CleverRoot

1 4 | t h e c l e v e r r o o t Heather Terhune, the Executive Chef at Tre Rivali in Milwaukee, WI, says serving her dishes in Dutch ovens gives her cooking "a very rustic feel." For those looking for something more economical, some varieties of the Lodge Dutch oven retail for less than $50. The Problem: Finding a multi-use vessel that will last for years in the kitchen The Solution: An enameled cast-iron Dutch oven The Problem Solver: Heather Terhune, Executive Chef at Tre Rivali in Milwaukee, WI THERE ARE CHEFS WHO travel everywhere with their knives, causing consternation to TSA agents with their expensive knife carriers packed with expertly crafted blades that simply cannot be checked. Heather Terhune is not one of them. For years she's instead carried her 8-quart, enameled cast-iron Dutch ovens by Lodge and Le Creuset: from home in St. Albans, Vermont, to under- graduate life at the University of Missouri; to the New England Culinary Institute, the Willard Room in Washington, D.C., and The Watergate Hotel under Jean-Louis Palladin; to Pop's Trattoria in Durham, North Carolina, and both Atwood and Sable Kitchen & Bar in Chicago; to BDK in San Francisco; and now to Tre Rivali in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she serves as Executive Chef. The Dutch oven is, for Terhune, the quintessential kitchen tool in which pretty much anything and everything can be cooked—and that's exactly what she does. Merrill Shindler: Some versions of the Lodge Dutch oven sell for less than $50, while the Le Creuset is more than $400. Is Lodge really as good as Le Creuset? Heather Terhune: Lodge is really affordable, but then again, you can't get it in turquoise. So, if you need your Dutch oven in flame orange, Le Creuset is the way to go. Otherwise, they're the same. I'm guessing you didn't grow up with Le Creuset in Vermont. I'm one of five kids. My mom was all about one-pot cooking. She did everything in our Dutch oven. Her oven wasn't enameled—it was cast-iron, and you cleaned it with salt, never water. She used it to stew beef stroganoff and bake bread. We took it camping and fried eggs since it could sit in the fire. It was indestructible. Did you cook down maple syrup in it? We had lots of maple trees, but we'd tap them for sap outside. I guess we could have cooked it down in the oven, but we used big pots and did it outside. Did dishes come to the table in the oven at home? They did then, and they still do at the restaurant. It gives my cooking a very rustic feel. Back then, we'd make baked beans in the oven and put it on the table. Now I bring it out when I do charity events—it has a great look. I use it for soups and for anything that's braised, like my olive oil–braised charred octopus with salsa verde and preserved lemons. Is it demanding keeping an eye on it to prevent ingredients from overcooking? It's actually very forgiving. Steam tends to hang in the lid, keeping everything moist. So, even if you forget about it in the oven, it won't overcook—as long as you don't forget about it for too long. You've got pizza on the menu. Have you ever tried making pizza in a Dutch oven? Not pizza yet . . . but I have baked a cake. It came out great. Cooked to Perfection CHEF HEATHER TERHUNE OF MILWAUKEE'S TRE RIVALI MAKES PLENTIFUL USE OF HER BELOVED DUTCH OVENS by Merrill Shindler PHOTO COURTESY OF HEATHER TERHUNE ■cr If a flame-orange Dutch oven is a must-have, Chef Terhune recommends the Le Creuset.

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