A cast iron skillet is the ultimate outdoor cooking tool. With roots deeply planted in early American traditions from open hearth cooking to chuckwagons, cooking outdoors with cast iron has many benefits — cast iron's resilience under high temperatures and heat retention properties make it incredibly functional over open flame. Bringing cast iron outside to the grill allows you to use fire and smoke as ingredients and bring familiar and trusted tools to the social scene around the grill or fire pit.
It’s all about the sear
A sizzling hot cast iron skillet atop a propane gas grill will provide a better sear over the entire surface of your meat, compared with putting it directly on the grill grates. A great sear is built through the Maillard reaction—which is the process that creates hundreds of different flavor compounds and produces a perfectly crisp-on-the-outside yet tender-on-the-inside texture that makes us drool just thinking about it.
If you’re grilling over charcoal or hardwood, your fire can certainly get hot enough to achieve a great sear. But in some cases you may still want to use your skillet to keep all the delicious drippings contained, ensuring your meat stays moist and flavorful. As an added benefit, keeping grease away from the flames eliminates the risk of flare-ups, accidental burns, and burning the exterior of whatever you're cooking and making it too charred and chalky.
Beyond burgers and steaks.
The versatility of cast iron allows you to cook nearly your entire menu outside, saving you the trouble of shuttling back and forth between your indoor kitchen and the grill.
Veggies
Gone are the days of asparagus and onion slices falling through the grill grates. Toss your veggies with a bit of oil and your favorite seasonings, then cook to perfection in your skillet. Need a little steam? Add a cast iron lid to make your your veggies even more tender.
Seafood
A well-seasoned cast iron skillet offers a naturally non-stick cooking surface, perfect for delicate seafood like a flaky fish or seared scallops.
Braises and sauces
Whether you want to melt some queso in a No.4 Skillet, or slowly braise a huge batch of chicken legs in a No.16 Double Handled Skillet, a well-seasoned cast iron skillet can handle these efforts with ease on your outdoor grill.
Deep Frying
Say goodbye to indoor smoke and grease, and say hello to alfresco cooking of fried fish tacos, stuffed squash blossoms, crispy chicken, and state fair-worthy funnel cakes.
Baking
Got a grill with a lid? Now you've got an outdoor oven. Browned butter cornbread and strawberry rhubarb pie top our favorite things to bake in summer. And the heat retention of a cast iron skillet will deliver a golden brown crispy crust.
The right tools for the job:
No.10 Skillet: Our family pan can handle most any summer meal, whether you fill it with a couple steaks, 4-6 burgers, or a bunch of perfectly seared asparagus.
No.12 Skillet: Our largest single handled skillet is perfect for larger portions, sautéing big batches of veggies, and has a matching lid for braising. Did we mention it’s the perfect size for pizza?
No.16 Double-Handled Skillet: Cooking for a crowd? This extra large skillet fits on a 22” or larger Original Kettle Weber Grill (with the lid on!)
No.9 Round Griddle: Perfect for smash burgers, scallops, grilled bread or anything where you want better access to that smooth cooking surface.
Whether you're camping in the wilderness or hanging in your backyard, your Field Skillet is built for outdoor adventures. So, go ahead, take the road less traveled—just don’t forget your cast iron skillet.