My first experience with broiling was when I was a child and I made an open faced cheese sandwich. Of course, I called it a grilled cheese sandwich. I didn’t know that there was a difference between grilling and broiling…or that most grilled cheese sandwiches are actually fried cheese sandwiches.
After commenting on the Facebook fanpage about how I was able to throw a steak into the broiler the other night when we were rushed for dinner, I discovered that not everyone has a love affair with their broiler…primarily because they aren’t sure how to use it or, in the case of one person, she is afraid of catching the food on fire (it has happened before to her).
I decided we were in need of a mini-lesson from Betty on how to broil meat. Getting out the trusty Picture Cookbook, I discover that “she” devotes four inches to the matter. To be fair, other cooking methods garner even less space.
Oven Broiling
Slash edges of fat to prevent curling.
Place meat 3 to 5 in. from heat. broil to desired brownness. Season. turn once, brown on other side. For cuts to broil, see below.
Pan Broiling
Same cuts as for oven broiling. Use heavy skillet. It may be lightly rubbed with fat to prevent sticking. Place meat in hot skillet. Brown on 1 side, then on other. Reduce heat; occasionally turn meat and pour off fat. Season, serve.
Do not cover. Do not add water.
Well, I learned something new. I didn’t know you could pan-broil. According to my Complete Round the World Meat Cookbook by Myra Waldo (1967), the only difference between pan-broiling and pan frying is that you don’t add any fat with the broiling method. The meat cooks from the heat from the pan not the heat from the oil.
I think the key to broiling is to make sure you have the pan the correct distance from the heat source and to keep an eye on the cooking. For most meat, we’re only talking a few minutes of cooking on each side. I found these resources to help you:
- Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner/Beef Checkoff: The beef guys have a vested interest in making sure we enjoy their product. Click here for a downloadable chart on broiling beef. (As an aside, my nephews were in a “Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner” commercial when they were babies)
- Mark’s Daily Apple ~How to Broil Fish You need to read through the entire page to get everything but he offers good basic advice while also reminding us that we just need to experiment a little bit to get the hang of it.
- Recipetips.com~ Grilling and Broiling Chicken: If you’ve ever been on a diet, you’ve had broiled chicken. Unfortunately, broiled chicken has been equated with bland and tasteless. It doesn’t have to be so! One of my favorite entrees is broiled cornish game hens. I just butterfly them, add some seasoning, and broil away (a link for how to butterfly poultry is included in the Grilling and Broiling site).
- Quick roasting vegetables from The Kitchn : I LOVE roasted vegetables but I don’t love the time it takes for them to roast. This site tells you a quick and easy way to roast vegetables using the broiler.
My broiler pan is pretty big and cumbersome (and not very easy to clean, either) so I started using my cast iron skillet or cast iron grill (similar to this one but mine wasn’t pre-seasoned). As the broiler is preheating, I stick the pan in the oven to preheat as well. I think the extra heat from the pan helps sear the meat to make it even juicier than using the broiler pan. Of course, your mileage may vary.
And, here is my recipe from my childhood:
Take one slice of bread. Place cheddar cheese slice on top of it. Broil for just a minute or two (the bread will char very quickly) until the cheese is melted. Yummy without all of the greasiness of a traditional grilled cheese sandwich.
Do you have a secret to broiling that I didn’t mention?
My husband loves to barbecue on his old-fashioned charcoal grill — the “Portable Kitchen” manufactured in Little Rock, AR. If I mention plans to broil, he will volunteer to grill the meat. We probably grill at least once a week year-round, unless it’s very cold or inclement.
My recipe for what I have come to call “cheese toast,” also one of my childhood favorites, varies from yours in that I first toast the bread. It always makes me think of “The Wonderful World of Disney” because we would have Sunday dinner about 2:00 and then it was every man for himself for a light supper snack. I would often prepare cheese toast. I prefer a slice of cheddar cheese, but we began using fat free cheese some years back, and of course, it does not melt well or taste the same.
My mother often topped a simple yellow sheet cake with a broiled frosting, which is one of my favorites. You’ll find the recipe on page 169 of “Betty Crocker’s Picture Cookbook.” I alter the recipe to cut down on the “sat fat” so my mixture is a little weird, but it works after a fashion and we love it. I use any flaked cereal I happen to have on hand and pecans. Watch it closely under the broiler. It can burn in a hurry.
For many years (okay, not that many. I’m only 23 after all), I would make “grilled” cheese sandwiches under the broiler. I also had some extremely tasty variations involving bagels, lunchmeat, cream cheese, tomatoes, etc. These always met with mixed results because I invariably got distracted and forgot about them. When I moved into my current apartment, I inherited a toaster oven from the previous tenant that is WONDERFUL! I can make my toasted cheese sandwiches, toast half-size loaves of bread, and many other wonderful things, including BROILING! (I have only experimented a little with this feature, however. I’m a little afraid of having a 500-degree, poorly-insulated metal box on my kitchen counter. I should look more into it, though, because it would be perfect for cooking for me and the Sweetie.