That's Just Wrong, Page 19

I don't have a restaurant level stocked kitchen. I have an average woman-who's-trying-to-emulate-Betty-Crocker type kitchen. My kitchen is stocked with most of the normal stuff. I know, I don't have a hand potato masher much to someone's dismay, (I prefer my hand mixer for the job) and I could use a few little things yet, but other than that, I'm jiggy with what I have.

One of the things that was on my list of stuff I wanted was another dutch oven. It's one of those things I only needed occasionally, namely when I'm making lasagna. After all, the sauce is being made in one dutch oven and I'd have to dig out my big soup pot just to do some pasta.

About six months ago, Ron and I bought another dutch oven! The other day I went to make lasagna and I think this might have been the third time I've used this pot.

With my sauce simmering nicely, I brought out my new dutch oven to start the pasta. Water and salt in, the pot was on the stove. About five minutes later, I look in the pot and what do I see? A bunch of little spots on the bottom of the pan that look like rust. That can't be! I figured someone just didn't clean the pot well and I must have missed it.

I dumped the water, scoured the pot, washed it really really well and started again. Water in, salt in, heat on. Again, in about five minutes, what looked like rust was all over the bottom. I dumped out the water and here is what I'm left with:

This is totally disgusting! There has to be something inherently wrong with the pan. However, after six months, I guarantee you that I no longer have the receipt. I don't even remember where I bought it from.

I did some internet research over the weekend. The bottom of the pan says it's a Chefmate. This brand, I believe is made by Ecko exclusively for Target. I can't find a website for Chefmate so I'm going to try contacting Ecko.

My original dutch oven I bought in 1993 and it's still going strong. This one, three uses and it's rusted? That's just wrong.