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Roasting
91
Tips for roasting
- Pre-heating the oven compartment
is only required when roasting beef
sirloin joints and fillet. Pre-heating is
generally not necessary.
- Use a closed roasting dish for
roasting meat, such as an oven dish.
The meat stays succulent. The oven
compartment will also stay cleaner
than when roasting on the rack. This
ensures that sufficient stock remains
for making gravy.
- If you are using a roasting bag,
follow the instructions on the
packaging.
- If you are using the rack or an open
roasting dish for roasting, you can
add a little fat or oil to very lean meat
or place a few strips of streaky bacon
on the top.
- Season the meat and place in the
roasting dish. Dot with butter or
margarine or brush with oil if
necessary. For large lean cuts of meat
(2–3kg) and fatty poultry add about
1/8l of water to the dish.
- Do not add too much liquid during
cooking as this will hinder the
browning process. Browning only
occurs towards the end of the
cooking duration. Remove the lid
about halfway through the cooking
duration if a more intensive browning
result is desired.
- At the end of the programme, take
the food out of the oven
compartment, cover it and leave to
stand for about 10minutes. This
helps retain juices when the meat is
carved.
- For a crisp finish, baste poultry
10minutes before the end of the
cooking duration with slightly salted
water.
Notes on the cooking charts
You can find the cooking charts at the
end of this book.
Take note of the temperature range,
microwave power levels, shelf levels
and durations. These also take the
type of cooking container, the size of
the meat and cooking practices into
account.
Selecting the temperature
As a general rule, select the lower
temperature given in the chart. If
higher temperatures are used, the
meat will brown on the outside, but
will not be properly cooked through.
For cuts which weigh more than 3kg,
select a temperature approx. 10°C
lower than that given in the roasting
chart. The roasting process will take
longer, but the meat will cook evenly
through and the skin or crackling will
not be too thick.
When roasting on the rack, set a
temperature approx. 20°C lower than
for roasting in a covered oven dish.
Selecting the cooking duration
Unless otherwise stated, the durations
given in the cooking chart are for an
oven compartment which has not been
pre-heated.
The traditional British method for
calculating the roasting time is to
allow 15 to 20minutes per
lb/450grammes, according to type of
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