While teaching and working at Kitchen on Fire, I participated in quite a number of indoor grilling activities; meat, fruit, veggies, and tempeh. So let me describe what we did in a teaching kitchen, but recognize all of the techniques and foods I will show can easily be done in your home kitchen on a stove, actual grilling with wood, charcoal, or gas should be done outside.
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What is Grilling
Wikipedia: For Wikipedia, grilling and broiling are the same cooking technique but I believe they are either side of a coin, different yet similar. Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above (broiling) or below (grilling).
You should never bring any outdoor grill into the house to cook as they can release dangerous fumes (carbon monoxide) or cause a fire, and our kitchens are just not made for indoor Hibachi- or Webber-type grilling.
Broiling is really a North American term and not used elsewhere in the world as much. If you do not have good ventilation, do not grill on your stovetop like I am showing here, consider broiling your food in the oven instead. The broiler gets very hot, cooks the food well, the only thing missing are the grill marks.
Please never leave grilling or broiling unattended.
Cautions About Indoor Grilling
- Too much smoke is not healthy for your lungs, so open windows and have your hood fan on high. No matter what you do, when the food hits the very hot grill pan there will be smoke.
- Too much burnt crisp on the food is unhealthy, so do not eat burnt foods every day, and do not intentionally burn your food into charcoal.
- Know where you kitchen fire extinguisher is located…just in case.
- Know where your fire alarms are and be prepared in case they go off due from the smoke.
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Grilling + Broiling Equipment
Indoor Grills
There are specialized indoor grills (photo above left), but I favor using items that are less expensive, less likely to fail, and are part of my kitchen cookware anyway (above photo right). While I have never used one, I believe they are an unnecessary expense and just one more kitchen gadget that will collect dust.
A good quality grill pan over a gas stove works perfectly and I prefer the cast iron pans, like the one pictured above from Lodge. The pans get very, very hot and cook well. Just make sure you put them somewhere where they can safely cool down before cleaning (like in the “off” oven). If not, someone is going to touch that thing and burn themselves.
Grill Pan
Chefs will use the flat side for pancakes, eggs, and the like. Their preference for grilling is to use the ridged side, as it is built to sear grill marks on the food, but they also want enough of the pan to touch the food so it cooks. If the ridges are too deep, the fat can pool in the pan’s grooves, and since they cannot go anywhere, the fat will vaporize and make hazardous smoke.
To cook on these pans remember to always oil the food (if required and only just enough oil) and not the pan. The process is to heat the pan first (until it starts to smoke) and then add your room temp, seasoned, prepped food.
Tongs
A good set of tongs for grilling steak, chicken, some fruit, or veggies. Tongs allow for a better grip on the food and makes turning easier. I prefer metal tongs with rubber handles.
Skewers
Flat metal skewers (for kabobs) are great because food does not slip off, but what people are most familiar with are rounded wooden ones. I prefer the flat metal ones.
Some say to soak the wood skewers before using so that they are a bit resistant to the high heat. I do not think it matters much, as when I use wooden skewers they burn up occasionally no matter what I do. I prefer metal also because you do not get splinters and do not have to worry about them burning up.
Spatula
You might need a heavy duty metal spatula for flipping certain food (like burgers or fish or pineapple). Not every food item grilled can maintain its shape easily and for those a spatula is called for.
Brush
A brush or bristly silicon brush is used for basting meat or other food. Generally, when grilling indoors, I heat the sauce in a pan and add it to the food after I have removed the food from the heat, while the meat is resting. Thus, producing less smoke in the house.
Bowls
For marinades, to hold the utensils, and later to cover the meat while it rests. I do not place utensils that have touched meat on my counter so use the bowl to rest them in and to make clean up easier.
Good Oil
High temp oil, like Rice Bran Oil, needs to be part of the kit. You want an oil that is neutral and able to withstand high temps. Although for some food I may use a different oil to augment caramelization.
To help reduce smoke, do not over-oil or dump sauce on the grill pan. Oil the food, and add sauce after the item has cooked and is resting. Also consider opening windows and always have the outside vented oven hood fan running.
Grilling Proteins
Meats that do well on the grill are jumbo shrimp or prawns, hamburgers, tri tip, pork chops, chicken, and sausages or hot dogs. I favor dry rubs for indoor cooking, as wet rubs create enough smoke to overwhelm any home kitchen ventilation system.
- Make sure the meat is room temp and seasoned when it hits the pan.
- If you want smoke flavor, season and brush with liquid smoke ~1h before cooking. Or use some of that black Smoke Salt to the meat. Or add smoked paprika to your rub. You will have to experiment since I do not grill for smokey flavor.
- I do not grill very fatty meat, like duck, since it splatters everywhere. I also trim the fat off meat because the issue of burnt fat can ruin the taste of food and is considered unhealthy.
- I have also never grilled a whole chicken since that cooks well in the oven. I will only grill boneless, skin-on chicken thighs since that meat does not tend to dry out. Some will grill chicken breasts but I have not had good luck with that.
- Tri tip is the largest meat I have cooked on the grill but it does take some time.
- Do not press on your meat while grilling. You do not want a smokey room and dry meat. Let the meat cook and flip it over when it is time. If still raw in the center put the meat in the oven to finish cooking.
The main thing is to always rest the meat before cutting. We sometimes just place grilled meat on the meat cutting board (see below, the plastic cutting board), and cover it with a large metal bowl. I do not use aluminum foil to tent the meat, as I prefer not to have aluminum touch my food.
Grilling tofu may work for some people but I could not get it to hold its shape. Grilling tempeh however worked just fine. This is a good alternative to meat and with the right rub can taste good as well.
Grilling Veggies
There are two clear ways to grill veggies, first is using the shish kebab technique. You can use all veggies or a veggie + meat combination on a skewer cooked over fire or an indoor grill pan.
- Wikipedia: Shish kebab is a popular meal of skewered and grilled cubes of meat. It can be found in Mediterranean cuisine and is similar to or synonymous with a dish called shashlik, which is found in the Caucasus region. It is one of the many types of kebab, a range of meat dishes originating in the Middle East.
Second is to grill individual veggies, marinated or not. Clean and dry the veggies, then place on the grill to cook. I tend to season the veggies once they are cooked, right before serving. But in any case these could be sweet or hot peppers, asparagus, zucchini, corn on the cob, etc.
- With asparagus, remember to place them counter to the grill so they do not fall through the cracks, and the thicker veggie does better. Once off the grill, top with thinly sliced parmesan cheese to slightly melt and drizzle with very good extra virgin olive oil.
- Sweet or bell peppers are great for grilling, but I tend to thickly slice bell peppers while leaving the smaller sweet peppers whole. Off the grill I may stuff the smaller sweet peppers to make them more intersting.
- Zucchini or yellow squash can be grilled. I tend to slice zucchini lengthwise into fourths so they lay flat on the grill.
- I have not done this but you can grill eggplants, beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, and corn with the husks still attached.
Grilling Tomatoes and Peppers
The issue with grilling tomatoes and peppers is that this is also a good way to remove the tougher outer layers of these veggies. Above are pictures showing, from left to right, the regular tomato or Poblano pepper, then the grilled versions, then the skinned versions.
To lesson the chance of upset stomaches of my friends and family, I regularly de-skin and de-seed tomatoes before cutting them up and using for raw salsa or cooked dishes. I can start the process of de-skinning either through poaching, or grilling. In both cases the skin with blister and come right off.
For any use of poblano peppers I will grill on top of the gas stove or grill to blister the skin, then once it is blackened all over, I will place the pepper in a plastic bag to steam. This takes up to ~15 minutes depending how many and size of the peppers. At that point, after steaming, the flesh comes off under running water in the sink while I catch it in a colander.
Grilling Fruit
Clean and halve the stone fruit (peach, plums, nectarines) throw away the pit, brush the flat portion of the cut fruit with butter, then place on the grill with the flesh side down, near the heat. Keep on the heat long enough to see grill marks, ~3-4 minutes, and for their natural sugars to caramelize. If the fruit is ripe, it will present a smokey-sweet flavor that is beautiful to look at. Also use a spatula to remove the fruit from the grill in case portions stick.
I always taste the fruit (pears, apples, mangos) before deciding if it should be grilled. If it is not sweet enough then I generally will not bother.
For pineapple just peel and cut to the size you want. Brush very lightly with oil and place on the grill. The natural sugary juice will caramelize on its own. The amount of time to cook is ~5-8min per side, but check often as we do not want it burnt. This is actually really tasty and nutritious as well. Pineapple is an excellent source of: vitC, manganese, copper, B-complex vitamins, dietary fiber, folate, and pantothenic acid. DFInstitute also writes, Pineapple contains bromelain, a proteolytic enzyme, which has anti-inflammatory and anti-clotting properties.
Grilling Bread
Apply olive oil to one side of the bread and “toast” on the grill long enough for some burn marks. Then add a topping and serve. Usually it is a tomato – basil mix as shown in the photo above.
Happy Grilling
I have to admit, I do not grill outdoors often, even though I do have a small webber charcoal grill, for it seems to be a big fuss to make to only cook for two. Last I brought it out was several years ago to grill chicken for a staff party of 15 people.
But I grill on top of my stove a couple of times a year. When I do this, I get grease all over the stove top, hood, back wall and floor. Oh, and I get grease on me too. But, as my spouse constantly reminds me, I may be a good cook, but I am a good MESSY cook.
—Patty
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Another question: I have been asked about the graphics and photos I use. I always try to use permission implied or granted Pexels.com, Wikipedia.com, Imagur.com, publicly posted fair-use research studies, publicly-funded governmental graphics or charts, or my friends, or my own photos. However, sometimes I use graphics or photos from others, credit them with links, and always contact them for permission via email or their website. Mostly they do not respond, so I assume “Fair Use” since I do this not for money but for education purposes. If anyone says “no” or complains I immediately remove any of their work from my site as I am not purposefully intending to break any copyright or plagiarism law. I have only been turned down by one company so far (knock on wood). The reason I try to use other peoples work is that I am not a graphics person, nor photographer, as anyone can tell. But unfortunately for me, sometimes to make my point a photo or graph is absolutely needed for clarity.