0

I believe in indoor grills! I shall install a grill in my new indoor kitchen. But which kind? What are the merits and demerits of electric — vs. fire gas — grill? Please compare? Rule out cost as a factor.

Indoor fire, gas grills (Bottom 2)

Electric grills (Top 2, Middle, Bottom 2)

Improve this question
2
  • Welcome to SA! It's not clear from your question whether you want to know whether indoor grills are worthwhile at all, or whether you want to compare electric and gas models. Please clarify.
    – FuzzyChef
    May 27 at 20:11
  • @FuzzyChef thank you! I edited my post to clarify. Is my post clear now?
    – user101748
    May 27 at 22:29

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

It has been my personal experience that electric grills do not, well, grill.

They don't produce enough heat, and the heat they do produce is radiant, instead of convection, resulting in not enough of the heat reaching the food. As a result, you end up with undercooked food that looks more like it went on a griddle than a grill.

This is why most electric "grilling" is done using grill pans and presses (this is how I grill in the winter). Other forms of electric grill rproduce, in my opinion, uninspiring results, particularly if you're limited to 110V as North Americans are.

So, if you want to have an "indoor grill", you're going to want gas. But there's another issue there, which is ventilation and cleanup. If you're going to have an indoor, restaurant-style gas grill and really cook things on it, you're going to need a restaurant-grade ventilation hood, or you'll fill your house with smoke. You'll also need to consider the effort of cleaning out the grill after use; you can't let it burn off the way you would with an outdoor grill.

This smoke and cleanup requirement doesn't go away with an electric grill, because most of the smoke comes from the burning juices from the food. Definitely do not get an electric grill with exposed elements, as it will be impossible to clean off burned food from those elements.

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    I'd challenge your assertion that radiant heat is the wrong kind of heat for grilling; in my understanding, radiant heat is what characterises grilling and distinguishes it from, say, pan-searing or baking. I think you're right about electric grilling not producing enough heat to wreally showcase the benefits of the method, though.
    – Blargant
    May 29 at 0:01
  • Sure, and the radiant heat of coals is perfect. But the problem with electric elements is that they don't radiate enough, particularly when you need to cover them to keep food from burning onto them. A gas grill doesn't produce as much heat as coals, either, but makes up for that via convection carrying more heat to the food.
    – FuzzyChef
    May 30 at 0:36
  • put shiny al foil under electric grill coils to increase the radiation the food gets; makes a huge difference compared to a matte-black bottom layer (a prefect radiation absorber). I got my mom's little electric grill to actually be usable that way...
    – dandavis
    Jun 1 at 23:54

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.