What term to use for flat top cooking?

[Caralien]

Grill: on a grill (perforated or ridged cooktop of sorts, usually stainless or cast iron, let's not include grill pans although panini presses may count--I'm not sure)
Fried: with oil, in a deep fryer or an inch or so, preferably with a cast iron skillet
BBQ: for many, grilled food, but really, long slow cooking, generally with smoke from hardwood and basting

Flat top grills: they aren't grills, but are made of steel (or iron) sheets set over gas burners

What do you call flat top cooking? It's not a grill, per se, but what is it? Searer? A great bounty of even heat to cook things perfectly with a taste only a cast iron skillet can come close to? Things can be sauteed, stir-fried, fried (eggs), reheated, toasted...

What is the proper term for cooking on a flat top?

[Caralien]

So the consensus is that this is a griddle. I can accept that, but does anyone actually use the term griddling?

[mcsheridan]

I don't think so; that was the gist of my original reply.

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

Look at the fourth post on this thread, which uses the adjectival form "griddled."

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/5614...

Just looking up "griddling" on Google brings back over 15,000 hits.

I'm not saying it's a word you hear every single day, but it's in fairly common usage.

[jeanmarieok]

We have one (we love it for tailgating and camping!) and we call ours a flat top.

[batesa]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flattop_...

[mcsheridan]

While the flat top is called just that in a restaurant, and many of us at home would just call it a griddle, I don't believe I've ever heard anyone come up with a specific verb for cooking on one.

Chefs may say 'brown off' or 'bake off' and 'fire that' but I haven't read or heard anything specific to the flat-top. :shrug:

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

I've certainly both heard and used "griddle" as a verb and "griddled" as an adjective. On the Boston board, there is a long-running debate about the relative merits of "griddled" hamburgers and "grilled" hamburgers. (Me, I like griddled.)

[bkhuna]

Teppanyaki - to grill on a teppan.

[manraysky]

In a restaurant, it's usually just called a flat top.

[monavano]

a la plancha

[kirinraj]

I agree. Thats what i've heard it called.

[babette feasts]

If you are cooking directly on the flat top, then I'd have to agree with Barmy on it being a griddle.

If you are cooking in a saute pan on top of the flat top, then the food would be saute'd, and so on with other cooking methods. I don't think the arrangement of the heat matters if you are still cooking in a pan/pot/wok on top.

[BarmyFotheringayPhipps]

It's a griddle.

[bkhuna]

Teppan.