Southern Barbecue Co.
Sign In
Back to methods
Core Methods

Top Heat, Fast and Fierce

Broil (Pizza Oven)

Sby SoCueCo

Cooking under a ceiling of radiant heat: the pizza oven with its dome fire, or a kettle rigged with the coals up top. The heat comes from above at 600°F and beyond, so surfaces blister and char in minutes while the inside stays juicy. It is the outdoor answer to the broiler, and it is faster than anything else on this site.

Radiant top heat, 550–800°F in a wood or gas pizza oven; 500°F+ under a raised coal grateHeat
Flank and skirt steak, shrimp, wings, vegetables, flatbreads, finishing a glazeBest For
A wood- or gas-fired pizza oven with a stone, cast-iron pans that fit through the door, a long peel, an infrared thermometer, heavy glovesGear
2–12 minutesCook
IntermediateSkill

When to use it

  • Thin steaks and shrimp you want charred outside and barely cooked inside
  • Setting a glaze on wings or ribs in the last minutes
  • Vegetables and breads that want blistering, not smoke
  • Pizza night on the same fire as the barbecue

Not the move when

  • Anything thicker than an inch and a half; it burns before the middle cooks
  • Cuts that need time to render fat or break down collagen
  • When you cannot watch it every thirty seconds

The Method

How It’s Done

  1. Fire the oven and let it soak

    Build the fire to one side of the dome and let it burn an hour until the stone reads 600°F or more on an infrared thermometer and the soot has burned off the dome. A gas oven is ready when the dial says so and the stone agrees.

  2. Get the food thin, dry, and oiled

    Broiling is a surface method. Slice thick pieces thinner, pat everything dry, coat lightly with oil, and season. Sugar in a rub goes on last or not at all; at these temperatures it blackens in a minute.

  3. Load in cast iron, toward the fire

    A skillet or sheet pan that fits the door, preheated on the stone for a minute, then the food in a single layer. Slide it to the middle of the floor with the fire at its side. The dome does the cooking from above; the stone does it from below.

  4. Turn the pan, not the food

    Every minute or so, rotate the pan a quarter turn with the peel so the side facing the flame does not blacken alone. Flip thin steaks once when the top is blistered; leave shrimp and vegetables to finish without turning.

  5. Pull early and rest

    Steak comes out at 120–125°F for medium-rare; it will climb 10°F on the board. Shrimp are done the second they curl and go opaque. Rest steak five minutes, slice against the grain, and pour the pan juices over the top.

From the pit

Pitmaster Tips

Avoid these

Common Mistakes

  • Loading before the stone is fully heated
  • Thick cuts that burn outside and stay raw inside
  • Sugary rubs and glazes going in too early
  • Setting wet food straight on the stone
  • Walking away; a broil is measured in seconds

Gear for this method

What You'll Need

Keep cooking

Featured Recipes Using This Method

All recipes

No recipes use this method yet — be the first to cook one.

Talk it out

Discussion

Questions, tweaks, and results from cooks who run this method.

Start the conversation — be the first to talk through this method.

Sign in to join the conversation.

Free to join — and everything stays free to read.