Comparisons · Two ways of cooking
Indirect roasting or Searing
The two halves of most successful cooks on a thick cut, asked about as though they were alternatives.
What each one is
Indirect roasting
Cooking with the lid down and the fire to one side, turning the barbecue into an oven that happens to smell of woodsmoke. The default for anything large.
Searing
Very hot, very short contact to develop surface colour and flavour. Not, despite the persistent belief, a way of sealing in juices.
What actually differs
| Aspect | Indirect roasting | Searing |
|---|---|---|
| The fire it needs This is the difference. Everything else about the two techniques follows from where the fire is relative to the food. | Indirect heat | Direct heat |
| What it suits | Whole birds; Joints and thick cuts; Anything where the centre has a long way to travel | Finishing a reverse sear; Steaks and chops |
| What it does not suit The more useful half of the comparison, and the half most published guidance leaves out. | Thin cuts, which will dry before they colour | Cooking anything through |
| Cookers that can do it | 10 of the 11 modelled | 7 of the 11 modelled |
Which one, for what
Conditions rather than a verdict. Each line below is a thing one of them can do that the other cannot, or does without arrangement where the other needs it — taken from the what each cooker is documented as doing, rather than from a preference.
Indirect roasting, if:
- Whole birds.
- Joints and thick cuts.
- Anything where the centre has a long way to travel.
Searing, if:
- Finishing a reverse sear.
- Steaks and chops.