One of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten was last year for my birthday. My wife gave me a Tembo Tusk Skottle Grill.
As far as overlanding goes, this thing is my favorite accessory. I have used it religiously on every one of my overlanding trips, including a recent jaunt to Williams, Arizona just last weekend.
I have been so impressed with the Skottle Grill that I wanted to do a quick review and tell you about its features and some of my experiences using it. I really think you’ll find that it’s the ideal grill for your overlanding adventures as well!
Skottle Grill Essential Features
One of the best features of this grill is that it comes pre-seasoned. In that regard, it’s like an old cast iron skillet that gives your food incredible flavors.
Likewise, being pre-seasoned means the grill is non-stick. The more it’s seasoned, the more non-stick it becomes, so I’ve seasoned it a couple more times and it works like a charm.
The grill comes with a 10,000 BTU burner, which is definitely overkill for cooking. You can turn the burner on high to warm up the grill, but a low or medium flame is best for cooking.
There are two variations of this grill – the adjustable leg grill and the adventure grill. In both cases, you get the same pre-seasoned pan.
The adjustable leg kit includes an 18-inch Skottle grill, a set of adjustable legs, a 10,000 BTU burner, and a carry bag. The adventure kit is equally well-appointed with the adventure Skottle grill, a GSI Glacier Camp 10,000 BTU burner, and a BlueRidge Overland Gear carry bag.
There’s a variety of accessories you can add to your grill as well. There’s a table that hangs onto a grill leg that gives you extra prep space, a lid for steaming vegetables, a steam tray for steaming vegetables, a table top, and much more. Tembo Tusk has made this grill into more of a cooking ecosystem than anything – and when you’re overlanding, these accessories can make preparing meals that much easier.
The legs are collapsible, and since the grill is 18-inches wide, it’s all compact and easy to store. That’s a huge bonus when you’re overlanding and space is a commodity.
I also appreciate having something that allows me to cook outside. This past weekend, I rented an RV at my wife’s behest and drove the family to Arizona for the weekend. I can’t stand the lingering smell of dinner in a camper, so this grill allowed me to get out of the RV and avoid smelling it up!
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My Experiences With the Tembo Tusk Skottle Grill
I first used this grill on my overlanding trip to Alabama Hills, California.
There were two things about that trip that really stuck with me – the freezing temperatures and the persistent wind.
What’s so nice about this grill is that even in the persistent winds, the flame never went out. I was able to whip up meals no matter the windy conditions, which my son and my buddy certainly appreciated.
From the first use of this grill last year to the most recent use last weekend (where the winds were so strong one of my tents was destroyed…) I’ve found that using this grill is dead simple (the flame didn’t go out in the awful Arizona winds, either!).
Setup is easy – just insert the legs into the bottom of the grill and secure them, hook up the burner, and away you go. It only takes a few seconds. And when you’re done, reversing the process to take the grill apart and store it also only takes a few seconds.
Cooking on this grill is also a treat.
It’s easy to control the flame on the stove for getting perfectly-cooked food. I’m a breakfast guy (as you can see from the photos), so I do a lot of eggs, hash browns, and bacon, and I get excellent results every time.
For lunch, we’ll have burgers and hot dogs, and again, the cooking process is simple and straightforward. The same goes with dinner, where you can cook anything you can cook in a cast iron skillet. Slap a steak in there, cook up the fish you caught earlier in the day…you name it!
If you get a little wild and burn your food onto the grill, cleanup is extremely easy.
All you do is add water to the pan (enough to cover the burned food) and turn on the burner. Heat the water up and let it sit for about 10 minutes. Then scrape the burned mess off the pan with a spatula. Drain the water, reheat the pan, and throw water in the pan to create flash steam. Doing so will get rid of any remaining burned food.
Then all you do is add a light coat of cooking oil to the pan and it’ll be ready to rock for your next meal.
Why This Grill Should Be on Your Wishlist
This grill is well built, easy to use, and makes cooking out on the road a lot of fun. Even if you aren’t someone that particularly enjoys cooking, this grill will convince you that it’s an enjoyable process that can garner great results.
One of the best things about overlanding is getting out in nature and having fun adventures. But in between your adventures, you don’t have to heat up pre-packaged meals on a little camp stove! Bring a little home cooking with you by adding a Skottle grill to your overlanding kit. As I’ve said, at this point in 2021, this thing is my favorite overlanding accessory. I’m confident that if you give this thing a try, it’ll be at the top of your list as well!
Head over to Tembo Tusk to learn more about this amazing little grill!