The overhead professional broiler used to brown or finish dishes quickly with intense heat is a salamander.
A salamander, also called a salamander oven or salamander broiler, uses electric or gas heating elements positioned above the food. Professional kitchens use it for rapid browning, toasting, melting cheese, finishing gratins, and caramelizing desserts such as crème brûlée. Its intense top heat can also quickly mark or finish meat.
Unlike a conventional oven, a salamander is usually compact and may be open-fronted, allowing cooks to slide dishes close to the heating element. Overhead heat helps reduce flare-ups because rendered fat drips away from the primary heat source. The modern appliance takes its name from an 18th-century long-handled iron plate used to brown the tops of dishes; that tool was named after the mythical fire-resistant salamander.