Roasting
Equipment
To roast things you generally need an oven, a pan to roast your things, and a thermometer to check the internal temperature.
Technique
- Preheat your oven
- Prep your ingredients. Make sure everything is oiled and seasoned like it should be
- Arrange them in your pan evenly
- Place the pan in the oven.
- Keep an eye on it, check oven temperature regularly, make sure the surface isn't overbrowning
- Remove from the oven and serve. If it's meat, let it rest for a couple of minutes, else the juices will run all over the plate and out of the meat when you cut it.
Considerations
The temperature and amount of time that something needs to be roasted varies as much as the shape, size, density and water content of things that can be roasted. The general sloppy rule is "When in doubt, cook at 350". Vegetables tossed in oil can usually be roasted at 400-425 depending on the thickness, and the vegetable. Large roasts are often cooked at a very high temperature (over 400 degrees) for 15 or 20 minutes to create a nice crust, and then the temperature is lowered to 325-375 t cook all the way through. In this case, I *highly* recommend using a remote thermometer with a temperature alarm in the meat. Time/Weight ratios are a rough approximation at best. Don't trust them. If it's browning too fast on the surface but the internal temperature isn't getting there, cook it at a lower temperature. If one part is browning more quickly than the other parts and looks like it might be over browned by the time what you're doing is done, wrap it with tin foil.
