How to Use Roaster Pans

Don't keep your roaster pan in storage all year, only to take it out for cooking the Thanksgiving turkey! Bring it out and revive the tradition of the Sunday roast. Whether you roast chicken or beef, a roaster pan ensures that your meat is flavorful and stays juicy throughout the slow cooking process. When you use a pan for roasting, be sure to use a rack so that air circulates around the food and the drippings fall into the bottom of the pan. You can use the drippings to make gravy.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Measuring tape
• Roaster pan
• Roasting rack
• Meat
• Meat thermometer

1. Choose a roaster pan to suit your needs. If you haven't used the roaster pan before, measure the pan---including the handles---to make sure it fits in your oven. Put the roaster rack into the pan to make sure that it fits the pan, too. The roaster pan should have shallow sides no more than three inches high.

2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Put the roasting rack in the pan, and set the meat on top. Place the uncovered roaster pan in the oven to sear the meat for 45 minutes.

4. Insert a meat thermometer into the thickest portion of the meat to check its internal temperature. Most roasts won't have reached their final temperature after 45 minutes. However, roasts less than 6 inches thick---such as game hens or small whole chickens---may be removed after 45 minutes to 1 hour, if they're reached their final temperature.

5. Lower the oven temperature to the desired final internal temperature. For beef and lamb, cook to 145 degrees Fahrenheit for a medium rare roast, 160 degrees for medium, and 170 degrees for well done. Cook pork to at least 160 degrees and poultry to at least 170 degrees. Continue to roast until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest portion of the meat reads that temperature---about 1 hour per pound. Check the temperature of the meat every hour.

6. Allow the meat to cool to an internal temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit after you remove it from the oven. Don't cut into the roast until it cools---the proteins in the meat become firmer during cooling and reabsorb the juices from the meat. Cutting too soon will result in a puddle of juice on the plate rather than inside the roast, where they make the meat taste juicy!

Tips & Warnings

• Never use a cover when you roast meat. Covering the roast cooks the meat with steam rather than the dry heat that roasting requires.
• Avoid food poisoning by following the USDA's guidelines and cooking all meat to at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Serve rare and medium rare roasts at your own risk---their lower internal temperatures do not follow the USDA's safety guidelines to prevent food-borne illnesses.

References

• "The Science of Good Food;" David Joachim and Andrew Schloss; 2008
• Safe Meat Temperature Chart

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