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Roasting
Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat
where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all
sides with temperatures of at least 150 °C (300 °F)
from an open flame, oven, or other heat source.
Roasting can enhance the flavor through
caramelization and Maillard browning on the surface
of the food. Roasting uses indirect, diffused heat (as in
an oven), and is suitable for slower cooking of meat in
a larger, whole piece.[1] Meats and most root and bulb
vegetables can be roasted. Any piece of meat, Tudor style roasting meat on a spit
especially red meat, that has been cooked in this
fashion is called a roast. Meats and vegetables
prepared in this way are described as "roasted", e.g., roasted chicken or roasted squash.

Contents
Methods
Meat
Vegetables
Fish
Gallery
See also
References
External links

Methods
For roasting, the food may be placed on a rack, in a roasting pan or, to ensure even application of
heat, may be rotated on a spit or rotisserie. If a pan is used, the juice can be retained for use in gravy,
Yorkshire pudding, etc. During oven roasting, hot air circulates around the meat, cooking all sides
evenly. There are several plans for roasting meat: low-temperature cooking, high-temperature
cooking, and a combination of both. Each method can be suitable, depending on the food and the
tastes of the people.

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A low-temperature oven, 95 to 160 °C (200 to 320 °F), is best

when cooking with large cuts of meat, turkey and whole
chickens. This is not technically roasting temperature, but it is
called slow-roasting. The benefit of slow-roasting an item is
less moisture loss and a more tender product. More of the
collagen that makes meat tough is dissolved in slow cooking.
At true roasting temperatures, 200 °C (390 °F) or more, the
water inside the muscle is lost at a high rate.
Cooking at high temperatures is beneficial if the cut is tender
enough—as in filet mignon or strip loin—to be finished
cooking before the juices escape. A reason for high A Sunday roast consisting of roast
temperature roasting is to brown the outside of the food, beef, potatoes, vegetables, and
similar to browning food in a pan before pot roasting or Yorkshire pudding
stewing it. Fast cooking gives more variety of flavor, because
the outside is brown while the center is much less done.
The combination method uses high heat just at either the beginning or the end of the cooking
process, with most of the cooking at a low temperature. This method produces the golden-brown
texture and crust, but maintains more of the moisture than simply cooking at a high temperature,
although the product will not be as moist as low-temperature cooking the whole time. Searing and
then turning down to low is also beneficial when a dark crust and caramelized flavor is desired for
the finished product.
In general, in either case, the meat is removed from the heat
before it has finished cooking and left to sit for a few minutes,
while the inside cooks further from the residual heat content,
known as carry over cooking.

The objective in any case is to retain as much moisture as

possible, while providing the texture and color. As meat cooks,
the structure and especially the collagen breaks down, allowing
juice to come out of the meat. So meat is juiciest at about medium
rare while the juice is coming out. During roasting, meats and
vegetables are frequently basted on the surface with butter, lard,
or oil to reduce the loss of moisture by evaporation. In recent
times, plastic oven bags have become popular for roasts. These
cut cooking times and reduce the loss of moisture during roasting,
but reduce flavor development from Maillard browning,
somewhat more like (boiled or steamed) stew or pot roast. They
are particularly popular for turkeys. Whole roast chicken

Until the late 19th century, roasting by dry heat in an oven was
called baking. Roasting originally meant turning meat or a bird on a spit in front of a fire. It is one of
the oldest forms of cooking known.

Traditionally recognized roasting methods consist only of baking and cooking over or near an open
fire. Grilling is normally not technically a roast, since a grill (gridiron) is used. Barbecuing and
smoking differ from roasting because of the lower temperature and controlled smoke application.
Grilling can be considered as a low-fat food preparation, as it allows any fat in the food to drip away.

Meat
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Before the invention and widespread use of stoves, food was

primarily cooked over open flames from a hearth. To roast meat,
racks with skewers, or, if accessible, complicated gear
arrangements, would be utilized to turn the piece(s). In the past,
this method was often associated with the upper class and special
occasions, rather than customary mealtimes, because it required
freshly killed meat and close attention during cooking. It was easy
to ruin the meat’s taste with a smoky fire or negligence to rotate it
at regular intervals. Thus, elite families, who were able to afford
quality meat, appointed this task to servants or invested in
technology like automatic turning devices. With further
technological advances, cooking came to accommodate new
opportunities. By the 1860s, working families were able to afford
low-priced stove models that became sufficiently available.
However, the key element of observation during roasting became
Shawarma prepared on a rotating
difficult and dangerous to do with the coal oven. Hence,
spit
traditional roasting disappeared as kitchens became no longer
equipped for this custom and soon thereafter, "baking" came to
be "roasting".[2]

Roasting can be applied to a wide variety of meat. In general, it works best for cooking whole
chickens, turkey, and leaner cuts of lamb, pork, and beef. The aim is to highlight the flavor of the meat
itself rather than a sauce or stew, as it is done in braising or other moist-heat methods. Many roasts
are tied with string prior to roasting, often using the reef knot or the packer's knot.[3] Tying holds
them together during roasting, keeping any stuffing inside, and keeps the roast in a round profile,
which promotes even cooking.[4]

Red meats such as beef, lamb, and venison, and certain game birds are often roasted to be "pink" or
"rare", meaning that the center of the roast is still red. Roasting is a preferred method of cooking for
most poultry, and certain cuts of beef, pork, or lamb. Although there is a growing fashion in some
restaurants to serve "rose pork", temperature monitoring of the center of the roast is the only sure
way to avoid foodborne disease.[5]

In Britain, Ireland, and Australia, a roast of meat may be referred to as a joint, or a leg, if it is a leg.

Vegetables
Some vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, eggplants/aubergines, zucchini/courgette, pumpkin,
turnips, rutabagas/swedes, parsnips, cauliflower, asparagus, squash, peppers, yam and plantain lend
themselves to roasting as well. Roasted chestnuts are also a popular snack in winter.

Fish
It is also possible to roast fish as meat.

Gallery
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A 3 kilograms (6.6 lb) top round Untrussed (untied) and trussed

roast of beef, tied and ready to be chicken for roasting
browned and roasted

Roasting of burbot with scallops

(France) to be cooked

See also
Asado
Braising or pot roasting
Coffee roasting
Dry roasting
Hendl (roasted chicken)
Low-temperature cooking
Pan frying
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
Roast beef
Roasting pan

References
1. Blaisdell S. (2002). An Illustrated Guide to Beef Roasts (http://www.cooksillustrated.com/images/d
ocument/howto/ND02_BeefRoasts.pdf). Cook's Illustrated. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/
20090206032914/http://www.cooksillustrated.com/images/document/howto/ND02_BeefRoasts.pd
f) 6 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine

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2. Horowitz, Roger (2006). Putting Meat on the American Table: Taste, Technology, Transformation.
The Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 5–7.
3. Ashley, Clifford W. (1944), The Ashley Book of Knots, New York: Doubleday, pp. 36–38
4. Epicurious, Video: Classic-Tying a Roast (https://web.archive.org/web/20140725162523/http://vid
eo.epicurious.com/?fr_story=e44a72dbbcce9f3318cf280457e3af22d1d14994&rf=sitemap),
archived from the original (http://video.epicurious.com/?fr_story=e44a72dbbcce9f3318cf280457e3
af22d1d14994&rf=sitemap) on 25 July 2014, retrieved 28 May 2009
5. Failure to Cook These Foods Properly May Cause Foodborne Illness (http://kernpublichealth.com/
wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Failure-to-Cook-These-Foods-Properly.pdf) (PDF), Public Health
Dept. of Kern County, 12 August 2015, retrieved 18 July 2016

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Roasting&oldid=932497712"

This page was last edited on 26 December 2019, at 10:10 (UTC).

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