License to Grill

Happy Fourth, everybody!

And also, happy grilling!

After all, the Fourth is the start of grilling season.

Sure, a lot of you have likely been cooking outdoors for weeks now, if not months. Some might even have fired up the grill on the back porch even as blizzard conditions rolled in.

But the Fourth is still the kickoff of grilling season, because it’s when even the last holdouts admit the supremacy of a kitchen without walls.

And when it all comes to the end–when the solo cups are emptied and stacked, the paper plates thrown away, the food packed up, the beer cans recycled, and the smell of firecracker smoke barely lingers in the air–all that’s left is a question.

Why don’t we do this every day?

Does it take some effort to fire up the grill and cook? Yes. But is it really that much harder than cooking inside? And is the extra effort not mitigated by the vitamin D you get from the sun, not to mention the rejuvenating quality of fresh air flavored mildly with charcoal and sizzling meat?

What we’re getting at is: there’s nothing but occasional weather stopping you from grilling out every night until late September.

Except maybe one thing.

A person can’t survive–or can’t survive very healthily–on hot dogs and hamburgers alone. Those classic cookout foods? They taste so good because they’re treats. You eat them every night, and both your taste buds and your digestive system will have some unkind things to say.

Which is why you need one of these cast-iron grill pans.

It adds a different kind of surface to the grill, allowing you to expand your repertoire of grillable meals. Or, we think that it will help. Right? Maybe something about heat zones? Maybe something about stuff that would otherwise fall apart and fall into the flames if cooked over nothing but the grill’s grate?

Point is, it won’t hurt your grilling habit.

And when it comes time to winterize the Weber, you can take this pan inside and enjoy some grill-marked fare throughout the short nights of the colder months without being one of those people we mentioned before who grill in blizzards.

Also, if you’re intimidated by cast iron, don’t be. This one comes with a care kit.

Point is, it’s a nice pan. So buy it. And enjoy the holiday.