What is the liquid often ladled onto the grill top in restaurants?

What is the liquid often ladled onto the grill top in restaurants? - Top view of delicious stuffed celery and grilled steal decorated with green herbs served on table with cutlery and glassware

At some restaurants, I've often seen the cook place something like vegetables onto the grill top, ladle a small amount of liquid on top of them and then cover it with a lid. My assumption is that this is water so that the steam will help cook the food faster, but my fear is that it's just a bunch of oil.

What is this liquid?



Best Answer

What you describe is grill basting - where a liquid is poured onto the grill and covered (with a metal salad bowl or a basting cover) to more evenly cook the food and maintain its moisture. The liquid is added towards the latter half of cooking, as adding it in the first half of cooking has no real beneficial effect. Additionally, the steam will melt cheese more evenly if grilling burger patties.

Typically, this liquid is a stock (chicken or pork stock if cooking chicken, vegetable stock if cooking vegetables and beef stock if cooking beef) or water.

On a personal note, I sometimes dissolve a pinch of salt in the water if I don't have any stock available.




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What is the liquid often ladled onto the grill top in restaurants? - Top view of delicious fried eggs and vegetables with sausages and beans on wooden tray with fork and knife
What is the liquid often ladled onto the grill top in restaurants? - Top view of appetizing grilled lobsters with lemons served on white table near tray of oysters in restaurant



What is the liquid used on a griddle?

Typically, this liquid is a stock (chicken or pork stock if cooking chicken, vegetable stock if cooking vegetables and beef stock if cooking beef) or water. On a personal note, I sometimes dissolve a pinch of salt in the water if I don't have any stock available.

What oil do restaurants use on the grill?

Vegetable Oils; vegetable oils are our go-to oil when it comes to griddle cooking. A high smoke point and a relatively neutral flavor, make it perfect for high temp cooking. Smoke Point 400 - 450\xb0F. Canola Oil; one of the best oils for griddle cooking is canola oil.

What do you spray on food when grilling?

Adding spices, beer or wine to the water pan can be used to infuse an added layer of flavor into your food. 2. Spritzing \u2013 Many pit-masters keep a spray bottle filled with stock, apple juice or spray butter handy, spritzing the meat when the surface starts to dry. Be sure to use only a food-safe spray bottle.

Why do you spray water on the grill?

What you *can* do is fill a spray bottle with water in case you get any flare-ups during grilling, this will help keep the heat down. Water can also be sprayed on the grill after you're done to loosen up the burnt bits and more easily clean it off with a brush.



How to Clean the Flat-top Grill




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