How to Pan Roast on an Outdoor BBQ Grill

Pan roasting your food on an outdoor BBQ grill is a great variation for experienced cooks. While it takes more work and dedication than other cooking methods, it produces a dish that imitates almost perfectly the roasting you can do in your own oven, with the advantage of allowing you to add smoke or other cooking techniques to the process.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Large pan
• Sauces and marinades
• Oil

1. Make sure your food is dry. Don't add sauces, marinades and oils until later on in the process. Dry food works better for pan roasting on outdoor BBQ grills, especially on gas ones, where leaving the lid on can produce a significant amount of moisture.

2. Place your meat on a large pan so it can roast slowly without ever touching the flames or charcoal directly. The pan roast can be placed directly on the burners or over a special grid. Your choice will depend mainly on the type and amount of food you are cooking: Large meals would be better off roasting on indirect heat, so they can cook evenly inside and out.

3. Cook the meat at high temperature until you start seeing a difference in its color. When the outside changes texture and color, lower the temperature and let the meal pan roast for at least 20 more minutes.

4. Turn the heat off or down to a minimum once the meat seems halfway done. If you are cooking over direct heat, you can simply let it finish roasting at this temperature. If you are using indirect heat, wrap the food in aluminum and leave it on the BBQ grill for 15 more minutes.

5. Add sauces, marinades and mixes directly on the meat only after you lower the temperature of your BBQ grill. This will prevent burning and help the meat absorb the products better.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are cooking outdoors during extreme weather, you may need to up the cooking time or temperature, or use aluminum foil earlier on the process in order to ensure even cooking.
• Pan roasting works better in outdoor BBQ grills when using large pieces of meat (such as a whole chicken or a full stack of ribs), since this allows the food to roast better and cook from the inside out.
• Make sure that the pan you use for roasting is large enough that the full meal fits into it and there is enough space around it to catch drippings of sauce, oils and other add-ons.