These 23 Recipes Will Inspire You to Use Your Broiler to Make Appetizers, Dinner, and Even Dessert

The broiler is often overlooked in today's culinary landscape, but there's no obvious reason why that's the case—it's a quick, convenient, and brilliant way to a delicious meal. In most American homes, mid to late-20th century ovens had flaming broilers in a drawer underneath the oven, just above floor level, but most modern ovens now have a broiler inside. It's quick to heat up, and once it's going, you'll find that it can brown and sizzle like nobody's business. Restaurant and diner kitchens rely on broilers called "salamanders," which give chefs the perfect melted cheese toppings, golden crumb toppings in seconds, and glorious brulées.

Broiled fish might sound like an offering from a family restaurant's revolving list of nightly specials, but it should be brought back into the home kitchen. It's so easy and delicious to prepare, and broiling is an ideal method for cooking fish. But it's not just a good cooking method for fish—broiling also adds flavor through browning and crisping polenta, chicken, and tofu, and it blisters peppers and eggplant in no time.

One of the most useful benefits of broiling is that it keeps the smell and spatter inside your oven, minimizing clean up and lingering odors. This is particularly helpful when you're cooking oily, pungent fish such as salmon and mackerel. With so many home designs using open-plan kitchens, relying on a broiler when preparing dinner makes more sense than ever.

When broiling, be sure to pick vegetables that don't need a long time to become tender, such as peppers, asparagus, and mushrooms. If using other vegetables, consider par-cooking them first, or thinly slicing them so they will cook through in the time it takes to brown. Always use a flat baking pan with plenty of space and spread the ingredients in a single layer.

When working with fish fillets, let the broiler work to your advantage: For crisp sheets of soy-marinated salmon skin, place the fish skin-side up on the pan. And if you don't want that, simply turn the fish so the skin is on the bottom­—when the fish is cooked, the skin will have stuck to the pan, so you can lift the fish off the pan and leave the skin behind. Your broiler is there, waiting to be used—why not start tonight? With this kind of efficient cooking at your fingertips, it's hard to beat.