Those of you that hail from the Midwest probably already have one or two pie irons that your family takes on camping trips, so this post isn't necessarily for you. It's for everyone else who hasn't had the chance to get in on the tradition and experience of this style of campfire cooking.

The XL Square Pie Iron by Rome Industries is like an impromptu cast iron oven on a stick that you can use to cook all sorts of things over a fire. As the "XL" implies, it's rather large by pie iron standards, clocking in at 5" x 5" x 2" versus the standard 4¼" x 4¼" size. This makes it not only great for making grilled sandwiches (whether they're savory or sweet), but all sorts of other creations.

A closer look at what your pie iron should look like after a good seasoning.

You can get pretty creative with this thing. Start out making typical grilled cheese sandwiches, maybe throw some lunch meat on 'em for good measure. (Butter that bread first!) Then try your hand at making a fruit-stuffed French toast, or make a simple sweet sandwich filled with marshmallow fluff and raspberry jam. Cook an actual pizza in there using premade pizza dough, cheese, and whatever other toppings you're into. You could even toss some hash browns in there, maybe with an egg or two. The possibilities are endless.

When you first get the pie iron, you may want to put it through a thorough seasoning process to ensure the best performance:

Grab one of these bad boys for $32 on Amazon and have a blast cooking over your next campfire.