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Dry-heat cooking · beginner

Broiling

Also: grilling (UK), top-heat grilling, salamander

Cooking food a short distance below an intense overhead heat source.

50 recipes use it

What it is

Broiling uses radiant heat from an oven's top element or gas flame. It is grilling upside down: fast, intense and good for browning tops, melting cheese and cooking thin cuts.

Why cooks use it: It browns and blisters surfaces in minutes without heating the food much below the surface.

The science

Radiant heat falls off sharply with distance, so moving the rack a few centimetres changes the result a lot. Only the top surface receives strong heat.

How heat moves into foodThe Maillard reactionCaramelisation

Step by step

  1. Set the rack so the food's surface is about 8–15 cm below the element.

  2. Preheat the broiler for 5–10 minutes.

  3. Use a metal tray (not glass that may not be rated for broiling).

  4. Broil, watching constantly; turn thin cuts once.

  5. Remove as soon as the top is browned or the core temperature is reached.

Heat and timing

  • Broiling 250–300 °C · Home broilers commonly reach about 250–300 °C at the element; the food surface gets less.

Time: 1–3 minutes to brown a topping; 4–10 minutes for thin cuts.

How you know it’s right

  • Bubbling and spotty browning
  • Edges just charring
  • Cheese molten and freckled

Common mistakes

  • Walking away (seconds separate brown from burnt)
  • Rack too close for thick food
  • Using parchment that can ignite under the element

Troubleshooting

Top burns before middle is hot
Heat the dish through in the oven first and broil only to finish, or lower the rack.
Uneven browning
Rotate the tray halfway; most elements have hot spots.

Restaurant DNA

How professionals do it

Restaurants use a salamander, a wall-mounted broiler with an adjustable shelf, to glaze, gratinate and finish plates in seconds.

At home

The oven broiler with the rack in the top position does the same job; a kitchen blowtorch works for small areas.

General professional practice — not any particular restaurant’s recipe.

Food safety

  • Never use parchment or paper under a broiler.
  • Glass bakeware not labelled broiler-safe can shatter.

Practise it

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