Emile Henry Bakeware - a review

It’s a long time since I’ve made a lasagne. It’s one of those things that has just fallen off my culinary radar: delicious but quite a bit of faffing around, and, well, there’s so much else to make. However, the children came home from a play date not long ago raving about it. By happy coincidence, the good people at Baytree Cookware asked me to test out some Emile Henry ceramic bakeware  . I brought home a 26cm square baking/serving dish in a beautiful rich ‘figue’ colour, and realised that it was just begging to used for a lasagne.

no - that's lamb curry, not lasagne...

I used my dish to make cauliflower and broccoli cheese, and to serve my lamb curry and coconut rice, but it really came into its own with the lasagne. When I have made lasagne in the past, there has been too much fiddling around breaking up pieces of lasagne pasta (I always go with dried) to fit them into the dish, but I am here to tell you that there was minimal mucking about because, while not being a perfect fit, this dish was as good a fit for pasta sheets as I have ever found.

Another thing about lasagne – it does have a tendency to get ‘cooked on’ to the dish it is cooked in. Would that I could tell you that this didn’t happen on Sunday, but no – as ever, a far amount got cooked on, but after a brief soaking, the cooked on bits came off with no problem – a feature of the glazed surface. Another feature of this range of ceramic dishes is the variety of stunning colours they come in. Not for Emile Henry, the safe whites and cream of so many oven to tableware dish ranges.

The Ceradon glaze is designed to allow the dish to be used straight from the freezer – a great boon in the kitchen. It is also supposed to help prevent chips and scratches. Unfortunately, not, it seems, if you’re washing up in a butler’s sink. Despite the claim, I did manage to chip the dish.

There, that's more like it. Lasagne.

The lasagne was delicious, the dish held enough for the 4 of us for supper (both Blue and the Husband had seconds) and then for another supper for the Husband and I. Ideal size then, for a family of four.