I Got The "Bleu"s - French Bleu Collection Complete

French Bleu is fairly hard to come by, as it was only produced from the fall of 1983 to fall of 1984 (basically 1 year), so my collection has been growing somewhat sporadically.  For years, all I had was the 10 inch (24cm) Quiche dish that I purchased off eBay.  I was actually about to give up on ever seeing another piece, because that seemed to be the ONLY piece ever on eBay.

Then I got lucky one day.  I had crossed the Columbia River and invaded Vancouver, WA back in December of 2013 and found both the F-5 & F-1.  A couple months later (February 2014) the F-6 showed up in Clackamas,  OR.   That is what spurred my first post about this pattern back in March of last year (2014)...   About 1 month ago, I found the final piece in Portland, OR... The 2 1/2 quart Casserole (F-2-B).

So, as with the French Bisque from yesterday, here is the "not quite so large" family of French Bleu...

Left to right...   F-5-B - 1 1/5 quart Souffle in LE-F5-R cradle, F-2-B - 2 1/2 quart Souffle in LE-F1-R cradle

F-3-B - 10 inch Quiche

Left to right....  F-2-B - 2 1/2 quart Casserole in LE-F2-R cradle, F-6-B - 1 1/2 quart Open Roaster in LE-F6-R cradle

It should be noted, that all 4 pieces I purchased were adorn with the pinwheel lids...   Though I didn't not believe they were available in the early 80s, I find it odd that all of them would come with said pinwheel lids from various thrift stores in several cities in 2 different states.

An interesting coincidence; especially since all of my Classic Black came with plain lids (1990-94)

Where is your Corning Ware??
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Looks Like Fine Crockery... Acts Like Corning Ware Cookware - My French Bisque Collection

Well, I thought this collection was complete.  I was even proud of myself for tracking down 2 pieces not listed in the "books".  Those would be the F-6 (1.8 liter Shallow Open Baker) and the F-21 (4.5 liter Open Roaster).

Then while searching on eBay a couple weeks ago, for some strange reason a set of 4 "stoneware ramekins" showed up in my search list.  I looked at the picture of the bottom really closely and realized what they were......   500ml (16oz) F-16 Ramekins in FRENCH BISQUE.  WHAT?!?!?!  They had been completely miss-listed as 60ml Corning Sandstone Stoneware Bowls. (and yet they still showed up in my search list)

I thought it was a rather serendipitous opportunity...  Sadly, someone else found them as well and beat me by 50 cents when I wasn't looking.  It was a rather depressing development, but it happens.  After all, I can't spend ALL my time cruising eBay. Suffice it to say, that my once complete collection is not so complete anymore.  That's OK, I have seen them, I am now aware that they exist, and it give me something to look forward to finding in the wild.

F-2-B (2.8 liter) Deep Covered Baker (DC-1 1/2-C Pyrex Fireside Lid) sitting in the F-4-B (2.5 liter) Shallow Open Roaster

F-5-B (1.6 liter) Souffle (G-5-C Pyrex Fireside Lid) sitting on the F-1-B (2.5 liter) Souffle (G-1-C Pyrex Fireside Lid) sitting in the F-3-B (24cm) Quiche Baker 

F-12-B (1.8 liter) Deep Covered Baker (F-12-C Pyrex Fireside Lid) sitting in the F-6-B (1.8 liter) Shallow Open Baker sitting in the F-21-B (4.5 liter) 14x11 1/2 Open Roaster/Lasagne Pan.

You may have begun asking yourself.... "Where does he put all this Corning Ware?".  Luckily, with the French White/Bisque/Bleu/Classic Black line, the answer is simple.  They were resigned to stack very compactly.  This is why there are technically only 4 lids for all the pieces.  Oh, you can add lids.  The V-14-C will fit on the F-4-B if you really feel you need it.  But originally, only the deep casseroles & the Souffles came with lids... all the shallow dishes were lidless.  THUS, they can stack up like this...

and leave a very small footprint within your cupboard.

Where is your Corning Ware??

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I Got The "Bleu"s - My Corning Ware French Bleu Collection

Collection sharing time...!!!!  This is one in progress.  French Bleu is fairly hard to come by, as it was only produced from the fall of 1983 to fall of 1984 (basically 1 year), so my collection has been growing somewhat sporadically.

From Left to Right, Top to Bottom......  The F-5 (1.6 liter) Souffle sitting in the F-3 (24cm) Quiche Baker.

In the back, nestled in an LE-F1-R cradle is the F-1 (2.5 liter) Souffle.

And finally, the F-6 (1.8 liter) shallow baker. (technically a lidless dish, but the lid for the F-2 fits on the F-6 as well)

For years, all I had was the 10 inch (24cm) Quiche dish that I purchased off eBay.  I was actually about to give up on ever seeing another piece, because that seemed to be the ONLY piece ever on eBay.  Then I got lucky one day.  I had crossed the Columbia River and invaded Vancouver, WA.  There, I found both the F-5 & F-1.  The F-6 showed up about 2 months later.

So yeah... This set has taught me patience. 

Where is your CorningWare??
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Cradle Your French White/Bisque/Bleu & Classic Black in Comfort

I promised that I would write up a post on the French White Cradles, so that people would know what to look for the next time they are out questing for Corningware.   To date, the only ones I have mentioned are the Platinum Cradles simply because those are my favorite and what I have the most of.  The Platinum Cradles were not the first, nor would they be the last.  For today, though, I think I will just stick with the French White/Bleu/Bisque & Classic Black cradles.

Behold... The French White Cradle.  (Also available, contrary to book publications, with selected pieces of Classic Black)

They are really a fairly simple design, being a single piece of wire, bent ingeniously and then welded where the ends meet underneath so your dish will conveniently hide said weld at the table.

So far, I have only seen 5 different cradles...  One for each of the main pieces in the French White (and Bisque) collection.   F-1, F-2, F-4, F-5 and F-6.  (The F-3 quiche doesn't have a cradle)

They seem to be made of Chromed Stainless Steele.

When they were originally sold, the boxes were supposedly marked with an LE prefix and an R suffix.... as in LE-F1-R being a 2.5 liter Souffle.  Personally, all I have ever seen is an entire set of the 3 pieces mentioned above being sold as a set under F-360.

They are not marked in any way shape or form, so you have to kind of wing it, when trying to decide which ones you need vs which ones you already have... Thus, I have several duplicates.  But that's OK... Cause I have A LOT of French White/Bleu/Bisque & Classic Black that needs to be cradled in comfort when setting on a hard table.  (it might get bruised otherwise)  However, in the interest of those reading this blog, I have decided to take measurements of all 5 of the ones I have found so far.  That way you don't have to keep purchasing the same sized cradles over and over and over... did I mention over?

That is what happened with these 3... The 3 most common...  The F-1, F-2 and F-4 cradle seem to be the most prolific.

Let me state that I am using Bisque here for demo, because it's readily accessible and the other "colors", aside from French White itself, are missing pieces...   French Bleu has no F-4 and Classic Black has no F-1..  Aside from French White, French Bisque is the most complete of the Frenches.  LOL

Here are the 2 souffle cradles... the LE-F1-R (right) and the LE-F5-R (left).

Note, the LE-F5-R cradle is small enough to fit "inside" the LE-F1-R Cradle.

The LE-F1-R is 4 7/8 inches deep across the bottom, 6 3/4 inches wide in the "front", 12 3/4 inches from handle to handle, and 4 1/4 inches high at the handle.

The LE-F5-R is 4 3/8 inches deep across the bottom, 6 inches wide in the "front", 10 3/4 inches from handle to handle, and 3 7/8 inches high at the handle.

We aren't done.... There are 3 more...

The F-2 Casserole (back), the F-6 small Open Roaster (middle) and the large F-4 Open Roaster (front)......

The LE-F2-R (Back) is 4 7/8 inches deep across the bottom, 9 3/8 inches wide in the "front", 15 inches from handle to handle and 3 3/8 inches high at the handle

The LE-F6-R (Front) is 5 inches deep across the bottom, 9 1/2 inches wide in the "front", 14 3/8 inches from handle to handle and 2 5/8 inches high at the handle

The LE-F4-R is 5 3/4 inches deep across the bottom, 11 inches wide in the "front", 16 1/2 inches from handle to handle and 2 3/4 inches high at the handle

Hopefully that will help at least a little bit... Just remember to have a tape measure handy the next time you are out thrifting....

Where is your Corningware??
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