Sunday, November 1, 2009

Wanted - Home Cooks Searching for the Best Stainless Roasting Pan for Creating Their Holiday Meal

By Bethany Boylan

Do you enjoy visions of your family sitting down to a delicious holiday meal? Do you also have nightmares of a burnt turkey as the centerpiece to your meal? To help avoid a disastrous holiday meal, you should choose the best turkey roasting pan. I recommend a stainless roasting pan. If you have the wrong roaster, you could end up with unevenly cooked meat, a pan so heavy you strain yourself lifting it out of the oven, and burnt gravy.

First, the size of the roasting pan matters. Ideally, your pan should fit in your oven and still leave 2 inches for air to circulate between it and the sides of the oven. In addition, you don't want a pan so large that the juices from your average roast will have too much room to spread and will burn.

Secondly, the kind of metal in your pan matters. Two factors are the weight of the pan and how evenly is conducts heat. A good heat conductor is aluminum. However, ingredients with strong acids such as tomatoes and lemons can react badly with aluminum. This can add a sour taste to your recipes. Stoneware may not be your best choice because it can be fragile or heavy. Stainless steel is a great choice because it is relatively light, non-reactive, and sturdy. However, it is not the best conductor of heat. The best choice is a a roasting pan made up of different layers of stainless steel and aluminum and possibly copper.

Be sure to check that your stainless roaster can stand up to high temperatures from the burners on your stove and also the near-broiling temperatures required inside your oven. With roasting meat comes the desire to make gravy, and it is easiest to place your roaster on the stove top and go. In addition, you may need to brown the meat on the stove top before placing it in the over. Warping or buckling are symptoms of an inferior roasting pan placed on a stove top. In addition, these pans can heat differently in different areas of the pan and cause burning of your gravy.

Another factor to consider is how your pan is made. A rectangular shape with sides that are rounded is best. The round corners make for easier cleaning. In addition, the height of the pan matters. You want sides that allow good air circulation but also have enough height so that juices don't spill when you are taking your roast out of the oven. A great height for the sides of the pan is between 2.5 and 3 inches. Also, know that the kind of handles on your roaster are important. More inexpensive pans have handles that fold down and are very hard to hold with potholders. Some handles stick straight out from the sides of the pan and waste space in your oven. Therefore, you should look for strong, riveted handles that come straight up from the pan.

Look for extras to go with your pan such as a rack. Heavy meat forks are also indispensable at the moment you must transfer that large, heavy bird or roast to your serving platter.

About the Author:

No comments: