Test Your Grilling Knowledge

Grilling: A Form of Cooking Using Dry Heat

• Grilling involves applying dry heat to the surface of food, usually from above, below, or from the side, and is used to cook meat and vegetables quickly.

• Food is cooked on a grill, a cast iron/frying pan, or a grill pan, and heat transfer occurs through thermal radiation or direct conduction.

• In the United States, grilling with heat from above is called broiling with heat transfer through thermal radiation.

• Grilled meat has a distinct aroma and flavor due to the Maillard reaction, which occurs at temperatures above 155°C (310°F).

• Cooking beef, pork, poultry, and fish at high temperatures can lead to the formation of carcinogens such as heterocyclic amines, benzopyrenes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which can be reduced by marination.

• Grilling is often considered a healthy alternative to cooking with oils, but it can result in drier food due to the loss of fat and juices.

• Yakitori carts, restaurants, or shops in Japan contain charcoal-fired grills and marinated grilled meat on a stick, while yakiniku is a popular dish in Korea where meat and vegetables are grilled at high temperatures over small charcoal or gas grills.

• In Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, satay is a popular food item from food vendors, which is marinated meat on a bamboo skewer grilled over a charcoal fire and served with peanut sauce.

• In Germany, outdoor grilling using the gridiron over a bed of burning charcoal is the most prominent form of grilling, and the meat is usually marinated before grilling.

• In Canada, barbecuing is the term most often used, and most Canadians use gas or charcoal grills, with a small electric grill market.

• In the United States, grilling 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 can generate carcinogenic chemicals, including heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which can be reduced by avoiding prolonged cooking times or direct exposure to open flames and hot metal surfaces.

• Grilling methods include grid ironing, charcoal kettle-grilling, grill-baking, grill-braising, indoor grilling, sear grilling, stove-top pan grilling, flattop grilling, and charbroiling.Methods of Grilling Summary

• Oven pan broiling is a method of cooking inside an oven on a broil pan with raised ridges, where the heat can be applied from either above or below.

• A salamander is a culinary grill characterized by very high temperature overhead electric or gas heating elements.

• Salamanders are generally similar to an oven without a front door and are more compact than a conventional oven.

• Overhead heat has the advantage of allowing foods containing fats, such as steaks, chops, and other cuts of meat, to be grilled without the risk of flare-ups caused by the rendered fat dripping onto the heat source.

• Some commercial devices permit the simultaneous grilling of both sides of the meat at the same time.

• The flame-grilling machine at fast food restaurants moves meat patties along a chain conveyor belt between top and bottom burners, grilling both sides of the meat patty at the same time.

• Double-sided grilling was popular in the USA using consumer electrical grills during the 1990s.

• Whole grilling involves grilling a whole carcass as opposed to grilling individual portion-sized cuts.

• Primitive methods and modern equipment can be used for whole grilling.

• Grilling is the traditional method of cooking in several cultures where they do a pig roast, luau, or barbacoa.

• The Bridge and Beach Co. of St. Louis, Missouri, started manufacturing a vertical cast iron stove in 1898, which allowed the meat to be flame-broiled (flame-grilled) on both sides at the same time.

• Hinged double-sided grills are generically known as contact grills.