broil, roast

[shabani]

Hi everyone,
I can't seem to figure out the difference between "roast" and "broil". The dictionaries give two similar definitions.

Can anyone explain please?
Thanks

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi everyone,
I can't seem to figure out the difference between "roast" and "broil". The dictionaries give two similar definitions.

Can anyone explain please?
Thanks

Roast = BrE
Broil = AmE

 

[Barb_D]

The are not the same thing here.

In the US, a "broiler" is under your oven. It's a way to expose your meat to direct flame without having to outside to grill. The heat comes from the top, instead of from the bottom, as it does on a grill. You have to flip your meat so it cooks evenly. A broiler pan has two parts -- the surface you put your meat on, and a pan underneath to catch the grease.

When you roast something, you put it in the oven - dry heat, no flame.

 

[emsr2d2]

Ohhh, I've been labouring under a misapprehension. In that case broil = grill.

 

[SoothingDave]

This is a toaster oven broiler. You can put a steak in there and broil it with heat from the electric elements on top. (You'd flip the steak about halfway through.)

What would you call this in BrE?

 

[emsr2d2]

This is a toaster oven broiler. You can put a steak in there and broil it with heat from the electric elements on top. (You'd flip the steak about halfway through.)

What would you call this in BrE?

We don't tend to have a standalone piece of equipment that looks like that. What we have is a main oven in which various parts heat up to cook with the door closed. However, if we want to grill something, we leave the door open and switch it on so that only the element (electric or gas) in the roof/ceiling of the oven heats up. We then do the same as you, put the food under it, cook one side, flip it over and then cook the other.

It's called "a grill"! Very inventive, eh?

 

[5jj]

My mother has one of those. She calls it her grill-oven. I don't know what she bought it as.

 

[emsr2d2]

My mother has one of those. She calls it her grill-oven. I don't know what she bought it as.

Really? I've never seen one on sale. I've seen those ones that are a combination microwave/oven/grill but they all look much more like a microwave than anything else.

 

[bhaisahab]

My mother has one of those. She calls it her grill-oven. I don't know what she bought it as.

I have one as well, it's called a "Mini-Oven", (that's what it said on the box). I find it very useful when I need to oven cook two things at different temperatures.

 

[emsr2d2]

Now I'm feeling left out! If only I had a bigger kitchen. :-(

 

[5jj]

Now I'm feeling left out! If only I had a bigger kitchen. :-(

The great joy of these things is that you don't need a bigger kitchen.

 

[SoothingDave]

We don't tend to have a standalone piece of equipment that looks like that. What we have is a main oven in which various parts heat up to cook with the door closed. However, if we want to grill something, we leave the door open and switch it on so that only the element (electric or gas) in the roof/ceiling of the oven heats up. We then do the same as you, put the food under it, cook one side, flip it over and then cook the other.

It's called "a grill"! Very inventive, eh?

Yeah, except a "grill" is what we use to cook outdoors. With charcoal or propane. There are indoor grills as well. Like this:

I think the important feature of a "grill" is that it can leave grill marks on the food.

A toaster oven isn't that big. Sits on the counter. Maybe 2 feet wide.

 

[emsr2d2]

Yeah, except a "grill" is what we use to cook outdoors. With charcoal or propane. There are indoor grills as well. Like this:

I think the important feature of a "grill" is that it can leave grill marks on the food.

A toaster oven isn't that big. Sits on the counter. Maybe 2 feet wide.

Hmm, interesting. A grill within an oven in a British kitchen wouldn't leave grill marks on the food. The food sits on either a metal pan or straight on the shelf but is not in contact with the heated element above it. The heat simply goes down onto the food and cooks it.

It may be small but if I were going to buy it in addition to what I already have in my kitchen, I would certainly need a bigger kitchen!

 

[Barb_D]

What do our British cousins call that thing on the back patio, that thing you put charcoal in (or use gas) to make a nice flame? (That's our grill.) The one that does leave the nice lines?

 

[bhaisahab]

What do our British cousins call that thing on the back patio, that thing you put charcoal in (or use gas) to make a nice flame? (That's our grill.) The one that does leave the nice lines?

We call that a barbecue.

 

[Barb_D]

This gets better and better... two lands separated by a common language!

And boy, am I hungry now!

 

[5jj]

So, we grill indoors, either on an eye-level grill, above the hob (I hope you know what that is),http://www.google.com/imgres?q=mode...tart=0&ndsp=13&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=41&ty=85 , or on a grill conveniently placed below the hob. This lower-level grill may be a separate 'slot' or it may be built into the oven.

Outdoors, on the two days of summer we have, we barbecue, on a barbecue.

 

[emsr2d2]

I think the only time we refer to contact cooking as grilling would be if we were using the "George Forman Grill", an appliance which only appeared in the UK about 5 years ago. Much like many other appliances, thousands of Brits rushed out and bought one, used it once and now it lives in the loft (that's the attic in AmE!)

 

[Barb_D]

I've never had one of those. I'll buy yours from you,if you cover the cross-ocean shipping!

 

[emsr2d2]

I've never had one of those. I'll buy yours from you,if you cover the cross-ocean shipping!

If I were one of those thousands of Brits who bought one, you could have it with pleasure. I refer you back to my previous post about the size of my kitchen. (And I don't have a loft!)