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Broiled and Grilled Meat
Answer
Dear Cathie
BROILED AND GRILLED MEAT
For bacon, sausages and pork chops, place on a grill rack set in the high position in an Aga roasting tin hung on the very highest set of runners in the Roasting Oven. The food will almost be touching the top of the oven and will broil or grill to perfection. For American tastes, to get the very best crispy bacon I would recommend you oven-fry bacon by placing it in a single layer on the bottom of an Aga roasting tin or baking tray (the hard anodised Aga baking trays are perfect for this and won`t warp in high temperatures and they fit the Aga oven runners). Place directly on the floor of the Roasting Oven for "old time" crispy bacon for the approval of even the fussiest of palates.
To broil by contact grill steaks, cutlets and chops, an Aga grill pan is called for. The cast iron version is the original and best, but a lighter aluminium version is also available which gives good results but not quite the same.
Heat the grill pan clean and dry first for a minute on the Simmering Plate and then for a good 2-3 minutes on a clean Boiling Plate, until it has become as hot as the hotplate itself. If your meat has a strip of fat on it, rub that over the ridges of the pan, otherwise extremely lightly oil your meat.
Aga Cookery Doctor Tip
"Always oil the food, never the pan. This way you will minimise any tendency of smoking."
Place on the hot ridges and press down with a spatula. Cook for 2-3 minutes per side, to taste. This can be continued on the Boiling Plate, but as with any cooker, splashes will naturally occur on the top of the cooker. I prefer to transfer the pan to the floor of the Roasting Oven, where it will continue cooking, absorbing more heat from the solid oven floor. Any splashes will land on the hot oven walls and vaporise or carbonise and the fumes will be safely ducted away by the oven venting system.
Always sear a steak with a high heat and then equally importantly, allow it to rest on a warm plate for a few minutes before eating. Place the warmed plate on the Aga Warming Plate or on the top plate, the Warming Oven may also be used if preferred. This vital resting allows the partial reversing of the protein coagulation that takes place during the high temperature broiling or grilling. This lets the muscle fibres, which have tightened up in the searing heat, to relax and for their fluids to become evenly redistributed causing the texture to change from tough to tender in turn producing the moist and succulent results we all are look for.
Broiling and grilling fish. The grill pan can also be used to cook "meatier" types of fish such as tuna and swordfish steaks, marlin etc. Flat fish are better broiled or grilled using the top of the oven method described above. Butter the grill rack first and cook the presentation side last.
Best Wishes
Richard Maggs
THE AGA COOKERY DOCTOR
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