Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above or
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| Hamburgers being grilled |
below. It is sometimes referred to as barbecuing but that word can also mean a different cooking technique.
Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat quickly. Food to be grilled is cooked on a grill (an open wire grid such as a gridiron with a heat source above or below), a grill pan (similar to a frying pan, but with raised ridges to mimic the wires of an open grill), or griddle (a flat plate heated from below). Heat transfer to the food when using a grill is primarily via thermal radiation. Heat transfer when using a grill pan or griddle is by direct conduction. In the United States and Canada, when the heat source for grilling comes from above, grilling is termed broiling. In this case, the pan that holds the food is called a broiler pan, and heat transfer is by thermal radiation.
Direct heat grilling can expose food to temperatures often in excess of 260 °C (500 °F). Grilled meat acquires a distinctive roast aroma from a chemical process called the Maillard reaction. The Maillard reaction only occurs when foods reach temperatures in excess of 155 °C (310 °F).
Studies have shown that cooking beef, pork, poultry, and fish at high temperatures can lead to the formation of heterocyclic amines, benzopyrenes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are carcinogens. Marination may reduce the formation of these compounds. Grilling is often presented as a healthy alternative to cooking with oil, although the fat and juices lost by grilling can contribute to drier food.
In the United States, the use of the word grill refers to cooking food directly over a source of dry heat, typically with the food sitting on a metal grate that leaves "grill marks." Grilling is usually done outdoors on charcoal grills or gas grills, a recent trend is the concept of infrared grilling[citation needed]. Grilling may also be performed using stove-top "grill pans" which have raised metal ridges for the food to sit on, or using an indoor electric grill.
A skewer or brochette, or a rotisserie may be used to cook small pieces of food. The resulting food product is often called a "kabob" or "kebab" which means "to grill" in Persian, which is short for "shish kebab" (shish = skewer)(similar to a "satay" in Asian cuisine, or "alambre" in Mexican-Yucatán cuisine). Shish kebabs have a Persian origin, but are now commonplace in American cuisine.
Mesquite or hickory wood chips (damp) may be added on top of the coals to allow a smoldering effect that provides additional flavor to the food. Other hardwoods such as pecan, apple, maple and oak may also be used.
Methods
* Gridironing - Gridironing is the cooking of meats or other foods using a grill suspended above a heat
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| Preparation of Barbecue grill |
source. Grilling is often performed outdoors, using charcoal (real wood or preformed briquettes), wood, or propane gas. Food is cooked using direct radiant heat. Some outdoor grills include a cover so they can be used as smokers or for grill-roasting/barbecue. The suspended metal grate is often referred to as a gridiron.
Outdoor grilling on a gridiron may be referred to as "barbecue", though in US usage, the term barbecue refers to the cooking of meat by indirect heat and smoke. Barbecue has several meanings and may also be used to refer to the grilled food itself, to a distinct type of cooked meat called Southern barbecue, to the grilling device used to cook the food (a barbecue grill), or to the social event of cooking and eating such food (which may also be called a cook-out or braai).
Charcoal kettle-grilling
Charcoal kettle-grilling refers to the process of grilling over a charcoal fire in a kettle, to the point that the edges are charred, or charred grill marks are visible. Some restaurants seek to re-create the charcoal-grilled experience via the use of ceramic lava rocks or infrared heat sources, offering meats that are cooked in this manner as "charcoal-cooked" or "charcoal-grilled".
Grill-baking
By using a baking sheet pan placed above the grill surface, as well as a drip pan below the surface, it is possible to combine grilling and roasting to cook meats that are stuffed or coated with breadcrumbs or batter, as well as to bake breads and even casseroles and desserts. When cooking stuffed or coated meats, the foods can be baked first on the sheet pan, and then placed directly on the grilling surface for char marks, effectively cooking twice; the drip pan will be used to capture any crumbs that fall off from the coating or stuffing.
Grill-braising [edit]
It is possible to braise meats and vegetables in a pot on top of a grill. A gas or electric grill would be the best choices for what is known as "barbecue-braising" or "grill-braising", or combining grilling directly on the surface and braising in a pot. To braise on a grill, put a pot on top of the grill, cover it, and let it simmer for a few hours. There are two advantages to barbecue-braising: the first is that this method now allows for browning the meat directly on the grill before the braising, and the second is that it also allows for glazing the meat with sauce and finishing it directly over the fire after the braising, effectively cooking the meat three times, which results in a soft textured product that falls right off the bone. This method of cooking is slower than regular grilling but faster than pit-smoking, starting out fast, slowing down, and then speeding up again to finish; if a pressure cooker is used, the cooking time will be much faster.
Indoor grilling
Many restaurants incorporate an indoor grill as part of their cooking apparatus. These grills resemble outdoor grills, in that they are made up of a grid suspended over a heat source. Indoor grills are more likely to use electric or gas-based heating elements, however. Some manufacturers of residential cooking appliances now offer indoor grills for home use, either incorporated into a stovetop or as standalone electric devices.
Stove-top pan grilling
Stove-top pan grilling is an indoor cooking process that uses a grill pan - a cooking pan similar to a frying
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| A grill pan |
pan but with raised ridges to emulate the function or look of a gridiron. In pan grilling, heat is applied directly to the food by the raised ridges, and also indirectly by heat radiating off the lower pan surface via the stove-top flame. Stove-top grill pans can also be used to put sear marks on meat before it is finished via overhead radiant heat. When cooking leaner meats, oil is often applied to the pan ridges to aid in food release.
Some griddles designed for stove-top use also incorporate raised ridges in addition to a flat cooking area. These are either on half of the cooking surface, or, in the case of reversible two-sided griddles, on one side with the flat surface on the other.
