Is Basting Nonsense?

[Edward J]

Why is everyone so against basting?

Yes, you pour pan juices over the roast.

But what do those pan juices contain?

Among other things, fat, natural salts and sugars, and natural gelatin.

By basting you keep the meat moister by keeping the outside greased with natural fats.

The natural gelatin and sugars caramilize on the surface promoting a crispier crust as well as an atrractive colour.

"Barding" is to tie on thin sheets of fat over the surface of the roast. While this doesn't promote a better crust, it keeps the meat much more moist.

Here's another "two chicken" experiment. Put one chicken in the oven straight out of the package. Rub another one with some vegetable oil, then toss in the oven.

What's your choice?

P.S. never, ever, believe what the top 5 turkey producers put on their packaging.............

[IndyRob]

I've been thinking about this and considering what has already been discovered about The Stall. There we learned that the internal temperature of the meat stalls at ~160F for a while until the outside of the meat dries out enough that the evaporation isn't preventing it from getting hotter. This is when we're trying to get the meat to higher temps (180+) to break down connective tissues.

So it seems possible that by basting with pan juices we may be providing some sacrificial evaporative moisture. Moisture that might otherwise have evaporated from the meat itself. As suggested above, this would lengthen the roasting time since we're effectively lowering the temperature. But that could be a good thing, since we know that lower, longer roasting results in a better distribution of "doneness".

[Shalmanese]

I've been thinking about this and considering what has already been discovered about The Stall. There we learned that the internal temperature of the meat stalls at ~160F for a while until the outside of the meat dries out enough that the evaporation isn't preventing it from getting hotter. This is when we're trying to get the meat to higher temps (180+) to break down connective tissues.

So it seems possible that by basting with pan juices we may be providing some sacrificial evaporative moisture. Moisture that might otherwise have evaporated from the meat itself. As suggested above, this would lengthen the roasting time since we're effectively lowering the temperature. But that could be a good thing, since we know that lower, longer roasting results in a better distribution of "doneness".

No, all basting does is slow down the stall. The stall only ends when sufficient free moisture has escaped the meat.

[IndyRob]

No, all basting does is slow down the stall. The stall only ends when sufficient free moisture has escaped the meat.

I think with the sort of roasting we're talking about here, we never really enter the stall. But that's not to say that moisture isn't evaporating from the surface of a turkey from the beginning of its stay in the oven. By basting frequently, we could be slowing the cooking and allowing for a more even result.

Of course, I would probably just lower the oven temp and save some work. But I can see why basting might improve the result for someone operating at a fixed temp.