Plancha or brasero: outdoor cooking par excellence!
Whether you choose the plancha or the brasero, these 2 pieces of garden equipment are the latest trends in outdoor cooking.
The plancha: convivial cooking
The plancha fits effortlessly into your garden, on a balcony or beside a swimming pool for convivial cooking. There’s no need to build a cooking fire or stand alone watching over the grill! By simply turning the adjustable thermostat or using the piezo ignition, the electric or gas plancha heats up in just 10 minutes with no particular supervision required. Food cooks easily and quickly on this large cooking surface. Whoever is in charge of the cooking can therefore make the most of their guests while preparing the meal in front of them, or even with them. The plancha is a true form of outdoor cooking and sharing, and particularly convivial.
The brasero: warm and welcoming outdoor cooking
The brasero is first and foremost a heating system used outdoors to enjoy wonderful evenings under a starry sky. The open-hearth brasero provides all the warmth you need to enjoy the outdoors all year round. Some models also let you cook outdoors like a barbecue grill. Available in different shapes (bowl-shaped, basket-style or “Mexican chiminea” types shaped like a large jar), the most authentic versions traditionally run on charcoal. The garden brasero offers you a campsite atmosphere and an experience closely connected with nature. Braseros with the dual function of heating and cooking make it possible to organise warm and welcoming outdoor meals around a campfire.
Plancha or brasero: which should you choose?
While everyone agrees on the conviviality of both the plancha and the brasero, differences emerge between these two pieces of garden equipment when it comes to cooking.
The brasero, renowned for its tasty cooking
With the help of a few accessories, the brasero lets you vary your cooking methods, such as grilling kebabs, steam-cooking vegetables, smoking fish or baking a pizza just like in a traditional wood-fired oven. At high temperatures, the brasero is similar to barbecue cooking: it gives meat and vegetables a chargrilled texture and a distinctive taste, so prized by grilling enthusiasts.
The true brasero, often feared for its risky use
By its very design, the brasero can generate a great deal of smoke and flare-ups. The slightest gust of wind can fan the fire and turn this garden accessory into a veritable blaze that is difficult to control. The risks of sparks and burns are also frequent.
Beyond its primary heating function, the barbecue-style brasero can be used for cooking on a grid above a bowl filled with charcoal or small logs, the fuels essential for lighting it. During brasero cooking, fat from the food drips onto the embers and burns. The smoke released is particularly toxic and harmful to health.
As for the electric and gas braseros, they are less dangerous, but very energy-hungry.
The advantages of plancha cooking
The plancha ensures fast, controlled cooking.
Unlike the wood-fired brasero, the plancha requires no particular preparation. By simply turning a knob, the plancha switches on and heats up quickly. With the control knob, the temperature of the plate and the energy consumed are perfectly controlled. Thanks to the plancha, a meal with friends can easily be improvised and quickly prepared. The plancha is the guarantee of perfect cooking at just the right temperature.
Plancha cooking is healthy cooking par excellence.
Quicker than cooking on the brasero, plancha cooking preserves all the flavours and nutritional qualities of food. With an electric or gas plancha, products cook on a large enamelled surface or on a cast iron, steel or stainless steel plate. With no direct contact with the heat source, the fats released by the food do not burn during cooking. They drain away into the juice collection tray. There is no toxic smoke emission. Plancha cooking is healthy.
The plancha lets you vary your cooking methods.
Like the brasero, the plancha lets you grill, steam-cook and sear over high heat but also reheat, simmer and more. The plancha offers not only a wide variety of cooking methods, but also, above all, the possibility of cooking all kinds of food directly on the plate: whether very small items such as baby squid, a paella, mussels or a beautiful rib of beef, chicken fillets, a whole fish, not forgetting vegetables, marinades and so on. Add a few herbs to convince the grilling addicts and all your guests will be won over by the plancha!
While the brasero stands out from the plancha for its heating function, it appeals to users with a slightly adventurous spirit looking for a meal out in nature under the stars. Food lovers seeking healthy, enjoyable cooking will, for their part, favour the plancha for a convivial meal on the terrace, on a balcony or by the pool.