Cast Iron for Camping and Trekking: Inside Trilonium's Outdoor & BushCraft Cooking Range

Dear reader,

Ask any Indian family that treks, camps, or simply loves a weekend bonfire on the terrace, and they will tell you the biggest letdown of outdoor cooking is usually the cookware — flimsy aluminium pans that warp over an open flame, or a kadai from the kitchen that was never built to travel. Cast iron and tempered iron were made for exactly this kind of use, which is why we built out a small range of outdoor and BushCraft cooking gear to go alongside the rest of the Trilonium family.

Why Cast Iron Takes to the Outdoors So Naturally

A cast iron or tempered iron pan does not mind an open flame, a bed of coals, or an uneven patch of ground the way a non-stick pan does. It holds heat well, so once it is hot, it keeps cooking evenly even if the flame around it flickers in the wind — the same quality that lets our tadka pans keep sizzling after you take them off the stove, just put to work on a bigger scale outdoors. There is no coating to worry about scorching off over a wood fire, and a dent or scratch picked up on a trek does nothing to the cooking surface.

The Agni Wood-Fired Rocket Stoves

Our Agni rocket stoves are built around a simple idea — a rocket stove burns small sticks, twigs or wood pellets inside a vertical combustion chamber, so you get a hot, efficient flame using a fraction of the wood an open bonfire would need, with far less smoke. The Agni 2.0 is the full-sized version, with four removable, reversible pan-support rods on top that take flat-bottomed as well as round cookware, and two detachable legs, so the whole thing packs down for the boot of a car. The Agni Mini is the flat-packable version for smaller outings — a terrace, a balcony, or a quick outstation drive — and goes together without any tools or special skill. One thing worth knowing before you buy: the Agni Mini is sold as bare, uncoated iron with no factory seasoning, unlike the rest of our triple-seasoned TilCrust™ range, so give it a light coat of cooking oil and a few uses before you expect it to behave like a seasoned pan.

The BBQ Grilling Basket, for the Charcoal Crowd

If your outdoor cooking usually means charcoal rather than wood, our Iron BBQ Grilling Basket is built for that — a 26 x 26 cm tempered iron basket, pre-seasoned with TilCrust™, meant to sit over coals rather than a stovetop burner. It holds vegetables, paneer, seafood or meat in place while they grill, which solves the usual problem of smaller pieces falling through an open grill rack. Being iron, it also picks up the same small benefit as the rest of our cookware — your food takes on trace amounts of dietary iron as it cooks.

Looking After Outdoor Cast Iron

Outdoor cooking is harder on cookware than a kitchen stove, mainly because of how it gets stored afterwards — packed away while still a little damp, or left out overnight in the dew. Dry every piece thoroughly before it goes back in the bag, wipe on a light coat of oil, and give it a proper look-over once you are home, the same way you would after monsoon use. A rocket stove or grilling basket that has done a full trek day deserves the same five minutes of care as a tawa that has done a week of breakfasts.

The Last Word

Whether it is a weekend trek, a terrace get-together this bonfire season, or a BBQ with friends, there is a piece of iron built for it. You can browse the full range on our Outdoor Cooking collection.

With warm regards,

Avinash Kalro