Pigs in blankets

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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by benhall.1 »

DrPhill wrote:Oh, well played sir!
:D
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by DrPhill »

benhall.1 wrote:
DrPhill wrote:Never heard of them..... interesting.
You must have heard the term as used in the UK, surely Phill? You know - those things that absolutely everybody has with their turkey for Christmas dinner, along with all the other things?
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by Nanohedron »

Here's a pic of an oven's built-in broiler, here using an element rather than flames:

Image

Notice the proximity of the steak to the heat source. Clearly, this isn't baking. It's more like cooking closely over hot coals, but flipped around. In some professional kitchens they'll have dedicated broiler ovens called salamanders. Since broiling is a proximity thing there's not much vertical space in them - about like what you see in the pic - but laterally some of them can be quite long to accommodate high order volume. Salamanders usually run nonstop during working hours, especially if the menu calls for their frequent use.

There are also smaller, household-sized broiler ovens - like a mini salamander - to be had if your regular oven doesn't have that feature, but that means you have to have the counter space for one, and I don't. So either way, no broiling for me. :cry:

In the States you'll often hear "broiling" as a metaphor or a descriptor, especially during very hot weather: "How're you doing out there?" "I'm broiling to death, but I'll manage." Or we might refer to a broiling hot sun, "broiling hot" being a stock phrase. Stuff like that. The word is all about intense, sizzling heat. We could just as well, and do, also say "baking", "boiling", "cooking", "roasting", and the like, but at least where I live, "broiling" seems to be a very, if not the most, common word in terms of hot weather and the suffering it causes.

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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by busterbill »

Nanohedron wrote: I don't have a broiler feature in my current oven, either, but usually I've had one..
I've never heard of an oven without the broiler. I guess it is something I'll need to check the specs on if I buy a new stove. Everybody's trying to shave off features.

The life expectancy of stoves has gone down. In the past 15 years I've had three "die of old age" according to the repair guys. I grew up with a stove that lasted 30 years. Even when my folks replaced it it was because my mom was tired of the look of it and wanted electronic ignition instead of pilot lights. And my early adult years were spent in various apartments with stoves older than I was.

I seldom have used a broiler, but when I want one, I really want one. :D
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by DrPhill »

What you call a broiler looks like what I call a grill. A grill is considered a normal part of a cooker in this country. The way we use a grill seems to match the way you use a broiler.
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by busterbill »

DrPhill wrote:What you call a broiler looks like what I call a grill. A grill is considered a normal part of a cooker in this country. The way we use a grill seems to match the way you use a broiler.
Yes, we have circled back to Divided By A Common Language. In the US we'd use grill to refer to a heat from the bottom outside an oven device, whether it be charcoal, gas or electric, outdoor or indoor.
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by benhall.1 »

DrPhill wrote:What you call a broiler looks like what I call a grill. A grill is considered a normal part of a cooker in this country. The way we use a grill seems to match the way you use a broiler.
It actually doesn't look quite the same to me, but then again, I may be getting myself even more confused by the different uses of language in this area. The grills in some ovens in the UK (by no means all) look a bit feeble compared with those hefty-looking broiler things in the States. Our grills cook pretty gently, really (not that I've got one). Those US things look fierce! :o
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by david_h »

Cocktail sausages wrapped in bacon to me.

Don't recall coming across 'broil' other than in 'broiler chicken', but I had to look that up (DrPhil - you do not want to know)

Our grill is part of a 'top oven' on the cooker, smaller element than in Nano's picture but plenty big enough for sputtering flames and smoke detectors going off.
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by Tunborough »

From what I know, pig-in-a-blanket is a hot dog or sausage baked in a bread-like wrapper. Not experienced them personally, but you see them at the bigger fairs. (When we had fairs.) No bacon involved.

Around here, the upper element in the oven is always the broiler, used to apply direct heat to food. The lower element is for baking, applying indirect heat.
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by Nanohedron »

david_h wrote:Our grill is part of a 'top oven' on the cooker, smaller element than in Nano's picture but plenty big enough for sputtering flames and smoke detectors going off.
Okay, so it seems pretty evident that what at least some of you Right Ponders are calling a grill is what we Left Ponders call a broiler. We would never, EVER call a broiler a grill; that is something else entirely and has its own set of variations.

Here is the basic Stateside concept of a grill:

Image

In the US, especially the North, we will often erroneously call it a barbecue, but technically barbecue is a process, not an object, and technically you cannot barbecue in the true sense on such a grill, but even knowing better, nevertheless we'll often say, "Let's barbecue some chicken," when we actually mean to grill them; it's a vernacular that you'd be far less likely to hear in the South. Just because you throw some BBQ sauce on it doesn't make it barbecue; it's still grilled.

You have charcoal grills (as above), gas grills, electric grills, big grills, little grills, simple grills, insanely over-engineered grills, and these are all usually outdoor items; but there are also even stovetop "grills" that emulate the grilling process:

Image

The common thread to what constitutes a grill is above all the grilling rack, or in stovetop grills, the emulation of such a rack.
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by fatmac »

That's a hot plate! :D
Last edited by fatmac on Fri Mar 27, 2020 12:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by Nanohedron »

fatmac wrote:That's a hot plate! :D
Nope. A hotplate wouldn't have the raised lines. We often use the words "rack" and "grill" interchangeably, too, depending on context.
benhall.1 wrote:Those US [broiler] things look fierce! :o
They're supposed to be. As I said, broiling is a relatively fast process.
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by PB+J »

Yes a grill is a metal surface with scallops or ridges or made of heavy wire, heat is underneath; ideally charcoal heat or a live gas flame. Grilling should produce lines on the food, grill marks. A Griddle is a flat, smooth metal cooking surface. A broiler applies intense heat from the top, a few inches from the food.

A hot plate is an electric appliance you plug in and use to cook in your seedy efficiency apartment or room in a no-tell motel
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by PB+J »

edit: double post
Last edited by PB+J on Fri Mar 27, 2020 2:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Pigs in blankets

Post by Tunborough »

fatmac wrote:That's a hot plate! :D
This is a hot plate:

Image
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