Roasting pan

[fxpose]

Is a roasting pan necessary or can I let the juices run wild and burn on the oven floor? I don't mind the stain.

George

[Dino_Pizza]

I've let meat juices from steaks and pieces of chix just fall on the coals. I have'nt done anything really greasy though. When I did these bacon wrapped scallops on the FB Tuscan Grill (product placement ) They were the greasiest thing I've done, but the 800 deg temps on the next pizza firing obliterated any traces.


I always try to move ash and coals over any drip spots before I close up the oven. Notice that I did drip bacon fat on my entry, I just live proudly with the stains now. (I'm always offended when I see $10,000 designer-stainless steel-high end stove that looks so clean, you know nobody ever cooks on it )

I recently used a 3" deep roasting pan with a grate across the top to hold whole fish on it. I put 1" of water in the pan with herbs, the hot floor boiled away the water in 20 minutes and the fish was crispy beautiful on top (of course) but the raising off pan allowed the heat to cook the bottom too without burning.Retained oven floor heat (when roasting) has always surprised me and I'm not used to accounting for it yet.

[fxpose]

Thanks Dino, I like your Tuscan grill. I might get one of those although I already have a couple of cast iron grates I can use for the time being.
I was thinking of doing beer can chicken, for instance, and did not want to hassle using a pan underneath it.....one less item to scrub & wash...

George

[GianniFocaccia]

Dino,

Thanks for the pics and explanation of your 'fat management' techniques. The next time you feel offended by a $10k stove think of this: my previous boss 'boasted' that he spent $170k to have somebody else build him an outdoor kitchen that he NEVER uses because it's so pretty and he doesn't want to create a mess. Same thing with his designer inside kitchen.

Go figure, yeah?

[egalecki]

You can use an aluminum pie pan under most beer can roasters. I put onions, fennel, potatoes and the like in the pan under the chicken. The fat drips off and makes everything taste wonderful. Then, if you don't want to wash, you can put it in the recycling after a quick rinse (if it takes a week to recycle, things can get kinda gross if you don't rinse)

It's a shame to waste all the fat and juices....

[fxpose]

Thanks Elizabeth, you're absolutely right about the juices. I'll use a shallow pan with vegis.

George

[Wiley]

I would agree with Elizabeth in regards to using a roasting pan or aluminum pan or a cast iron fry pan under a beer can chicken. Lots and lots of grease and juices out of a chicken. Yes, the mess can be burned out next firing but if one is planning on progressive baking, dealing the mess on the hearth is a problem. Baking a cobbler, for desert right after such a main course could make for comments along the lines of "This tastes funny?!" or "Everything tastes like chicken."

How do those of you who drip right on the hearth use the residual heat to bake? Seems that one would need to refire the WFO to clean the hearth before baking anything like a pork shoulder for pulled pork, or a pot of baked beans.

I use a cast iron fry pan to hold my beer can chicken and the pan's handle makes moving a cooked bird alot easier. Just place the pan in the WFO when firing and there is no heat lost in heating the pan. The grease sizzles and pops just like when it hits the bare hearth and there is no mess in the WFO.

I do ribs on a grating supported by firebricks and I always have an enameled bottom half of a conventional oven's broiler pan to both catch the drippings and hold the coals. It has not been a problem to place the coals in the pan and the bricks, the pan and the grate fit my WFO opening like they were designed for it. The broiler pans can be had for a pittance at most thrift type stores. It works so well I haven't taken the time to weld up a "proper grate".

Bests,
Wiley

[dmun]

Is a roasting pan necessary or can I let the juices run wild and burn on the oven floor? I don't mind the stain.

My main criteria for this decision is whether I want to make gravy with pan juices. So: poultry, leg of lamb, yes, pork roast no. I'll just throw a pork roast on a sheet of aluminum foil on the brick floor. Does the desert taste like pork fat? Well, maybe you don't want to bake meringues or custard pie after the pork roast, but a fruit tart or cobbler would only be improved. Remember: Everything goes better with bacon.

Here's the deal: i hate cleaning brown splattered roasting pans, and avoid it if I can. The brick oven is self cleaning with every cycle.

[egalecki]

To be honest, I don't always plan on using my residual heat very well.

If I'd had the oven built when my kids (we have MANY) were all still home, I'd have been a lot better about planning to do that, but with mostly just two of us, we can't eat enough food to cook over the course of three days and not have it go to waste.

I figure I'm doing pretty well if we do pizza one day and some kind of roast thingy the next day.

Wiley- I pull the aluminum pan forward to the oven throat, use my gloved hands to pick the chicken up and put it on a platter, and then pick up the veggies. If I didn't pick the chicken up first, I'd probably have a "pan disaster" from it being overloaded....

Dmun, I am a big bacon fan, but I am not sure that bacon would improve most fruit tarts. Maybe apple.

I pulled a 24 pound turkey out of the freezer before Father's Day (I found it in there and since I didn't remember when I put it in, I figured I'd best use it!) We had pizza on Father's Day, I put the door on while it was still screamnig hot, and the next afternoon it was still at 500. Turkey Lurkey went in about 1:30 (unstuffed, just lemons, onions and rosemary inside) and he had his friends with him on the outside- potatoes, celery, garlic, and fennel. It was a lot hotter than I usually cook turkey, but with careful watching, it was fine. Took about 2 1/2 hours, and it was very, very good.