How to Grill Like a Pro Using Your Oven’s Broiler
For many people, the broiler in their oven is just there . It’s handy for browning the top of casseroles or getting extra crispy fried chicken, but other than that, it’s not widely used. This is a huge missed opportunity. Broilers are much more versatile than you might think, especially if you don’t (or can’t) have an outdoor grill.
As painful as it is, we have to give the British credit on this one: calling broilers “grilled” makes more sense because that’s what they are. Frying and grilling are not exactly identical cooking methods, but they are very close. Both cooking methods expose the food to intense direct heat from one direction; if you’re cooking something on the grill, you can probably cook it under the broiler as well. Here’s how.
Learn to control your temperature
As with grilling, roasting food requires temperature control. Unlike a grill, you can’t tell how hot the flame (or coil) gets. If you’re lucky you have a maximum “high” and “low” setting, but most broilers just turn on and off. However, your fryer’s temperature range is wider and more versatile than you might think, and you can fine-tune it by moving food closer or further away from the heating element.
Sounds obvious, but the farther the food is from the brazier, the slower it cooks; the closer, the faster. Your task is to play matchmaker. For example, if you are roasting whole peppers or eggplants, feel free to place them as close to the heating element as possible. (In this scenario, “digesting” makes sense.) But foods that either take a long time to cook, such as chicken legs or a thick steak, or hardly cook at all—shrimp, scallops, thin fish fillets—take less time. direct heating and therefore more space. It’s easy to adjust as you go: if you find these steaks barely cooking on the rack in the middle of the oven, just move them up a notch or two.
Yes, you can turn your oven into a two-phase “grill” very easily: just place one rack as close to the broiler as possible and the other a little (or much) farther away. This way you can move food between the two cooking zones as needed to control how fast it cooks.
Cooking is key
While you can grill just about anything if you try hard enough, strategic preparation helps a lot. Generally speaking, if you want to cook something from very close range, make it thin and oily – like kalbi, steak, or thin slices of tofu or eggplant, just to name a few. The thinness ensures it cooks before the surface burns, and the fat keeps it nice and juicy. Also, never place foods high in sugar directly under the fryer. It will burn down, the smoke alarm will go off, and you will feel bad. Instead, try basting sweet marinades at the last minute so they caramelize rather than char.
Equipment also counts as preparation, and thankfully, frying doesn’t require much. With that said, investing in standard size aluminum baking sheets with matching racks is one of the best things you can do. Placing food on the rack in the pan promotes air circulation, which is essential for browning and even cooking, and collects drips so they don’t burn to the bottom of the oven. You can buy pots and grates at restaurant stores; it is an absolute necessity that lasts forever.
Keep the food moving but don’t leave
Broilers only heat food from one direction, which means it will only cook evenly if you keep it moving. The amount of flipping, pushing, and general fussing required will vary from dish to dish, so keep an eye on it and trust your intuition. Don’t be afraid to turn food “too often” – as long as it doesn’t tend to fall apart, turning frequently won’t hurt anything. In fact, it will help rather than hurt.
This brings us to the last commandment of frying: watch your food like a hawk until you know what your fryer is capable of. The closer your food is to the heating element, the more likely it is. Some dishes can turn from golden brown to black and smoke in no time, so don’t give them that chance. Just keep an eye on the oven, be patient and reap the rewards.