The only grilling tool you miss is a pan with holes

It seems everyone has their own family grilling secret. Maybe it’s as simple as throwing in a special spice with your salt, maybe it’s a local meat or vegetable supplier you’re torn between bragging about at barbecues and bragging about how you you’ll never tell anyone who attends your barbecues, or maybe it’s a five-figure outdoor kitchen appliance with a built-in TV next to the pool on your Hamptons getaway. Everyone to his own tastes.

My family secret is relatively new, having been passed down from my own father to myself, and it’s accessible to Weber charcoal purists and millionaire backyard barbecue hosts: a $25 skillet from The Home Depot.

I’m talking about the Nexgrill Revelry Cooking Pan, which is oddly only available at the home improvement store (my dad bought one in person a few summers ago). It’s a weird little bugger, and not really a skillet, but actually a 12-inch stainless steel basket with a removable handle, which, as we’ll see, is as crucial as the punch. Yes, this suction cup is also full of holes.

If you’ve never seen one before in all your years of grilling, why do you need one now? For all the foods you dread falling through the grates – from carrots and brussels sprouts to fish and shrimp – you may have already grabbed your trusty cast iron skillet or done the old paper smoker packet trick. of aluminium. The Revelry Skillet acts as a better alternative to both, as it’s much lighter than cast iron at 1.76 pounds (and that includes the handle) and you don’t have to throw it away after use like aluminum foil . But thanks to the handle that can be easily detached and reattached, you can both toss your greasy, seasoned, and grilled goodies while the grill is open or remove the handle and leave the basket under the hood to get all the goodness. smoke.

This basket is the real star of the show here. With dozens of holes drilled into the stainless steel, your food is open to the flames instead of insulated from it, so whatever you put inside gets the same charcoal as your burgers, corn on the cob and other provisions on the grid. Think your roasted cauliflower recipe is oven safe? Try it on the grill in this skillet and get back to me.

The only problem here is that the Nexgrill option (a brand without much name recognition) seems a bit odd, and buying it from Home Depot seems even stranger. But what’s really odd to me is that no one else seems to have a pan that can match this one. Made In has a smooth carbon steel grill panbut the handle isn’t detachable so you can’t leave it in the closed grill (unless you have a really massive grill and industrial grade oven mitts) and the holes don’t extend out the sides. BK Grilling has a model which solves the problem with the holes, but retains the annoying permanent grip. On Amazon you can buy an even more affordable product $15 Grill Pan from Outsetwhich includes a detachable handle, but the connection point is a bit trickier as you have to hook the holes on the basket, while the Nexgrill model is a simple and sturdy slip-on affair.

So trust me (well, my dad) and get the Nexgrill Revelry Skillet. Whether you tell your friends where you got it is up to you.