I’m a single guy who lives alone. Burgers, pork chops, and steaks or chicken breasts (when on sale) are often a good dinner choice for me. The problem is that I’m getting sick of the blandness of cooking them in a frying pan or under the broiler. My apartment affords me no outdoor space except a small balcony, so while I theoretically could have a hibachi grill, I really don’t want to take the trouble of cleaning it up and storing it when it’s not in use, not to mention that using a grill less than 10 feet from a dwelling is technically illegal in my township.
Now, I know that nothing but a charcoal grill is going to give me the flavor of a charcoal grill. But even propane grills seem to impart a certain flavor that frying pans and broilers don’t. What’s more, a hamburger prepared by a decent restaurant has that same flavor, and if my blithe assumption is correct, restaurants don’t have indoor propane grills, just large flat heated surfaces like the one in plain view at the cafeteria at my workplace. (Feel free to correct my blithe assumption.)
Anyway, there seem to be three types of products made for indoor grilling, and while I can’t imagine why any other type of heated metal surface should be better than my frying pan, I’m wondering whether any of them might impart at least a little of the flavor I’m looking for.
[list=1]
[li]Grill pans. Made of cast iron, aluminum, or steel, these seem to be nothing more than large, heavy frying pans with raised ridges to simulate a real grill. I’ve never actually seen one of these in use, just run across them in stores.[/li][li]Stove-top grills/griddles. These simply sit across and are heated by the burners on your stove. My aunt has one, and it seems to do a good job with pancackes, which is the only thing I’ve ever seen it used for. I don’t think hers is the reversible kind which also has a side with raised grill ridges. That’s the side I think I’d use more often.[/li][li]Electric grills. These seem to come in two varieties: the George Foreman kind, which clamps itself down around your food, and the kind which looks like a small charcoal or propane grill. I’ve heard through hearsay that food done on the Foreman grill tastes no better than that done in the frying pan or broiler. Here is an example of the latter kind.[/li][/list=1]
Does anyone have any experience with any of these three types of products? Am I better off saving my money? To be clear, I know that nothing I do indoors is going to come close to an outdoor charcoal or even propane grill. I just want to know whether there will be any noticeable improvement over my frying pan or broiler.
Grill pans just give you the nice grill marks. I don’t believe it has anything to do with flavor. In fact, when something calls for a grill pan (which I don’t have) I use a regular frying pan and just suffer the fact that it doesn’t look as pretty.
I have an electric grill - not a foreman type. It’s actually got a grill, but it has a heating element underneath it instead of the charcoals. You sort of get a grilled taste, but you don’t taste any mesquite or (thankfully) lighter fluid taste.
If you really want a smoky fire flavor, you could always add a drop or two of Liquid Smoke to your meats. It comes in a little bottle, you use a few drops (don’t need much) and it is supposed to give it a wood fired type of flavor.
I think if you want the flavor, #1 or #2 won’t really do it for you. #3 might, but I’d hardly call myself a connoisseur.
Just for the record, I love the George forman bivalve mullosk kind of grill. Fast & easy. It seems to be hot enough that it sears the meat early preventing it from drying out too much. All that said, it doesn’t taste as good as grilled-out food - but it’s close!
Quite a lot of restaurants do have indoor gas grills (with huge powerful extractor hood above them)
Anyway.
Get a red (bell) pepper, a carving fork and a gas blowtorch.
Impale the pepper with the fork (through the stem end if you can), play blowtorch flame all over the skin until it bubbles and turns matt black. This process doesn’t actually create much smoke.
When the entire skin is blackened, drop the pepper into a plastic sandwich bag, close the top and leave it for ten minutes.
Remove the pepper from the bag and the blackened skin should come away easily (having been softened by the steam in the bag), scrape off most of the blackened skin, then cut up and de-seed the pepper.
Toss the pepper in the blender until it is a fine, smooth sauce, add some brown sugar and some dried herbs, then paint it onto some raw meat and bake or grill, adding a little more sauce once in a while.
Thanks, but I think I should be clearer about what I’m looking for. It’s not charcoal flavor. There is a quality to grilled food that’s hard to put my finger on–more than just a taste, it’s also a consistency, I think. When I have a hamburger grilled on an outdoor grill at someone’s house, or I order a hamburger at a restaurant, or even at the cafeteria at work, it somehow comes out juicier and plumper than the ones I make at home. It’s that grilled “quality” that I’m after.
This may help, maybe not. Set your oven to broil, let it get nice and hot, then let it get hotter, then wait some more. Have the broil rack in there, nice and close to the flames (or electric grid if that’s the best you can do) so it’s really really hot too. Let it run another 20 minutes or so, just to make sure it’s hot. Then try to cook that hamburger.
kanicbird’s suggestion is correct. You are trying to get a charred flavor on your meat. High heat is the only way to sufficiently convert the proteins into that state. Here is another technique.
Purchase an old black flat bottom cast iron skillet. Do not pretend that it will ever become seasoned in the following suggested application. You will need to have good ventilation in your kitchen. You are going to reproduce the once popular “blackening” technique.
METHOD:
If you are working with an electric stove, set it on high.
Place the cast iron pan on the maximum setting burner.
DO NOT place any oil or butter in the pan.
Give the cut of meat an nice coating of oil.
Sprinkle the cut with some salt and cracked black pepper.
Check that water flashes into steam when dripped in pan.
Lay the meat in the pan.
Allow the cut of meat to nearly begin smoking.
Use a metal blade spatula to turn the meat.
Quickly char the other side.
Turn the pan off.
Allow meat to cook in the pan as it cools.
Remove meat from pan and allow to rest before dining.
Avoid any use of butter as only oil will withstand the high temperatures involved. Peanut oil or lard are the best for this sort of flash cooking. You want to build a bit of crust on the meat during the charring process. Some smoke will be generated. It will take some experimenting to arrive at a good method but you will eventually be able to get a char-broiled effect.
If you are using an electric stove, you may wish to move the pan off of the element due to their immense residual heat. After several tries you will be able to gauge when you have the desired charring effect. My favorite is to have a New York strip steak well charred on the outside with a rare inside. This gives it the perfect balance of carcinogenc nitrosamines and crippled bovine flavor.
Feel free to email me with any questions. If possible, please post some of your results back in the thread if you use this method.