The Food Technology Web Site

Definition

Roasting is cooking in dry heat in an oven or on a spit with the aid of fat or oil. Radiant heat is the means of cooking when using a spit; oven roasting is a combination of convection and radiation.

Methods

There are two ways of roasting:

• Placing prepared foods, e.g. meat, poultry, on a roosting spit over or in front of intense radiated heat;

• Placing prepared foods in an oven with either :
  • applied dry heat
  • forced air convected heat
  • convected heat combined with microwave energy

Advantages

• Good quality meat and poultry is tender and succulent when roasted

• Meat juices from the joint are used for gravy and enhance flavour

• Use of both energy and oven temperature can be controlled

• Ovens with transparent doors enable cooking to be observed

• Access, adjustment and removal of items is straightforward

• When roasting on a spit, skill and techniques can be displayed to the public

• Continual basting with the meat juices gives a distinctive flavour

Disadvantages

• Requires regular attention

• Ovens are expensive to heat

Examples of foods which you might choose to cook by roasting:

Meat e.g. lamb (best end), beef (sirloin), pork (leg), veal (stuffed breast) Poultry and game e.g. chicken, duck, pheasant Vegetables e.g. potatoes, parsnips.