Do you love your broiler? You should! Its the ticket to fast, flavorful meals. Similar to grilling, broiling uses high, direct heat to cook food quickly and give it a tasty, browned crust. In fact, broiling can even impart professional-level results.
“High heat is the chefs key to creating delicious, restaurant-quality flavor,” says Joel Chesebro, head demonstration chef at Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove. “Using a broiler gives you that same capability in your home kitchen.” If thats not enough of an incentive, consider this: Broiling is a cooking method that you can rely on 24/7, rain or shine, in snowstorms or in heatwaves. Better yet, broilers are a good substitute if you cant fire up the grill in the backyard. If your broiler doesnt see much action, follow our tips—we think it will become your new favorite way to cook.
Roasting uses the same all-over heat as baking but at higher temperatures. Broiling uses top-down heat at high and extra-high temperatures to brown or crisp the top of food.
Toasted Breads
If youre short on countertop space, he suggests eliminating your toaster oven and turning to the broiler to toast English muffins, toast, bagels, and more.
There arent any horror movies about broilers. There aren’t any famous, best-selling novels about mysterious broiler happenings in the 1880’s, no podcasts about broiler true crime. So why is everyone so terrified of them? It seems people have some deeply-ingrained fear of turning the knob all the way to the left, until the tiny “Broil” hits the arrow. But you dont need to be scared. Use your broiler. Because it’s the easiest way to make crispy, beautifully-browned food a reality.
But wait, there’s more to a broiler than making cheese cheesier. It also gives texture to meat in a way that can only be described as beautiful. Finishing a thick steak under the broiler provides an added layer of crispy caramelization to contrast the fattiness of the meat, and finishing a whole roasted chicken under the broiler for a few minutes gives the skin that perfect, burnished, golden-brown color you’ve seen in old issues of cooking magazines at your grandma’s house. It works the same way with chicken wings, too. The easiest way to get the skin on chicken wings as crispy-crunchy as they are when theyre deep-fried at a restaurant without, you know, deep-frying them? The broiler. Duh.
Once you start using your broiler, you won’t stop. You’ll look at Old You with a pity-filled smile. The naivety, the childish innocence. Broiling will become a quintessential part of your kitchen existence. You’ll find yourself saying a phrase we’re pretty fond of in these parts: “I’ll just finish it under the broiler.” And then you’ll do just that, pulling your crispy, juicy, salty chicken wings from the oven and living the life you’ve always dreamed of.
What is a broiler though? And where is it? Well, the broiler is a part of your oven that functions as a direct, super-concentrated heating element. While your oven normally produces ambient heat that goes all around the food youre cooking, the broiler heats from above—an immediate delivery system for high heat. It’s basically (heh) the closest thing you can get to a grill in the comfort of your home, with open flames (if you have a gas-powered stove) coming extremely close to the surface of your food. It’s positioned either on the top (ceiling?) of your oven, or in a drawer on the bottom. The latter option on the bottom is more commonly found in older ovens and is definitely not a good place to store cook books—not that we know anything at all about that. Definitely not.
But fair warning: With great power comes great responsibility. This intense heat has to be monitored. You can’t just throw a raw steak under the broiler and forget about it. The best way to get to know your broiler is to use it for finishing things you’ve already cooked. Keep an eye on what you choose to finish, making sure you remove it from heat when it reaches the desired color and texture. It happens pretty quickly.
Baking vs Broiling & Roast? | What You Need to Know
FAQ
Does broil make crispy?
What oven setting makes things crispy?
What is the purpose of broiling?
Does broiling dry out food?
Why is broiling the best way to cook food?
Broiling is one of the best methods of cooking food as it requires minimal effort and time. It also helps to retain the natural flavours and nutrients in the food. The best foods to broil are lean cuts of meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, and even cheese. Broiling helps to quickly cook these foods while still preserving their flavour and texture.
Is broiling food safe?
Broiling is considered safe, but some may wonder how to achieve that flawless caramelized crust while fully cooking the inside of food or how to prevent the food from burning. No one wants to spend time in the kitchen just to ruin a perfectly prepped dish. To maximize your success, here are some mistakes you want to avoid when broiling food.
Is broiling a good idea?
Similar to grilling, broiling uses high, direct heat to cook food quickly and give it a tasty, browned crust. In fact, broiling can even impart professional-level results. “High heat is the chef’s key to creating delicious, restaurant-quality flavor,” says Joel Chesebro, head demonstration chef at Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove.
What are the benefits of broiling?
One of the key benefits of broiling is that it allows for quick and efficient cooking. The intense heat helps to cook food rapidly, resulting in shorter cooking times compared to other methods like baking or roasting. Another advantage is the ability to achieve a delicious caramelisation on the surface of your food.