Do you love cooking a holiday meal for your family? There is nothing like the smell of the roast in the oven. But for creating a perfectly roasted turkey, you need the best stainless roasting pan. If you end up with an inferior roasting pan, it could result in meat that is burnt in some areas and raw in others, scorched gravy, and a pan that is too hard to get out of the oven.
First, the size of the roasting pan matters. Ideally, your pan should fit in your oven and still leave 2 inches for air to circulate between it and the sides of the oven. In addition, you don’t want a pan so large that the juices from your average roast will have too much room to spread and will burn.
The material of your roasting pan is important. You want your pan to be light, sturdy and to conduct heat well. Aluminum conducts heat well, but it reacts badly to the acids in lemons and tomatoes which can affect the taste of your food. Stainless steel in non-reactive and not too heavy or fragile, as stoneware can be. However, stainless steel is not a good conductor of heat. Therefore, I recommend a heavy stainless roasting pan layered with sheets of aluminum and/or copper.
Your turkey roasting pan must also be able to stand up to high oven temperatures and the high direct heat of the stove top. You often will want to use your roaster on the stove top to sear the meat and also to make gravy after roasting. Some lightweight pans can buckle under high-heat conditions. The poorly made pans can also distribute heat unevenly and cause burning and scorching of your roast or gravy.
Did you ever consider the handles on a pan? Easy to forget about, but essential when you are removing that heavy, hot pan from the oven. The best handles are strongly riveted to the pan and stand straight up from the pan so oven space is not wasted. Cheaper handles stick straight out from the pan or even worse, fold down. Try getting your potholder-covered hand through that handle easily. In addition, you should choose a rectangular pan with rounded corners that facilitate easy cleaning. The height of the sides of your pan should be 2.5 to 3 inches, which is the happy medium to allow air to circulate, yet won’t allow hot juices to spill easily.
Additional items you may look for to go with your pan are forks and a rack. Heavy forks are very much appreciated at that moment when the roast or turkey must be transferred out of the pan.
Learn more about stainless roasting pans. Stop by Bethany Payne’s page where you can find out all about turkey roasting pans and get recommendations.
