I'm Just Here For The Food Part 5

CHAPTER 3.

Roasting

If dry cooking methods were the Beatles, roasting would be George Harrison. Quiet, but effective.

Roast Story

Had Pavlov gone to a few wedding receptions or hung out at a brunch buffet or two he might not have had to measure up spaniel spit. His theories regarding conditioning could easily have proven themselves at the carving station. I've worked the carving station and I don't care if it's a steams.h.i.+p round, a loin roast, a standing rib roast, or a charred buffalo head, flash some golden crust and a little rosy pink flesh and the culinary tractor beam engages. It's like a bug zapper for humans. I believe this auto-response has as much to do with ancient a.s.sociations as it does with flavor. Think about it: when do we roast turkeys? When do we roast standing ribs? What's at the end of the line at the wedding reception? That's right: roast beast. Where there is roast, there is a gathering. Done right, there is also a lot of satisfaction-not to mention enough leftovers for lots of lovely sandwiches.

ORIGIN OF THE SANDWICH.

In 1762, an English n.o.ble named John Montagu, the fourth earl of Sandwich, was on a gambling spree when he got hungry. He didn't want to fold his hand, so he instructed a servant to place a piece of roast beef between two slices of bread. He could eat with one hand and play with the other. Thus the birth of what today is the most popular meal in the Western world.

So why don't we do the "Sunday" roasts anymore? Why are the grills of America stocked with burgers and chicken parts only? Why do our ovens echo with emptiness? Remember the previously quoted Brillat-Savarin remark, "We can learn to be cooks, but we must be born knowing how to roast." When he wrote this in the early years of the nineteenth century, roasting was still a medieval procedure involving iron spits and fiery pits (see Grilling Grilling). And in those days a cook who overcooked a "joint" of meat might be beaten with the charred appendage. (I had one thrown at me once, but that's a story for another time.) Despite the advent of the modern oven, roasting remains a mystery to most. This may be due to the fact that modern cookery is about recipes, and you just can't learn roasting from a recipe any more than you can learn the tango from those cutout footprints they stick on the floor down at the Fred and Ginger Dance Academy.

For instance, a recipe can tell you to heat your oven to 350 F, to slather ingredients x x, y y, and z z on a 4-pound beef eye-round roast, and to cook it for 1 hours. But what if your roast is a 5-pounder? What if the recipe was formulated in a Bob's oven and you own a Joe's oven? What if you don't have 1 hours? What if all you can find is a pork loin roast? Are you out of luck? No, because B-Savarin was wrong. You can and should teach yourself to roast. It may take some time and attention, and you might even overcook a roast or two, but in the end you will be one of the few, the proud-the roasters. on a 4-pound beef eye-round roast, and to cook it for 1 hours. But what if your roast is a 5-pounder? What if the recipe was formulated in a Bob's oven and you own a Joe's oven? What if you don't have 1 hours? What if all you can find is a pork loin roast? Are you out of luck? No, because B-Savarin was wrong. You can and should teach yourself to roast. It may take some time and attention, and you might even overcook a roast or two, but in the end you will be one of the few, the proud-the roasters.

By the way, the terms "roasting" and "baking" refer to the same method. The difference is the target food. If said food is a batter, or dough, or pastry, you're baking. If it's anything else, you're roasting. The only dish I know of that steps out of line is ham. You always hear about "baked" ham, never "roasted" ham. And yet you'd never say "baked" turkey any more than you'd say "roasted" brownies. Strange, isn't it?

THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO ROAST.

Before the days of inexpensive, accurate, digital thermometers, roasters relied on voodooesque charts that calculated cooking times based on the temperature of the vessel and the gross weight of the target food. This equation has stranded many a cook over the years because weight doesn't matter nearly as much as shape.

Master Profile: Roasting Heat type: dry dry

Mode of transmission: 50:45:5 percent ratio of radiation to convection to conduction Rate of transmission: very slow very slow Common transmitters: Air (convection), oven or container walls (radiation), container (conduction) Air (convection), oven or container walls (radiation), container (conduction) Temperature range: from your lowest oven setting to your highest oven setting from your lowest oven setting to your highest oven setting Target food characteristics: * relatively tender cuts of meat, including those from the loin and sirloin * relatively tender cuts of meat, including those from the loin and sirloin* all poultry* root vegetables and starch vegetables (potatoes)* eggs* a wide range of fruits, including tomatoes and apples Non-culinary application: curing pottery curing potteryAN ACCURATE OVEN TEMPERATURE To tell the temperature of your oven, a coil-style oven thermometer works best. The principle behind these bimetallic strip thermometers is based on the fact that different metals expand at different rates as they are heated. In this case, a coil sensor, made of two different types of metal bonded together, is connected to a pointer on a dial face. The two metals expand at different rates, but because they are bonded together, work in unison to dictate the coil's change in length as the temperature changes. This in turn causes the pointer on the dial to rotate to indicate the temperature. I like this style for the oven because they're fairly accurate at oven temperatures and are easy to read even through dingy door gla.s.s.

SANDWICH-MAKING TIPS.

* A A good way to make a sandwich st.u.r.dy, besides toasting the bread is to use a layer of spreadable fat like b.u.t.ter or mayo to provide moisture, flavor, and a waterproof s.h.i.+eld that prevents the bread from getting soggy. good way to make a sandwich st.u.r.dy, besides toasting the bread is to use a layer of spreadable fat like b.u.t.ter or mayo to provide moisture, flavor, and a waterproof s.h.i.+eld that prevents the bread from getting soggy. * * A good way to cut a sandwich made on a long baguette is to wrap the finished sandwich in parchment paper, place clean rubber bands every 5 inches, then cut. A good way to cut a sandwich made on a long baguette is to wrap the finished sandwich in parchment paper, place clean rubber bands every 5 inches, then cut.

Case in point: pork tenderloin. If weight and oven temperature are the deciding factors, then a a, b b, c, c, and and d d should in fact be done at the same time, right? should in fact be done at the same time, right?

Put these roasts in order from the first to be finished to the last.

The right answer is c c-a-b, but what's interesting is that a a and and c c are very close to one another in total cooking time. What's even more interesting is that even if you cooked only one piece of are very close to one another in total cooking time. What's even more interesting is that even if you cooked only one piece of c c, a a still wouldn't be far behind. That's because the primary shape, not weight, is the deciding factor. Sure, one piece of still wouldn't be far behind. That's because the primary shape, not weight, is the deciding factor. Sure, one piece of c c will cook quicker because its surface-to-ma.s.s ratio is a little higher than that of will cook quicker because its surface-to-ma.s.s ratio is a little higher than that of a a, but the overall distance from the outside to the center is the same.

Despite an identical weight, b b will take nearly twice as long to cook as will take nearly twice as long to cook as a a or or c c because its shape is different: its thickness has been doubled, so heat has to travel roughly twice as far into it. because its shape is different: its thickness has been doubled, so heat has to travel roughly twice as far into it.

Given that both pieces of c c will cook a little faster than will cook a little faster than a a, it stands to reason that cylindrical pieces of meat could be broken into several pieces to decrease cooking time. And since more surface area means more crust, you might consider breaking traditional roast shapes into single servings when appropriate (d). This might not work with a steams.h.i.+p round or even a prime rib, but various parts of the round, chuck, and loin do nicely (see Beef Blueprint Beef Blueprint).

The greater the surface-to-ma.s.s ratio, the quicker the cooking. In other words, something the shape of your arm is going to cook faster than something the shape of your head.

HOW MUCH HEAT?.

Roasting is a bit like deep-frying in that it's about even heating. The difference is that hot fat delivers heat via highly efficient conduction, while roasting depends on radiant heat and convection, both of which are relatively inefficient modes of heat transfer. This means that roasting is a relatively slow process, which is why it's better suited to large, dense items that require longer to cook through than thinner cuts.

Tortoiselike though it may generally be, there's still fast roasting and slow roasting. And which one you decide to use depends on the target food and your taste. Consider the cross section of your average hunk of beef-say, an eye of round roast-cooked in a 500 F oven (see ill.u.s.trations ill.u.s.trations). Like the growth rings of a tree, the roast shows us its thermal history. The outer crust, exposed for the longest time to the high heat has seared to a dark-brown and flavorful crust. As for the interior, we were hoping for medium-rare, and yet a great majority of the meat is well above that temperature; only the inner core is where we wanted it. We're understandably disappointed. To heck with this roasting business, we say.

Roast Cutaways

But think about the heat for a minute. Cooking anything is a matter of bringing two environments into equilibrium with each other, right? And those outer layers of the meat are going to reach this equilibrium quicker than the inner portions, right? So if we want the majority of the inner ma.s.s to reach a certain temperature (medium-rare), we need to work with a lower temperature to begin with. If the oven temp is 200 F the roast will take longer to cook, but a higher percentage of the meat will be done to our liking. But if, like me, you're in it for the caramelized crust, this method will leave you cold. Oh sure, there will be some crustiness, but nothing to set you raging. To heck with this roasting business.

But wait: you can have your crust and pink meat too. Simply expose the roast to different temperatures at different stages of the cooking process. Here are two potential strategies for roasting beef and lamb.

Start the roast in a 500 F oven, and once a crust has formed, drop the temperature to 200 F and cook until done. This is a variation on the method most often seen in cookbooks. The instructions usually begin with "sear meat on all sides over high heat." As far as I'm concerned that's an added step that neither the cook nor the to-be-cooked needs. If the oven's hot enough, the sear will happen on its own. The only problem here is that meats that meet high heat right from the get-go tend to lose more moisture than those that heated up slowly, which leads us to:

300 F is the minimum temp recommended by the USDA. I still stand by 200 for culinary reasons, but read cleanliness is Next to...before you do.

Start the roast in a 200 F oven, and once the interior hits 10 below your target temperature, remove and cover lightly with foil. Crank the heat up, and when the oven reaches 500 F place the roast back in the oven and cook until a golden brown, delicious crust has formed.

Roasts don't care about time. They're not trying to catch a train. So forget the clock and use your thermometer. Traditional meat thermometers are hard to read, and their spikelike probes are better suited to pitching tents. Get yourself a digital thermometer with a probe that attaches with a length of wire. Stick this into the roast (see ill.u.s.tration, opposite) and set the thermometer's alarm to go off at the target temperature. No mysteries, no weight/time calculations.

MY SEARCH FOR A PERFECT PLACE TO ROAST.

Let me get something off my chest: you can't roast in a grill. You can cook a roast (noun) in a grill via indirect heat, but I still don't consider it roasting because roasting requires even heat from all directions, which no grill can do. The real problem is that most home ovens can't do it either.

Figure A A is your average home oven. The heat is generated from a gas burner array safely hidden under a metal plate in the floor of the oven. You turn the oven on and set the thermostat and this burner fires. The metal in the floor heats, creating convection currents in the air that rise and fall through the cavity. Then there's radiant energy, which rises up from the floor and bounces around like zillions of ricocheting bullets. (In electric ovens, a coil inside the cavity heats air and walls via radiant-both visible and infrared-energy.) If we place a piece of food in the oven, some of the careening waves will indeed strike and penetrate that food. These random hits, along with the convection air currents, are what roast it. is your average home oven. The heat is generated from a gas burner array safely hidden under a metal plate in the floor of the oven. You turn the oven on and set the thermostat and this burner fires. The metal in the floor heats, creating convection currents in the air that rise and fall through the cavity. Then there's radiant energy, which rises up from the floor and bounces around like zillions of ricocheting bullets. (In electric ovens, a coil inside the cavity heats air and walls via radiant-both visible and infrared-energy.) If we place a piece of food in the oven, some of the careening waves will indeed strike and penetrate that food. These random hits, along with the convection air currents, are what roast it.

ROASTING: THE SHORT FORM.

1. Bring target food (meat or otherwise) to room temperature before cooking. Bring target food (meat or otherwise) to room temperature before cooking. 2. 2. If the target is a beef roast, consider dry-aging it for a couple of days in the bottom of your refrigerator. If the target is a beef roast, consider dry-aging it for a couple of days in the bottom of your refrigerator. 3. 3. Lightly oil the meat. How light is light? Enough to make the entire surface of the meat glisten but not enough to leave a puddle on the plate. Lightly oil the meat. How light is light? Enough to make the entire surface of the meat glisten but not enough to leave a puddle on the plate. 4. 4. Season the meat. Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper are all the seasoning you need. Most folks go too easy on them. Don't be shy. Season the meat. Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper are all the seasoning you need. Most folks go too easy on them. Don't be shy. 5. 5. Choose the right meat: broiler/fryer chickens and smaller, tender cuts of beef, pork, and lamb. Choose the right meat: broiler/fryer chickens and smaller, tender cuts of beef, pork, and lamb. 6. 6. Roast at different temperatures. Either start low and finish high or, in the case of pork and chicken, vice versa. Roast at different temperatures. Either start low and finish high or, in the case of pork and chicken, vice versa. 7. 7. If possible, build an oven (with firebricks or flower pots). The even heat will reward you. If possible, build an oven (with firebricks or flower pots). The even heat will reward you. 8. 8. Buy big: small roast-no leftovers; big roast-lots of leftovers (see Buy big: small roast-no leftovers; big roast-lots of leftovers (see Sandwich Making Tips Sandwich Making Tips). 9. 9. When purchasing beef look for "choice" grades. The marbling in these cuts will help to keep them lubricated throughout cooking. When purchasing beef look for "choice" grades. The marbling in these cuts will help to keep them lubricated throughout cooking. 10. 10. If you plan to make a If you plan to make a jus jus, sauce, or gravy, consider doing your roasting on a bed of vegetables (carrots, onions, herbs, potatoes, and so on).

When a thermostat in the oven senses that the air in the cavity has reached the desired temperature, the burner turns off. When the thermostat senses a drop in temperature, it re-ignites the burner. How much of a drop is necessary to prompt the firing depends on the manufacturer.

All of this is fine and good, except for the fact that it's almost impossible to get all this heat into the food evenly. Some ovens are better at it than others, but I've never seen a metal oven that roasts as well as a pile of dirt (be it in the form of clay, ceramic tile, or what-have-you).

Earthen ovens have made a big comeback in the last twenty years. Restaurants are building them into their kitchens and home enthusiasts are erecting them in their back-yards. I, for one, am happy about this de-evolution of culinary technology because several of the best meals I've ever eaten (or cooked, for that matter) have come out of such ovens. Why?

Consider figure A A in comparison to figure in comparison to figure B B. A A is your oven (and mine). is your oven (and mine). B B is an earthen oven. Oven is an earthen oven. Oven A A may be easy to use, easy to heat, clean, and so forth, but under normal usage it cannot generate heat beyond 500 F, nor can its walls may be easy to use, easy to heat, clean, and so forth, but under normal usage it cannot generate heat beyond 500 F, nor can its walls conduct conduct and store heat; rather, they reflect it, which is not the same thing. The earthen oven can be cranked well beyond the 500s, and once heated it will radiate that heat evenly, which is why foods roasted in such ovens look and taste so darned good. and store heat; rather, they reflect it, which is not the same thing. The earthen oven can be cranked well beyond the 500s, and once heated it will radiate that heat evenly, which is why foods roasted in such ovens look and taste so darned good.

Let's say that you have no intention whatsoever of building a clay or adobe oven in your backyard. You can get the same effect by building another oven either inside your existing oven or inside your grill.

Few residential ovens heat beyond 500 F unless they're in self-clean mode, in which case temperatures of up to 800 F are not uncommon. Take firebricks and build a box in the oven just big enough to hold the smallest metal roasting or baking pan that can possibly hold the target food. Turn the oven to its self-clean mode. Wait one hour, then turn the oven off. Although I haven't been able to find a single manufacturer to condone the practice, it's my oven so I do it anyway. 16 16 Place the thermometer probe into the room-temperature roast, then load the roast into the brick box. Close up with bricks and let the roasting begin. Do not turn the oven back on. What we're counting on here is thermal decay: the roast is going to sear quickly but as the bricks cool down the heat pus.h.i.+ng into the meat will slow so that you get the benefits of bilevel cooking without having to pay any attention to oven temperature whatsoever.

The cool thing about using the grill instead of the oven is that once the bricks are hot you can take them out and quickly a.s.semble yourself an oven right there in the carport. Then you can use the grill for other things.

Arrange a stack of fireplace bricks (available from your local home supply store) on the floor of your oven in such a way that it forms a box just big enough to hold a 9-inch square baking pan (see ill.u.s.tration, upper right). Like a cast-iron skillet, these bricks are dense and can absorb a great deal of heat, then dole it out. In fact, if properly charged, the bricks will function like thermal capacitors. Light a chimney starter's worth of charcoal and when the coals are good and hot (gray ash over all and lots of little dancing flames) dump them into the box and lid with bricks. The bricks will take an hour to charge, during which time you can prep the target food.

Sometimes in summer I heat my bricks in my large grill to 700 F or so, then, using fireproof gloves, a.s.semble them in an oven shape right in my carport and bake bread in it. I've generally found that on a hot summer's day the bricks will remain hot enough to cook as many as three pizzas.

CONVECTION OVENS.

Some oven manufacturers would have us believe that the word convection indicates the presence of a fan in the cavity that speeds the movement of air, and in doing so speeds the cooking process while enhancing browning. The thing is, a real convection oven is more than a hot box and a fan. A real convection oven actually has heating elements outside the main cavity, which heat air that is then pushed into the cavity by a powerful fan. Such ovens cook by convection alone, as very little radiant energy is generated. Such ovens can do wonderful things when it comes to browning and baking-especially things like cookies. Top models can be stacked with upward of 100 cookies, and because of the precise airflow they all come out perfect. As one might expect, such miracles come with a price, but kitchen tools are like automobiles: you get what you pay for.

A WORD ABOUT MOMENTUM.

Find yourself a Lincoln Continental from the mid-1960s. Get on an empty stretch of road and get that bad boy up to say 70 or 80 miles per hour. Now stop as fast as you can without losing control. Takes time, doesn't it? That's because that big hunk of auto has a lot of ma.s.s, and ma.s.s + motion = inertia. Well, a roast in the oven has inertia too. Pull an 8-pound rump roast out of a 500 F oven at the moment it hits your final desired temperature, and it's all over. That Lincoln is going to cruise right past 135 to 140, 150, maybe 155 before stopping. If you go with a method in which you cook at a lower temperature, then boost the heat for a quick sear, you won't have as much momentum so you'll be able to pull the roast out of the oven maybe 10 from your final destination. If you choose to cook at a low temperature, then leave the roast out and let it rest while the oven's reaching searing temperature, this way you'll have even less momentum to deal with. No matter what you do, though, there's always going to be what I call "thermal coasting" and the more ma.s.s you're dealing with, the more coasting there's going to be. Then, of course, there's the resting.

THE SPUTNIK PARADIGM.

When contemplating whether or not to roast a piece of meat, look at the shape. Does it remind you of: a. log; b. doormat; or c. Sputnik?

Okay, any of the above can be roasted, but should they be?

Because of its uniform surface shape and consistent surface-to-ma.s.s ratio, the log could be turned on a rotisserie over a grill, or simply rolled across the grill grate. If it's a tender piece of meat it could be cut into medallions and grilled, broiled, or seared. Still, it's a fine roast shape.

The doormat presents all of its surface area in two opposing planes, a physical fact that makes me think sear, grill, or broil-not roast. Flank steaks and flounder filets are rarely roasted.

Sputniks include any food whose shape is irregular and has a low surface-to-ma.s.s ratio compared to the log or the doormat. A chicken is a Sputnik, so is a sweet potato or a pork b.u.t.t (which is actually a shoulder). These foods scream "roast" for no other reason than you can't really get a thermal grip on them any other way unless you drop them in a deep fryer, which isn't a bad idea except that most of us don't have Fry-o-laters built into our counter-tops (hey, we can't all be Emeril).

FOR THE BIRDS.

As much as I dig the even heat of the stack-o'-bricks oven, I came to realize that even a freak like me doesn't want to stack bricks every time a chicken crosses the kitchen. And if I didn't mind the masonry, there was still the preheat time to be reckoned with: more than an hour depending on the available firepower.

What I needed was brick oven "lite," an easy-to-handle vessel that would absorb and evenly distribute heat to the bird. Clearly, it was time for a visit to the gardener's supply store.