Roasted Food

Originally, the term to roast meant to cook before a fire, because, before the time of stoves, practically all food was cooked in the fireplace. Food that was to be roasted was placed before the fire in a device that reflected heat, this device being open on the side toward the fire and closed on that toward the room. The roast was suspended in this device, slowly turned, and thus cooked by radiant heat–that is, heat given off in the form of direct rays–the principle being the same as that of grilling, but the application different.

Nowadays, the term roasting is almost universally applied to the action of both hot air and radiant heat. However, much of what is called roasting is in reality baking. Foods cooked in the oven are really baked, although they are said to be roasted, and a covered roasting pan is a misnomer. Food must be exposed to the air in the cooking process if it is to be roasted in the true sense.

It may be well to note that successful roasting or grilling depends more on the shape of the article to be roasted or grilled than on its weight. For this reason, thick, compact cuts of meat are usually selected for roasting and thin cuts for grilling. Good results also depend very much on the pan selected for the roasting process.