help! i have a london broil marinading for dinner & read that broiling is the best way to cook it (i don’t have access to a grill). problem is that broiler pan is missing from my gas oven…what should i do?
You don’t necessarily need a broiler pan to broil something. Broiling is a conductive cooking method. It applies heat directly from one source. So you can use any pan you’d like, it’s only cooking one side at a time anyway.
However, the thickness of the steak will make a big difference in the cooking method you should choose. If the steak is over an inch or so, the direct heat method will burn the outside before cooking the inside completely.
You may want to consider a combination cooking method. With saute pan or cast-iron skillet, you could brown the outside of the beef, caramelizing sugars for that nice flavor and appearance.
Then, finish the steak in a 450F oven. Your oven is a convective cooking process. It’s indirect heat applied through air. So, the steak will cook more softly and completely under indirect heat.
Lastly, the ONLY way to tell when your steak is done is with a digital thermometer. Know your particular “finished” temperature.
Please don’t gash your steak to tell if it’s done, there’s a more quantifiable way.
Put a rack over a sheet pan and use that as a make shift broiler pan.