multitude of Lodge's cast iron skillets, pizza pans, bakeware, outdoor grills and griddles are indeed made in huge foundries that dominate the streets of the small Southeast Tennessee town, the company’s line of enamel cast iron Dutch ovens have been made in Asia.
Years back, I asked a Lodge employee if the company would ever consider bringing their own enamel production to the U.S., and he replied that he doubted it, because those manufacturing processes were so potentially toxic that nobody in America would want to do it. It is true that some of the pigments involved in creating the stylish Dutch ovens that grace the pages of cooking magazines are potentially dangerous during manufacturing, but they are completely safe after the enameling process is complete.
But Lodge has always emphasized the “Made in the USA” element of its business, and plans have been in the works for years to investigate creating a new line of what eventually became known as “USA Enamel.” The new plant represents a huge investment in the company and the community, and has taken three years to construct. Designed and manufactured in Tennessee, these new products come in four sizes, ranging from 3 quarts to 7-and-a-half quarts, and they are beautifully designed with sloping curves and stainless-steel inlaid handles and knobs on the lids. Plus, they are sturdy enough to be passed down through generations.
I own a couple of Lodge's enamel products and have always been satisfied with their performance in the kitchen, particularly considering how inexpensive they are compared to other name brands. However, if you’re looking for a Cadillac instead of a Hyundai, there aren’t many U.S.-made options, especially if you want a color other than black.
Lodge’s USA Enamel comes in three colors — patriotically red, white and blue. I had an opportunity to tour the manufacturing facility in South Pittsburg recently, and I came away with an understanding of why they chose to limit themselves to three hues — bonding ceramic to cast iron is a tremendously labor-intensive enterprise that requires several passes through an infernal 1,400-degree 50-meter-long oven, with each trip down the line taking 45 minutes.
Precautions are taken at every step of the manufacturing process to protect the 21-member team that works at the large facility, including three sets of family members working together. Ceramic coating is made from a combination of pulverized glass, water and pigments, and some of those colors require extra protection for the workers spraying in the paint booths. Red is particularly problematic since it contains cadmium, but again is completely safe once it has been fired.
You can see why almost nobody else in America is even attempting to bond ceramics with cast iron — the physics and chemistry involved are very complicated, and so much care must be taken in the process. Lodge is committed to craftsmanship and perfection — when I asked what their defect return rate has been over the course of the first few thousand pieces they have sold, Kevin Rusch, the enameling operations manager, replied, “Two.”
“Two percent? That’s pretty good,” I said.
“No,” he clarified. “Two. And I’m not sure that there was anything wrong with them, but of course we replaced them."
Making one Dutch oven is a four-day process, and that’s after they have already been forged, ground and quality-inspected at the cast iron foundry down the street. They are ground again and blasted at the ceramics plant before they get a base coat and dried. A thin strip of black enamel is applied around the rim of each pot and lid by hand to make sure that the coating is even. Shoddier Dutch ovens often chip where the lid and pot come together, and that’s why that is usually the first spot for rust to show up in economy products.
Lodge’s electric furnace (they are one of TVA’s largest energy clients) is made in Italy — it's the only one of them in America, and one of only seven in the world. Of course, I asked whether anyone had ever tried to run a pizza down the 150 feet of ceramic rollers, and was told it would arrive as ash at the other end. Sorry for my dream of the world’s biggest Slim & Husky’s
Each piece goes through a ceramic pigment spray booth three times, with a pass through the oven in between coats. Finally, the products undergo thermal shock testing that includes dropping a steel ball onto the ceramic to make sure it doesn’t crack, and periodic color-spectrometer verification.
This is all to say that it is truly a premium product that is priced closer to the Le Creusets of the world than to Lodge’s own budget enamelware. But I believe there is a place in the kitchen for heirloom-quality cookware, and if I had kids, they would sure be inheriting a lot of cast iron and enamel from me. (Hopefully, whoever I do leave it all to has a house with a strong foundation!)
Since their reject rate is so low, Lodge has not yet offered seconds of their products like they do in their factory store in South Pittsburg. A defect in a cast iron pan might just be a bubble in the seasoning, something that will work itself out over the course of a couple of cookings, while ceramic doesn’t have that self-correcting quality.
But if you want to take a little road trip to save a few bucks, Lodge will be offering slightly blemished enamelware at discounted products at the annual Chattanooga Holiday Market this Sunday, Dec. 10, at the Chattanooga Convention Center. They will also host the Cast Iron Cook-Off that day, featuring dishes from local professional chefs cooked using Lodge's USA Enamel. I’m a big fan of Chattanooga’s market, and the Cast Iron Cook-Off is always a lot of fun.
Admission is free, and gas was only $2.50 a gallon last weekend on top of Monteagle Mountain. Couple that with the chance to score some discounted Lodge gear, you can’t afford not to go.
