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Grilling Questions for Diane Morgan: Can I Grill Indoors?

So what about those of us who have no space for a grill? Can we make any of these yummy grilled recipes we've been featuring all month? Yes, says grilling expert Diane Morgan. She wrote a book called Grill Every Day, and if she's really grilling every day then we figured she must have a fallback option for when the weather is bad. Read on for tips on the best things to grill indoors.

Here's the question and Diane's answer:

Do you have any good tips for those of us whose grilling experiments must be confined to a grill pan on an electric stove?

I use an indoor grill pan or electric grill when it is rainy or cold and basically too unpleasant to cook outdoors.

I tend to grill foods such as: vegetables (asparagus, eggplant slices, bell peppers, sweet onions slices, etc), boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chicken satays, shrimp, scallops, salmon, or other sturdy fish fillets, hangar steaks, skirt steaks, etc.

Vegetables and lean meats that are grilled relatively quickly without a lot of fat and splatter work best.

Thanks Diane!

Go here to see all of Diane's good answers to your grilling questions:
• Give Us Your Questions for Diane Morgan, Author of Grill Every Day

(Grill pan image: Chef's Catalog)

Comments (4)

I love my $15 IKEA grill pan! It's great for steak, leaving wonderful "grill" marks on the meat. It cleans up easily and is dishwasher safe. A great pan. Oh, and despite the raised grill rails, I can make a mean pan sauce in it.

posted by CleanSimple on July 23rd 2008 at 8:41am
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Mark Bittman calls the oven broiler an upside-down grill, so I make a lot of grill recipes in the oven. No pretty grill marks, but it works really well.

Of course, having the broiler on tends to make the kitchen hot, so I mostly do this in the winter.

posted by mandarinmarie on July 23rd 2008 at 10:54am
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I love my grill pan, too! It's just big enough for two little strip steaks, and it's cast iron, so it holds the heat really well. I often start meat on the grill pan and then finish it in the broiler or oven. I've heard the "upside-down broiler" comparison a lot, too, and get similar results as grill cooking, except for those nice charcoal flavors when I use briquettes.

posted by OneWallKitchen on July 23rd 2008 at 11:06am
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Thanks CleanSimple for the tip about the IKEA grill pan - any other suggested brands, or things I should consider when making a purchase?

posted by peacelily on July 23rd 2008 at 4:04pm
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