Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best. I recently got a Staub Chistera, and it is my new favourite bit of cookware. That's because it manages to be a lidded frying pan – or more accurately a sauté pan – and a casserole dish. It manages this improbable feat by basically taking your standard casserole/Dutch oven design but making it about half as tall. This makes it a perfect size for use on the hob, sautéeing vegetables and searing and cooking meat, but also great for oven casseroling, roasting and even baking bread.
Sure, if you are a family of six, you may want a full-size casserole – in which case make your way to directly to our guide to the best Le Creuset deals – but these cooking pots are far more versatile and have easily enough capacity for singletons, couples and smaller families. They also obviously take up less storage space, although my one is getting used so frequently, it doesn't get to spend much down time in the cupboard.
Being made to an extremely high standard of workmanship by Le Creuset's arch rival Staub, the Chistera is also easy to clean, can stand up to high temperatures and rough handling, looks great, and should last for about 100 years. it's not a non-stick pan as such, but with just a little oiling, the pan lining is great for anything less sticky than eggs and rice.
Anyway, all this is a preamble to the exciting revelation that Amazon currently has a Staub Chistera going at 31% less than its usual price. That doesn't quite make it cheap, since Staub is even more premium than Le Creuset, but it certainly makes it cheap-er.
Does that look tasty or what?
If you want a Chistera in a different size or in a colour other than black, you will need to pay a little more. Amazon has a large range, at all sorts of different and ever-changing prices.
