Learn English – Why do we say “under the grill”, not “above” or “on” the grill

prepositionstransatlantic-differencesword-choice

I found this sentence in a textbook. It's

I cooked the fish slowly on / under the grill.

A screenshot of the textbook

According to the author, the correct answer is under.

I also used Google. It turns out that there is more under the grill than on the grill. When I think of the word grill, the next picture comes to my mind.

photograph of an outdoor barbecue grill

How can we cook the fish under the grill when the food is actually on the grill?

Best Answer

There is a usage difference between British and American English. Although a grill is everywhere a frame of metal bars used for cooking on a flame, Americans draw a distinction between grilling (cooking over a flame) and broiling (cooking under a flame), as when you use the broiler in your oven:

Image of a broiling steak

As quoted in this LanguageHat post,

In my American experience, to broil means to heat something from above as it sits on a slotted pan, so the juices can drip away. Grilling, in my experience, heats from below, and the juices drip down (usually onto the heat source).

But in the UK and Australia, heating from above is called “grilling” and broil means (according to GrahamT, who appears to be British) “to cook meat in a closed container over heat, similar to the American pot-roast.” So think twice about how you order your meat when you cross the Atlantic.

There are many differences in food-related terminology, some noted on our sister site, Seasoned Advice, in Translating cooking terms between US / UK / AU / CA / NZ.

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