# Werefore a broiling pan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206 "2007-01-08T21:04:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/21 "2007-01-09T08:58:18Z")
With the arrangement in the US, isn’t the "broiler"very hard to reach? You would have to bend right down to floor level to see what you are doing? As in Australia, in the UK the “grill” is on top - normally in a separate compartment - as [here](http://www.belling.co.uk/Freestanding_c7/D884_s36.aspx). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/22 "2007-01-09T09:16:30Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Further disambiguation: the oven-based thing (gas or electric, top-down) is what we in the UK (and Australia, I’m guessing from **jabiru** ’s response) call “grilling”. The former we know as “barbecuing”. [/QUOTE] It gets more complex and disparate the deeper you dig - truly two nations, separated by a common language. I suggest we revert to the term ‘[salamandering](http://www.infraglo.co.uk/catering_burners.htm)’ to refer to overhead radiant cooking. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/23 "2007-01-09T11:56:41Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Mangetout: > revert to the term ‘salamandering’ “Revert”? I like it but when did anyone ever refer to salamandering 😕 ? I think it’s going to take a lot of persuasion before I start “salamandering my sausages” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/24 "2007-01-09T12:10:00Z")
It’s a very old English term - a salamander was a metal utensil that would be heated - ideally until glowinig - in a fire or furnace, then held over food to grill or brown it. ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/25 "2007-01-09T13:29:54Z")
You live and learn - I’ve never seen this usage before 🆒 From a quick search on Google it looks like it is mostly confined to catering equipment these days. Is that right or have I just led a sheltered life? ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/26 "2007-01-09T13:36:29Z")
[QUOTE=Shayna] Only if they’re gas. Electric ovens utilize the actual oven as a broiler – you just move the rack to the highest level so the pan is close to the heating element on top (the broil setting keeps the lower heating element off) – and the drawer below (if we’re talking about a full range – built-in wall ovens don’t have that lower drawer at all) is for storage. [/QUOTE] Only cheap gas ovens. “Good” ones have the broiler at the top of the oven, too. My “good” gas oven has storage in that lower drawer. Likewise my previous, good gas oven. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/27 "2007-01-09T13:42:24Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] It’s a very old English term - a salamander was a metal utensil that would be heated - ideally until glowinig - in a fire or furnace, then held over food to grill or brown it. [/QUOTE] Unfortunately, ‘salamader’ already has a fairly specific definition: a separate piece of equipment (not part of an oven) that has a heating element that can be raised or lowered over food. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Lao](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dr.Lao](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Lao)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/28 "2007-01-09T13:45:04Z")
[QUOTE=Shayna] Only if they’re gas. Electric ovens utilize the actual oven as a broiler – you just move the rack to the highest level so the pan is close to the heating element on top (the broil setting keeps the lower heating element off) [/QUOTE] That is the broiler element. The top element in my electric oven doesn’t come on when the oven is running normal (‘Bake’ on my oven) mode. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/29 "2007-01-09T14:02:54Z")
[QUOTE=Dr. Lao] Unfortunately, ‘salamader’ already has a fairly specific definition: a separate piece of equipment (not part of an oven) that has a heating element that can be raised or lowered over food. [/QUOTE] Well, that’s what I used to think, but it looks as though the term has crept into (albeit not very widespread) modern usage to describe part of an oven - see the link in post #22. ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/30 "2007-01-09T16:57:29Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] It gets more complex and disparate the deeper you dig - truly two nations, separated by a common language. I suggest we revert to the term ‘[salamandering](http://www.infraglo.co.uk/catering_burners.htm)’ to refer to overhead radiant cooking. [/QUOTE] As a resident of that nation between Mexico and Canada, I always thought [THIS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander) was a salamander. I have way more to learn than I ever thought, and, that was a lot to begin with 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/31 "2007-01-09T22:28:30Z")
[QUOTE=Merhouse] As a resident of that nation between Mexico and Canada, I always thought [THIS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salamander) was a salamander. I have way more to learn than I ever thought, and, that was a lot to begin with 😃 [/QUOTE] They’re not entirely unrelated; salamanders (the animal) are connected in mythology with fire, probably because they had been observed emerging from unseen cavities in damp logs when they were put on the fire - so they seemed to be emerging spontaneously from the fire. ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/32 "2007-01-09T23:13:44Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Further disambiguation: the oven-based thing (gas or electric, top-down) is what we in the UK (and Australia, I’m guessing from **jabiru** ’s response) call “grilling”. The former we know as “barbecuing”. [/QUOTE] Do Brits have a word for the ‘low and slow’ indirect cooking method, which I call ‘barbeque,’ that **pulykamell** described so well? ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/33 "2007-01-09T23:33:03Z")
Not on a BBQ that I can think of 😕 Of course we are only just getting into BBQ culture - global warming and all that 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/34 "2007-01-09T23:34:27Z")
[QUOTE=iwakura43] Do Brits have a word for the ‘low and slow’ indirect cooking method, which I call ‘barbeque,’ that **pulykamell** described so well? [/QUOTE] I’m not sure - how is it performed? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/35 "2007-01-09T23:36:58Z")
Gah. forget I asked that. Hmmm… cooking slowly over charcoal would be barbecuing here as well - except it’s just not the way many people do it, and the term ‘barbecue’ happens to include the much more common method that leaves the food blackened on the outside and raw in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/36 "2007-01-10T14:27:36Z")
Good god, these Canadians here are driving me crazy. The act of using an outdoor grill is called barbecuing. Damned hot dogs and hamburgers cooked on such a device are referred to as barbecue. The damned outdoor cooker (the grill) is called a barbecue. You end up in a stupid situation where someone invites you to their barbecue where they barbecue hot dogs and hamburgers on their barbecue and upon tasting the food they ask you how’s the barbecue taste. ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/37 "2007-01-11T04:46:00Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I’m not sure - how is it performed? [/QUOTE] Wikipedia explains it better than I could: _“For those who distinguish between the terms, grilling is almost always a fast process over high heat and barbecue is almost always a slow process using indirect heat and/or hot smoke. For example, in a typical home grill, grilled foods are cooked on a grate directly over hot charcoal; while in barbecuing, the coals are dispersed to the sides or at significant distance from the grate. Alternately, an apparatus called a smoker with a separate fire box may be used. Hot smoke is drawn past the meat by convection for very slow cooking. This is essentially how barbecue is cooked in most genuine “barbecue” restaurants…”_ ([Barbecue - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bbq)) ---
**Author:** ![Rhubarb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/59ef9b/32.png) [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2007, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/38 "2007-01-11T05:30:20Z")
Whatever you call it, just make sure you leave the oven door partially open while doing it. There is a spot where the oven door will stand about 6 inches open for this very reason. It is called the broiler stop. I once charged a rather incredulous woman a $40 service call for this tidbit of information after she had ruined $25 worth of steaks the previous night. AFAIK, this only applies to ovens where the broiler is in the oven compartment, generally electric ovens. On units with a separate broiling compartment, this may not be the case. Why are they included with the oven? It’s an inexpensive sales tool like the ice cube trays that come with a new refrigerator. It costs the manufacturer almost nothing and makes the appliance look better in the showroom if there’s something in it. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/39 "2007-01-17T15:51:24Z")
Well, as a service to the SDMB community here, this is the reply I received from Whirlpool: > [@whirlpool\_customerexperience@whirlpool.com](#): > > Thank you for visiting the Whirlpool website, we appreciate hearing from you. > > We no longer include broiler pans with our range. Only some models come with broiler pans as an added feature. Some Whirlpool consumers use their broiler pan often and feel that this is a need feature for their range or oven therefore, Whirlpool includes the broiler pans in some models ranges. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206/40 "2007-01-17T19:59:06Z")
Probably just a cometitive thing, like the interior light or the window. If somebody big, GE or Amana, does it for one model, then every cheaper unit feels obliged to follow suit, and then the major player cannot back down either. Also, they are cheap. Maybe $2 in bulk. I buy them for apartment buildings, where movers pack them with the other pans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/werefore-a-broiling-pan/387206.md?page=3)