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Oven roasting
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With boiling and frying, oven cooking is one of the most commonly used methods for cooking food. From meat to vegetables, puddings and gratin dishes, almost any kind of food can be roasted.
From a physical and technical point of view, cooking takes place through heat radiation, transmitted by hot air and by the fats used to dress the food. |
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| 1. |
During cooking, heat melts the fat that penetrates into the food, forming a crust around it. As the cooking continues, the nutritional substances in the food are transformed by the heat: protein coagulates, mineral salts and sugar are unchanged, as are the aromas, while heat-sensitive vitamins are obviously compromised.
Bearing in mind these few technical notes, we would rather describe the different phases of this method, dealing with roast meat, which is a perfect example of the use of this type of cooking.
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WHAT TO COOK, WITH WHAT AND HOW |
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| 2. |
As we have seen, the process of cooking involves the exposure of food to a fairly high temperature for a period of time that varies according to the size of the food to be cooked. This is clearly suited to meats, in particular red meat, game, poultry, but also white meats, gratin vegetables, timbales, soufflés etc.
The piece for roasting needs to be prepared by coating with butter or oil and flavouring with herbs (sage, rosemary, onion etc.) and then placed in a dish or a roasting tin. In the former case, the food will stay in contact with the fats while cooking, while the roasting tin has a grid that allows the fat to collect in the dripping tray below as it melts. This solution also allows for more uniform cooking, which is lighter from a nutritional point of view.
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| 3. |
First of all the meat should be considered in terms of weight and quality. We generally calculate 150g per person (boned) or 250g on the bone. Recommended cuts of beef and veal are rump, top piece (although this has more grainy fibres) and silver side (which is fairly lean). The leanest meat generally needs to be dressed (wrapped in bacon) or larded (by inserting strips of bacon or lard into the meat using a special tool) in order to keep it soft.
During this phase the meat is tied to keep its shape and flavoured with herbs. Take care not to tie the meat too tightly to stop the juices from being squeezed out.
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| 4. |
Meat is generally oven-roasted at a fairly high temperature, usually around 200 °C to help a crisp crust to form, coagulating the proteins inside. Do check however that this crust does not dry out, and baste the meat frequently while cooking with the fat in the dish. For this purpose you can use special gravy pumps made of a (usually graded) pipe with a rubber bulb fitted to one end.
With more time available you can replace the first part in the oven with browning the meat in a pan over a high flame. The meat needs to be turned often to help the crust form evenly.
Once the outside crust has formed, the oven temperature can be lowered to 130-160 °C: as mentioned above, the excess heat could lead to too thick a crust and stop the cut from cooking evenly. The crust could also burn, which would lend an unpleasant taste to the roast.
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| 5. |
Cooking times vary according to the weight of the meat, but an hour is usual for an average-sized cut (around a kilo). This obviously depends on the kind of roast we want: for roast beef, with a rosier bloody colour inside, less time is needed.
To check how the roast is cooking, prick the meat with a metal skewer or a large fork: the liquid that comes out will be clearer the more cooked the meat is. For chicken, this liquid is normally lighter in colour.
For a more precise control, it is possible to use a meat thermometer, which must be poked well into the joint.
Once removed from the oven the roast (whether beef, veal or pork) must be left to rest and cool completely. This way the roast will be easier to slice. Other types of roast meat can be portioned and served hot straight from the oven. The cooking juices can be served with the meat once filtered, or can be reduced and served as gravy.
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