What I wish someone told me when I first started cooking; it’s the simple things that can make the most difference.
While I love that I can learn interesting, sometimes labour intensive techniques that will always keep my cooking evolving, the most important thing that I will always come back to is the basics. The foundational techniques that can be transferred to so many different ingredients and cuisines. The ones I rely on over and over again in my everyday cooking that give me to confidence to step into the kitchen without recipes and allow me to just let my intuition and creativity guide me to be able to create something delicious anytime I like.
This is the kind of cooking that matters most to me and it’s something we don’t spend enough time talking about. How to do the basics well, the why behind them, the little tweaks or things to think about that can make a huge difference. These building blocks are what can also skyrocket your confidence in the kitchen - and that’s what I want most for you. For all of us. To cook in a way that feels good for you.
You can expect more of this here - more diving into what I think are foundational cooking techniques, the ones that will help you build your confidence and be a more creative, intuitive cook. And I can’t even tell you how excited I am for that!
Today’s topic is the Essentials or Roasting. These are some of the things I think about and do when it comes to roasting. There’s so much more to it than just putting things on a pan. Space, temperature, timing, and ingredients all play a part. And it’s all about adjusting these variables that get you that perfectly golden brown result.
Let’s dive in:
Give things space - if you only take away one thing, let it be this. So often I see people crowd their pans when roasting vegetables, etc. When you do this, it defeats the purpose of what you actually want. We’re going for that beautifully browned, caramelized end game that gives you the flavour and texture that roasting is meant to do. When you crowd the pan, the ingredients don’t the space they need so they end up steaming rather than roasting. So please, please, please give your ingredients the space they need to do what they need to do. This might even mean using two pans and rotating them but I promise it’s worth it!
Season in a bowl - the default is often to lay all your ingredients on your pan and then season with salt and adding the oil. Taking the extra time to put everything in a bowl and tossing it with your oil, salt and whatever other spices you might be using. This distributes the seasoning and helps to coat everything more evenly which again, gives you the best chance at getting at perfectly seasoned and browned result. And please, use your hands to get a feel for the ingredients and getting them properly coated. You only learn so much by looking, touch is where you can really understand it so get those hands dirty!
Temperature - I always think about my ingredients and the end result when it comes to temperature which usually falls into two categories for roasting: high heat and low heat. High heat usually ranges from 375*-425* and low heat would be 350* and lower. For example, if I’m roasting asparagus I know they cook fairly quickly so in order to get the browning that I’m looking without them going to mush, I want a high heat for a shorter period of time. If I’m doing roast beef or a slow roasted salmon, I’m looking for a longer, gentler cook so my temperature would hit the low heat spectrum. When it comes to meat, I tend to sear things to get a head start on the browning and there’s all kinds of options/opinions whether you do that or a reverse sear where you blast the meat with your broiler at the end. Ultimately, to each their own but I’m on team sear first as I think you when start the flavour/texture component it just builds with the lower heat. That’s my opinion and I encourage you to form your own - experiment and see what you like, this is what it’s all about
Size matters - if you’re roasting different ingredients at the same time, it’s important to remember they will likely take a different amount of time. One way to have them cook evenly if you’re doing them all together is cutting things slightly different sizes. Potatoes will take more time than zucchini so cutting your potatoes a little thinner will always help. Your other option to get even cooking is to start them at different times - either with a second pan or add the quicker cooking veggies halfway through. Again, just make sure they have lots of space!
Parchment is your (well, mine anyways) best friend - one thing I always do when roasting is line my pan with parchment paper. This way you’ll never have anything stick which I often think also helps things brown better to have a little bit of air circulation - that might be in my head but it works for me so see if it does for you. :)
No peeking, except through the window - keeping that consistent temperature is important so you want to try and avoid constantly opening and closing the oven door so flip on the light and take a peek through the window to see how things are browning until you need to rotate or flip things. I know it’s hard especially when you’re learning but try your best to resist!
Pay attention - using your senses is how you’re going to get really good at this. I talked about temperature and moving things around if you’re using more than one tray but it’s also important to notice how your oven works as it may run hot overall or have some hotspots which informs how you may need to rotate things. If you’re really curious get an oven thermometer and compare that to what your oven temperature says vs what the thermometer says…you might be surprised with the difference but this will also help you to make those adjustments. This also comes into play if you’re following a recipe and why they’re always only going to be guidelines. You’ve got to go with your gut based on what you’re seeing. The more you do it and notice what’s going on the better you get at doing it really well.
Here’s your permission slip to just play around with roasting this week. Try incorporating some of these things into your cooking and see the difference it makes. Recipes aren’t the thing that will make you a better cook, you getting into the kitchen and practicing - that’s how you get better. And again this isn’t anything flashy or fancy, but it’s these basic technique that when you can do them they’ll transform your cooking and give you so much more freedom to be able to so many different things without a recipe and in a way more creative unstructured way. Which is how we roll here!
Please pop your questions below, or shoot me a DM on Instagram.
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The Communal Table If you don’t know, this is my monthly cooking community where I lead classes, have guest teachers join us, there’s a cookbook club, foodie round tables where we nerd out about all things cooking and food, plus monthly giveaways of my favourite things, and so much more. If you’re looking for a space of rad people who love cooking as much as you do, come join us!
Ready to learn the pleasure and the principles of cooking well? THE CREATIVE KITCHEN is if for you if you want to learn some foundational cooking skills so you can find your own creativity and flow in the kitchen. Because that’s what it’s all about!
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