How to Use a Roasting Pan Properly {The Beginner’s Guide}

A roasting pan is a large metal pan that often has a lid which is used to cook meat in the home oven. The roasting pan is available in many types of materials like aluminium, stainless steel, and some other oven-safe metals and they have a non-stick or enamel coating on them. Roasting pans can be of different sizes based on the requirement of cooking and the size of the oven.

Choosing the right roasting pan for yourself

The purpose of roasting pans is to circulate the heat from the oven around your food.

• Some of the roasting pans are available with a rack that is built in for them and then there are the pans without a roasting rack which also provide a high circulation of heat through the meat because of their structure.
• There are large sized roasting pans that are useful for roasting a large cut of meat, but there are also smaller pans for roasting that are the most suitable for cooking vegetables in it.

Roasting pans are available in multiple shapes so that they don’t take up too much of your storage space. There are rectangular roasters that are relatively commonly used, but they are also circular or large oval shapes. Choosing the correct shape is important at is a factor that decides how your meat gets the right browning while cooking in the oven. Using a roasting pan makes it very easy for the cleanup as well because compared to any other cooking equipment. They are made up of materials, like stainless steel, and may have a nonstick coating. This makes the pan to be easily scrubbed off of any juices or meat or vegetables even after hours of usage in the oven. See here our list for best roasting pan of this year.

Proper steps for how to use a Roasting Pan

To get good roasted meat from your roasting pan, you must know the various steps on how to use the roasting pan that you have chosen after carefully looking for one that suits your requirements. There are multiple aspects that you must look after and certain steps that you need to follow that make your roasted meat perfectly roasted on your roasted pan.  The steps you need to follow are mentioned as below:

1. Put the meat rack in the roasting pan: The first and foremost step that is quite obvious is that must put the meat rack in the roasting pan. The roasting pan must have the meat tray to elevate the meat from the pan slightly to prevent all of the surfaces of the meat from touching to the pan and preventing it from getting too charred or stuck to the surface of the pan. If your roasting pan does not have the meat rack, it will have ribs made on the bottom so as to elevate the meat.

2. Place the meat to be roasted on the rack: The most obvious step is to put the meat on the meat rack that you placed in the pan in the last step. The meat should be kept in the centre of the pan, and the meat must be kept with a gap of two to three inches from the edges of the pan. Placing the meat this way on the pan makes it cook evenly as the heat from the pan is even circulated through the meat.

3. Place the roasting pan in a previously heated oven, on the centre rack: Follow any recipe you want to cook your meat and heat the oven to the temperature that has been mentioned in the recipe and the cooking time of the meat is also according to it. Placing in the centre rack of the oven makes the meat cook properly in the pan as the heat is even from top and bottom and makes the meat cook evenly.

4. Cover the meat with some lid or aluminium foil to keep the flavour of meat intact: When the meat is covered with a lid or aluminium foil, it helps the meat cook faster as compared to the time taken in cooking meat in an uncovered pan. Covering the pan makes an effect of having a small oven inside the oven you are cooking your meat in. The covered pan provides proper heating and even cooking to the meat, and prevents the meat from browning too early.

5. Keep the meat in the pan for 5 to 10 extra minutes after it has been removed from the oven: Once the meat has stayed in the oven for the cooking time as per your recipe, keep the meat in the pan for a few more minutes. Allow the meat to rest in there for 5 to 10 minutes and later on transfer it to a platter. This process helps in distributing the natural juices throughout the meat.

So these are some points which should be considered while using pan while cooking in the kitchen.