Slow Roasting
Take It Slow
Back in 1986 an Italian, Carlo Petrini, founded something he called the Slow Food movement. The group "opposes the standardization of taste, defends the need for consumer information, protects cultural identities tied to food and gastronomic traditions, safeguards foods and cultivation and processing techniques inherited from tradition, and defends domestic and wild animal and vegetable species." Any group that's in favor of locally grown produce and opposed to McDonald's is Ok in my book. In fact, from my understanding, McD's is the complete antithesis of Slow Food.
Slow food can also refer to slow cooking. Dishes like soups, stews, and braises are often cooked slowly over a period of time. Another prime example of slow cooking is barbequing where a chunk of meat like a pork shoulder is smoked for as much as 12 hours. All of these techniques combine long cooking with (relatively) low temperatures.
Barbequing is an example of slow roasting and it's what most of us think of when slow roasting is mentioned. But the technique needn't be restricted to cooking with smoke nor to tough cuts of meat. Last night I slow roasted a chicken:
Slow-Roasted Chicken
3 - 3 1/2 lb chicken -- trimmed of excess fat
1/4 c butter -- melted
salt and pepper
additional herbs and spices as desired
Hardware: shallow roasting pan with rack
Heat oven and roasting pan (without rack) to 350F. Place the chicken breast-side up on the rack, brush with butter and season with salt, pepper, and herbs. Place chicken in the heated roasting pan in the middle of oven for 30 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 200F and continue roasting for another 1 hour. Increase heat to 400F and cook another 15 minutes until a thermometer inserted into thigh registers 160F.
Remove from oven, tent with foil, and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
Here's how it works. Roasting is a process of transferring heat from the outside of the roast to the inside by conductance. The physical process is the same whether the oven is at 400 degrees or 200 degrees.
One difference is that at 400 degrees the outside quickly absorbs a fair bit of heat that transfers relatively slowly to the inside. Another difference is that the outside of the roast gets much hotter than the inside. At 200 degrees the the outside remains at a temperature closer to the inside. Additionally, because the heat is lower it's almost impossible to overcook or undercook part of the roast and the lower heat results in less evaporation and, so, juicier meat.
In the above recipe, the initial 350F heat quickly cooks the outside (and skin). The reduced 200F heat keeps the outside hot at about the same rate as the cooler interior absorbs the heat. The final 400F period browns the exterior for those wonderful Maillard reactions.
The result, with something like a chicken or turkey is that the thighs and the breast approach doneness at something much closer to simultaneously and even if the breast is a bit overcooked when the thighs are done, the additional juiciness makes up for it.
To see a very visual example of slow roasting cook a beef tenderloin.
Slow-roasted Beef Tenderloin
3 - 4 lb tenderloin
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
additional herbs and spices as desired
Heat oven to 250F. Season roast. Heat olive oil in an oven-proof skillet over medium high heat and brown roast on all sides. Place skillet in middle of oven and cook until the internal temperature at the thickest point is 110F. Increase heat to 500F and cook until the internal temperature at the thickest point is 130F.
Remove from oven, tent with foil, and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
Ordinarily a roast cooked to medium rare at the center will be very well done at the outside gradually shading to medium rare in the center. Slice into this roast and you'll find that the roast shades from well done to medium rare within 1/2 inch of the outside and is then a perfect medium rare throughout. You'll also notice that the ends show the same characteristic -- eliminating those four or so end slices that are just plain over-cooked.
By the way, my chicken was perfect.
Back in 1986 an Italian, Carlo Petrini, founded something he called the Slow Food movement. The group "opposes the standardization of taste, defends the need for consumer information, protects cultural identities tied to food and gastronomic traditions, safeguards foods and cultivation and processing techniques inherited from tradition, and defends domestic and wild animal and vegetable species." Any group that's in favor of locally grown produce and opposed to McDonald's is Ok in my book. In fact, from my understanding, McD's is the complete antithesis of Slow Food.
Slow food can also refer to slow cooking. Dishes like soups, stews, and braises are often cooked slowly over a period of time. Another prime example of slow cooking is barbequing where a chunk of meat like a pork shoulder is smoked for as much as 12 hours. All of these techniques combine long cooking with (relatively) low temperatures.
Barbequing is an example of slow roasting and it's what most of us think of when slow roasting is mentioned. But the technique needn't be restricted to cooking with smoke nor to tough cuts of meat. Last night I slow roasted a chicken:
Slow-Roasted Chicken
3 - 3 1/2 lb chicken -- trimmed of excess fat
1/4 c butter -- melted
salt and pepper
additional herbs and spices as desired
Hardware: shallow roasting pan with rack
Heat oven and roasting pan (without rack) to 350F. Place the chicken breast-side up on the rack, brush with butter and season with salt, pepper, and herbs. Place chicken in the heated roasting pan in the middle of oven for 30 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 200F and continue roasting for another 1 hour. Increase heat to 400F and cook another 15 minutes until a thermometer inserted into thigh registers 160F.
Remove from oven, tent with foil, and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
Here's how it works. Roasting is a process of transferring heat from the outside of the roast to the inside by conductance. The physical process is the same whether the oven is at 400 degrees or 200 degrees.
One difference is that at 400 degrees the outside quickly absorbs a fair bit of heat that transfers relatively slowly to the inside. Another difference is that the outside of the roast gets much hotter than the inside. At 200 degrees the the outside remains at a temperature closer to the inside. Additionally, because the heat is lower it's almost impossible to overcook or undercook part of the roast and the lower heat results in less evaporation and, so, juicier meat.
In the above recipe, the initial 350F heat quickly cooks the outside (and skin). The reduced 200F heat keeps the outside hot at about the same rate as the cooler interior absorbs the heat. The final 400F period browns the exterior for those wonderful Maillard reactions.
The result, with something like a chicken or turkey is that the thighs and the breast approach doneness at something much closer to simultaneously and even if the breast is a bit overcooked when the thighs are done, the additional juiciness makes up for it.
To see a very visual example of slow roasting cook a beef tenderloin.
Slow-roasted Beef Tenderloin
3 - 4 lb tenderloin
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
additional herbs and spices as desired
Heat oven to 250F. Season roast. Heat olive oil in an oven-proof skillet over medium high heat and brown roast on all sides. Place skillet in middle of oven and cook until the internal temperature at the thickest point is 110F. Increase heat to 500F and cook until the internal temperature at the thickest point is 130F.
Remove from oven, tent with foil, and allow to rest for 20 minutes.
Ordinarily a roast cooked to medium rare at the center will be very well done at the outside gradually shading to medium rare in the center. Slice into this roast and you'll find that the roast shades from well done to medium rare within 1/2 inch of the outside and is then a perfect medium rare throughout. You'll also notice that the ends show the same characteristic -- eliminating those four or so end slices that are just plain over-cooked.
By the way, my chicken was perfect.
12 Comments:
Try roasting a bird with the breast side down. The juices will accumulate in the breast, which is traditionally the driest part of any bird.
Yes, but isn't the point of slow roasting to keep the bird from drying out?
the dark meat on any fowl needs more cooking time. a simple expedient is always keep the legs turned towards the heat (in an oven this means towards the back - on a grill, of course, the source of greatest heat can vary)
Just wondering - would you suggest unsalted butter or salted (or does it even matter?)
Anon,
I always cook with unsalted butter, but it really doesn't matter in this case.
your pics always make me hungry .. the above chicken looks wonderful. I am looking forward to following the temperature instructions to see the difference. Thanks for the great tips as always! - Carol
Your chicken look soooo delicious.
I generally slow roast chicken too. It yeilds a tender, yet incredibly juicy bird. The rest time is critical.
I'm definitely going try the tenderloin recipe and technique.
It reminds of how I cook a prime rib roast, but have never had great luck roasting tenderloin before. Now I've got the ticket.
Thanks for sharing the technique with us all.
CJ,
As you probably know, a tenderloin is essentaily prime-rib without the rib. And if you want to experiment with a cheaper cut, an eye-round roast works (though it will be tougher) and pork tenderloin is also a good choice (but cook it to 138F before pulling it from the oven).
I didn't know tenderloin is prime rib meat - so basically it is a strip of ribeye? Yes? No? Kinda?
Vicki,
Yes. Near enough.
Tenderloin is really the smaller, most tender corner of a T-bone or Porterhouse steak. What you are referring to, I believe, is the rib eye; again the tenderest portion of a prime rib.
Anon,
The tenderloin comes from one side of the rib and the eye (also an NY strip) are from the other. The rib eye and strip have a great deal more marbling than the tenderloin. But they both come the same primal cut. So Vicki has a good sense of the primal cut's components. Given that they have the same cooking characteristics (both should be seared over high heat and delicately cooked to no more than 135F) Vicki is "near enough."
Kevin - who's been sucking eggs for a long time{g}
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