What is broiling?

[Sunflower]

Hi, I have got some recipes that require broiling. What is broiling, and how do I broil in an oven?

Is it an alternate to deep frying? I feel so awkward asking these silly questions but I have been avoiding recipes that needs broiling for so long, but now I feel I should ask and be a fool for 5 minutes than for a lifetime.

 

[Aurora]

Here is a link to FoodNetwork which explains broiling vs grilling which should answer your question:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/ck_culinary_qa/article/0,,FOOD_9796_1702280,00.html

Here is a link to HowStuffWorks which also explains broiling:

http://home.howstuffworks.com/question228.htmhttp://www.premierrange.com/faq-broiling.htm

 

[amber]

Sunflower, the only silly question is the one you dont ask Feel free to ask questions on here. We all learn from each other. Not sure what type of oven you have, but with mine I can broil or bake. When I broil things, I use a broiling pan which allows grease to drip off, making for a healthier meal. It's similar to using an outdoor grill because it cooks your food at a high temperature. Deep fat frying contains the fat, whereas broiling allows the fat to drip off. Hope that answered your question.

 

[Sunflower]

Thanks, Amber. I have to dig out our oven's instruction manual and see what it says. So broiling makes the food crispy without the extra fat of deep frying?

 

[corazon]

On your oven you should have a switch that says bake, off and broil. There is an element on the bottom of your oven for baking and an element up top for broiling. It basically cooks the top of your food, say a casserole with a crispy topping, for instance.

 

[Andy M.]

As Aurora's links explain, broiling and grilling are basically the same except for where the flame is. With grilling, the flame is below the food. With broiling, the flame is above the food.

With both these methods, you get high direct heat that crisps, browns and cooks. With roasting, a different (usually) heat source provides more indirect heat to cook foods at a lower temperature.

 

[Banana Brain]

Thank God this was posted! (I'm clueless on this subject as well!)

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

To go a step further, broiling is a method of cooking whereby the heat source is above the food. Heat is transfered to the food solely by infra-red radiation rather than by convection or conduction. TEmperature control is obtained by controlling the temperature of the heat source, and by moving the food closer or further away from the heat source.

Broiling is usually done on a pan which is designed to allow grease to fall away and into a contained space. This elliminates popping grease and ignition of that grease into flame. Broiling is used where a dry, high heat is required to sear and caramelize the food surface by the time the center is heated sufficiently.

Grilling is a technique where the heat source is located under the food. It is essentially the same as broiling, but produces the famous "Grilled" flavor as the hot crease drips onto the heat source (charcoal, ceramic bricks, or metallic baffles) and produces smoke which deposits itself onto the food. Again, the heat is transfered to the food by intense infra-red radiation. Because grilling produces substantial amounts of smoke, most stoves and ovens don't have grills built into them. You would seriously smoke up you house. Of course there are models like the Jen-Air stoves with down draft ventillation systems that will draw sufficient air into them to elliminate the smoke from your home. And those large, flat heating surfaces called grills in restaurant kitchens are really just giant skillets without sides. They cook by conduction.

And that, my freind, is the difference between grillilng and broiling. Oh, and hte heat source can be electrick coils, or a gas flame for either. But I don't think you will find a charcoal boiler. You'd end up with such a mess of ashes.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[amber]

Thanks, Amber. I have to dig out our oven's instruction manual and see what it says. So broiling makes the food crispy without the extra fat of deep frying?

Exactly

 

[Sunflower]

Wow!! Thanks guys... and Corazon90, there IS a setting in my oven that says Broil (Hi and Lo) and I looked inside the oven and there's a coil on the top !! Never noticed those before .

Anyway, I am going to search some broiling recipes and try them out.

 

[fawn]

when you broil, do you close the oven door?

 

[Andy M.]

Some ovens call for you to leave the door open a crack so the oven won't overheat while you are broiling. Check the instruction manual.

 

[RPCookin]

Actually I've never broiled without leaving the door open (like my Mommy taught me ), not because the oven will overheat, but because even at the broil setting the oven will eventually reach the top thermostat limit and start baking/roasting instead of broiling. My DW ruined a couple of steak dinners before I managed to convince her of that...

 

[advoca]

What a fascinating discussion.

Doesn't it show how words mean different things in different places.

As Aurora's links explain, broiling and grilling are basically the same except for where the flame is. With grilling, the flame is below the food. With broiling, the flame is above the food.

Ermm! Not in Europe. Grilling in Europe is done UNDER the heat. Stoves (electric and gas) often have a grill like a shelf under which you put a pan to grill the food. Most electric ovens (and many gas ovens) have a grill element at the TOP pf the oven and food to be grilled is put underneath. ye fat does not drip onto the heating element. We never use the word broil, assuming this to be an American term which we understand to mean grill under heat.

You can also buy gadgets which have a vertical heat source and food (especially chickens) are grilled on a horizontal rotisserie in front of the heat.

But here are also vertical heat sources where the rotisserie is vertical. This is a popular way of cooking lamb slices pressed together on the vertical spit.

And a tandoori oven has the food suspended vertically and the radiated heat is all around the food. Peking Ducks are cooked this was (in Peking/Beijing). I don't know whether this is grilling or broiling!

 

[GB]

Advoca that is very interesting indeed. So do you have outdoor grills in your part of the world like we have here? What I mean by that is a grill that either uses charcoal or gas and heats from underneith?

 

[Ishbel]

We do, but we normally call them barbecues! All our cookers/stoves indoors have grills which 'broil' foods!

Another case of being divided by a common language!

 

[GB]

Thanks for the lesson. I love learning about these differences!

 

[advoca]

Advoca that is very interesting indeed. So do you have outdoor grills in your part of the world like we have here? What I mean by that is a grill that either uses charcoal or gas and heats from underneith?

As Ishbel says, we call outdoor devices like this BBQs (Or use the Aussie word Barbie). In such cases the heat is underneath. A BBQ is universal.

But many recipes call for food to be finalised 'under' the grill, usually to give a nice colour to the food, Spanish Tortiilla, for example is often finished 'under' the grill. A grill in Europe is always on top and the food is placed underneath. However, many modern stoves have BBQ type grills built in. I had one when I was in Spain, for example. But the oven also had a down-facing heatiing element for grilling the food downwards.

Is the downward heated type of cooking never done in the US? If so, you are missing a lot.

 

[Ishbel]

Until I grew brave enough to use a kitchen blow torch, the British 'grill' was my only way of caramelising the sugar on a creme brulee - or to brown the top of a shepherd's pie or the top of a macaroni cheese.

In Scotland we have what we call 'plain' bread. Long, thin slices which do not toast well in an electric toaster - the bread HAS to be put under the grill to achieve the optimum brown-ness!

 

[GB]

Is the downward heated type of cooking never done in the US? If so, you are missing a lot.

Yes we do that. We just call it broiling.