Roasting uses the hot, dry oven air heat to slow cook. To successfully test cooking-product performance, there needs to be an understanding of cooking principals and techniques. These are an important foundation to a good program involving a systematic approach to testing cooking products. A test program should begin by breaking down each function of the appliance and evaluating it separately. Testing single-function components like the broiler are usually easier than multifunction components like ovens and burners, which require more planning and testing.
Broilers are usually high-heat components employed to cook meats.
Besides heating evenly, one of the most difficult challenges is to cook a thin steak that is rare on the inside and beautifully seared and brown on the outside. This takes high heat and if the broiler has enough to do this, the steak can then be lowered to a rack position further away from the broiler to finish cooking to the desired doneness. A broiler that doesn't have enough heat can turn a beautifully marbled porterhouse into an expensive gray slab. Range burners, on the other hand, are called on to do a myriad of cooking tasks. Ideally, this controllable source would have a range of values from the lowest lows for a slow simmer, to a powerful high setting for quickly boiling quantities of water for cooking pasta and for stir frying.