Grill pan vs skillet: which one for steak and vegetables

A grill pan has raised ridges across its floor. Food sits on the ridges, picks up dark grill marks and stays above the fat that runs into the channels between them; Lodge sells its square cast-iron grill pan for grilling indoors without firing up the grill. A skillet has a flat floor, so the whole surface of a steak or a chicken thigh touches the hot metal and browns, and the fat and juices stay in the pan for a sauce.

Use a grill pan for steaks, burgers, chicken breasts, sliced vegetables and halloumi when you want stripes and less fat under the food. A skillet does all of that with browning instead of stripes, and much more: fried eggs, potatoes, fish with crisp skin, and a sauce made from the browned bits left in the pan. A grill pan can't do those well, which is why the skillet is the pan most kitchens need first.

Most grill pans are cast iron, and heavy: Lodge's 10.5-inch square grill pan weighs 7.33 lb, against 5.66 lb for its 10.25-inch round skillet. Lodge seasons both at the foundry and says they work on any stovetop, induction included, in the oven, on a grill or over a campfire. The ridges take longer to clean: a pan scraper or a stiff nylon brush reaches between them, and the pan is dried and oiled like any cast iron.

Buy the skillet first. Add a grill pan if you like grill marks on steak and vegetables and can't grill outdoors, or get a reversible grill and griddle that covers two burners and gives you a flat side as well.