Anyone used an infrared grill? Do you like them?
Infrared Grills
An ignited Infrared grill burner, only seeing the visible light spectrum.
Infrared grills work by igniting propane or natural gas to superheat a ceramic tile, causing it to emit an infrared radiation of a thermal radiation technique that cooks food. The thermal radiation is generated when heat from the movement of charged particles within atoms is converted to electromagnetic radiation in the infrared heat frequency range. The benefits are that heat is uniformly distributed across the cooking surface and that temperatures reach over 500 °C (900 °F), allowing users to sear items quickly.
Infrared cooking differs from other forms of grilling, which use hot air to cook the food. Instead of heating the air, infrared radiation heats the food directly. The benefits of this are a reduction in pre-heat time and less drying of the food. Grilling enthusiasts claim food cooked on an infrared grill tastes similar to food from char-grills. This is because charcoal, when burned, emits infrared radiation, the same as an infrared grill, but the difference is that char-grills cook with only about 25% infrared heat and the remaining 75% from convection (hot air). Proponents say that food cooked on infrared grills seems juicier. Also, infrared grills have the advantages of instant ignition, better heat control, and a uniform heat source.
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) but that doesn't mean this isn't a good technology. What you've quoted makes it sound like the role of infrared (IR) is new in grilling and then follows up with a bunch of impressive-sounding but unnecessary pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo apparently intended to impress the customer. *All* grilling and broiling largely depends (ignoring for the moment the effects of a closed grill) on IR whether the source is hot charcoal, the glowing element in an electric broiler, or in this case a hot piece of ceramic. So despite what's said here, IR as the major factor in grilling isn't new with the so-called "IR grill" (or broiler). What *is* new is the method for making the IR. The fact that ceramic can be gotten very hot without glowing just means it's a more efficient way of making IR radiation than either charcoal or the electric element. Also, as your quote says, it's an improvement on either flame or electric element in terms of uniformity since the entire ceramic slab emits IR (radiates heat, in other words). I don't own either IR grill or broiler but I know people who do and from what I've seen they work very well. Broilers in newer high-end gas ranges work the same way and the consensus has them superior to either conventional gas broilers with flames or electric broilers.