• Broiling
• Grilling
• Roasting & Braising
• Sautéing
• Stir Frying

Broiling is a little like grilling—a fast way to cook tender cuts of meat poultry or fish—only it’s done indoors in your oven and the direct heat source is above rather than below whatever it is that you’re cooking. Broiling should be reserved for those rainy or wintry days when you can’t grill. It’s a messy way to cook and it doesn’t deliver any better results than grilling (unless you’re using the broiler to deliver a quick browning to a gratinée or caramelize a crème brulée).

If you do broil, do it in a gas oven. A gas oven is far superior to an electric one for the simple reason that you can keep the oven door closed and thus keep most of the smoke from the broiling out of your kitchen.

For broiling in an electric oven, it’s necessary to leave the door slightly ajar to allow outside air to circulate and “fool” the thermostat. If the door remains closed, the heat will rise to above 500°F. Most electric ovens turn off at some point between 500°F and 550°F, leaving your food to bake in a rapidly cooling oven rather than broil.

Gas ovens don’t have this problem. In a gas oven, the broiler compartment is located beneath the oven and has a fold-down door for easy access. Some gas ovens are equipped with a variable broil feature that allows you to adjust the temperature down from the normal broiling level to as low as 350°F for more control.

In an electric oven, broiling is done in the oven itself with only the top element providing the heat. Some electric ovens do provide a high and a low broil setting but not a variable one.

The intensity of the heat in broiling can also be regulated by moving the broiling pan closer or further from the heat source, usually between three and six inches for most recipes. The closer to the heat source, naturally, the faster the meat will cook.

Things that are good for broiling include most beef steaks (rib eye, top sirloin, T-bone and tenderloin, but not round steak unless it’s been well-marinated) kabobs, hamburger patties, pork chops, chicken breasts and fish steaks.

Typically a one-inch thick steak is cooked faster and closer to the heat source for rare or medium rare and further away and slower for well done. This ensures that the outside of the steak is not charred black before the inside reached the desired temperature. A good rule of thumb is to cook thicker pieces of meat, poultry and fish further away from the heat and thinner (less than an inch thick) closer. Watch out for fish and chicken breasts. They tend to burn fast.

When cooking a steak or a pork chop, trim off all but a thin (1/8 inch) strip of fat from the outside edge and then score the fat in several places to keep the meat from curling as it cooks.

It’s a good idea to pre-heat the broiler for 10 minutes and the broiling pan for three to five minutes, and then brush whatever you’re cooking with oil before putting it on the pan to keep it from sticking. Cook the meat, poultry or fish on one side according to the recipe, then turn once to cook on the other using tongs to avoid piercing the meat. Use an instant read thermometer to check for doneness.

Broiling, like grilling and sautéing, demands your constant attention. You can’t walk away to answer the phone or refresh your drink or you may return to a burned dinner or even a raging grease fire. Keep a fire extinguisher (which all kitchens should have) and a good oven mitt close by.