Fear of Broiling in Gas Oven
I grew up in an electric oven/stove family. Every house we ever lived in came with that electric appliance, and I don't know if that was my parents' preference or just circumstance.
I never knew that other ovens had a use, beyond storage, for the little drawer at the bottom.
As an adult, every apartment I've lived in has had a gas stove. Well, that is, if it had a stove at all.
Getting accustomed to the stove part was easy enough, and investing in an oven thermometer has solved most of my baking apprehensions (the necessity of the oven thermometer owing more, I imagine, to the cheapness of my ovens, and their seemingly uncalibrated controls). But for years, broiling was a mystery to me. I never stored my pans in that bottom drawer, because there was clearly fire down there. Also, I realized that the broiling pan fit on the rungs beneath the fire, but it looked too cramped and close to the flame... I was wary.
Then one day I was at a dinner party, and the host made garlic bread using her gas broiler. Seeing her nonchalance as she just threw the pan with the bread under the gas fire, I thought, "So that is it! So simple."
A whole world of flavor possibilities had opened up to me and my kitchen... until the fire alarm went off, and I think someone screamed, and the pan was yanked from it's broiler drawer, bread in flames.
Someone sensible put out the fire. Someone less so threw another batch in the broiler. After all, we'd been pretty excited about eating garlic bread. The second batch was well tended and came out ok. The third went up in flames, but was caught in time to still have edible parts.
For these reasons, I am afraid to broil in my cheap gas oven. But I love the crisp... the caramelization... of broiled food! I am on the cusp of throwing all caution to the wind, and just broiling up a storm, but I thought it more sensible to first ask advice of other gas oven owners out there.
Does anyone have any tips for care-free indoor fire cooking?
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18 Comments:
A gas broiler is an awesome, powerful tool for creating extreme deliciousness. It will cook things very fast though (as you now know,) so just keep your eye on whatever it is you're cooking in there. Don't walk away from it. Broiling stuff usually only lasts a few minutes anyway. Camp out on the floor with your oven mitts, some tongs and a glass of wine. The broiler creates enough heat that you don't need to worry about opening the door so don't hesitate to peer in there a lot. I usually just keep the door open and watch the whole time. This will not only prevent disaster, but you will also be able to catch uneven broiling, so you can pull you food out and rotate it if necessary.
simon at 11:56AM on 03/02/09
Do exactly what simon said. There is nothing to fear.
Barbieri13 at 12:28PM on 03/02/09
Just keep the door open as simon says and constantly monitor the food - do not walk away. If the flame is a little too close for comfort, then adjust the shelf down so there is more room between the flame and the food. Keep the hood on in order to quickly suck out any char broiled smoke and avoid setting off the fire alarm. Practice makes perfect!
laurelie at 1:24PM on 03/02/09
I am cursed with electric , so I am envious of your gas range. Even with the electric low and high options I hover closely and always keep the door proped open.
The one time I forgot I had a cast iron pan of cornbread under the broiler.... 60 seconds later you couldn't tell where pan started and cornbread stopped, totally blackened.
rlwycoff at 1:32PM on 03/02/09
My gas oven has a broiler on the "ceiling" of the oven, not in the drawer... weird!
NYCEater at 1:48PM on 03/02/09
@NYCEater...so does mine. It's an older GE oven.
bessfour at 2:01PM on 03/02/09
I'm jealous - the ones in the ceiling of the oven offer a slightly more dignified broiling experience, no crawling around on the floor, you can sit on a chair to do your broiling, right?
simon at 2:09PM on 03/02/09
@NYCEater- so does mine - a 5 year old Maytag I think....
Maureen at 2:11PM on 03/02/09
I would sit on a chair, if I had room for a chair in my kitchen! Now I just hover.
NYCEater at 2:13PM on 03/02/09
I wish I had one that's on the top, like on Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals set. When I open the broiler door, it sits right on the floor. It's really difficult to see what's happening, even if I'm on my knees. I rarely use it.
juliec at 2:34PM on 03/02/09
Just do it!!! Can't hurt to make sure you have the extinguisher handy though. Also, there's no reason not to store pans down there when you're not actively broiling- there is not, in fact, "fire down there" unless you actually turn on the broiler. Just don't overstuff it or you could dent/damage the broiling mechanism.
Embackus at 2:49PM on 03/02/09
Reminds me of the first time I tried to cook a steak for my then-fiance (now DH of 15 years) in my gas broiler. Reduced a lovely New York Strip to a piece of bark-like shoe leather in no time flat and filled my apartment with thick smoke. I was so embarassed...only then to find out he didn't eat red meat anyway. I do love a gas stove though, and now that I'm a bit more of an accomplished cook, would love love love one...but it was expensive to do the conversion over to gas when we bought our new house.
Just babysit it, like everyone suggested. Enjoy it!!!
juliebugsmama at 2:57PM on 03/02/09
I lived with the oven-bottom-broiler-drawer for 15 years. The only real problem was that in my big living-dining-kitchen-room, if I broiled salmon for a dinner party, my guests would have the pleasure of watching me lying on the floor checking the fish. But my goodness, I'd waaaay rather have a gas broiler than electric. Cheap has nothing to do with it. With a broiler, there's only on and off. (If you set the gauge below the "broil" setting, it'll cycle on and off, hard for you to figure, and not conducive to that lovely crust you're dreaming of. Go for it.
lemons at 3:45PM on 03/02/09
In addition to the difficulty of monitoring whatever is in the broiler drawer in my little narrow apt kitchen, it also can be difficult to slide out, likely it is coming out off center and getting hung up. I so miss my electric double ovens at eye level with a glass door to see a dish develop until the perfect moment to remove it. To date, I probably have a 50% ratio of cooked to incinerated food in the "basement broiler". I get to visit my double oven on the weekends.
chanterelle at 10:32PM on 03/02/09
We have a double gas oven, the top drawer is smaller and meant for quick foods, and broiling I think. Because the top half is so small, anything up there gets burned. If I am just baking, the bottom burns, if I try and broil, the top burns. No matter what setting or precautions I use, due to the food being only about 1 inch from the open flame. Hope you have a better set up than I do. The top compartment is nothing more than slim storage now!
mhurst826 at 3:43PM on 03/03/09
I have a gas range with the broiler in the oven, not in the drawer. If it were in the drawer I'd never use it, guaranteed.
I don't leave the door open on my oven when I broil, I just make sure the rack isn't too high and keep an eye on whatever's in there so I don't reduce it to carbon.
Give it a whirl!
AuntJone at 1:30PM on 03/04/09
I had a gas wall oven with a broiler drawer, which I always kept slightly open when broiling - mine was easy to see. The only time I ever had a problem was when I forgot a dirty broiler pan and tried to bake a lasagna in the oven. The broiler pan caught fire. Of course, I went into panic mode and ripped the fire extinguisher off the wall, then realized I didn't know how to use it, ran next door for help and the fire had gone out by itself by the time I got back (less than a minute). The lasagna was black. I wiped off the baking dish, removed and replaced the top layer, wiped all the black soot off the oven and baked the lasagna. I then had a wall to fix and had to learn the proper way to remove and use a fire extinguisher. Sigh.
PerkyMac at 2:04PM on 03/04/09
I never not once used the basement broiler in the one apartment I had that came with one. I was petrified of the thing. And I'm kind of clumsy which makes it all the more perilous.
RegrettableFoodie at 3:09PM on 03/09/09