Roasting

[RonThePirate]

I was flipping through one of my books today (Atelier of Joel Robuchon) and I stumbled across something I had never thought of before.

Robuchon has a recipie for cepes and eggplant caviar, and the thing that caught my eye was that he roasted the eggplant on a rack. It makes a lot of sense in the description, the eggplants roast instead of steam. By elevating the product on a rack, there's a much better airflow and concentrated pockets of steam won't develop around the edges of foods that are round (like eggplants, potatoes, etc.).

What I'm wondering now is how much of a difference using a simple wire rack when you roast foods, especially vegetables. Has anyone tried roasting on a rack to see if there was a difference than just dumping whatever on a parchment-lined pan? I've always done the entire season-oil-scatter on parchment-lined pan without overlapping-roast method. It's done daily in restaurants. Perhaps this rack-method will produce a better product?

All I know is that I've got something to do tonight, and that's a good start :)

[Shalmanese]

It certainly seems logical and could quite well work as intended but even if it does, I'm not very inclined to try because racks are a real bitch to clean. I'm happy with my sub-standard roast potatos and a single piece of al-foil to throw in the trash.

[shelora]

At home, I roast eggplants either whole or halved, right on the oven rack - its kinda lazy I know.

Potatoes, the same thing. If I were to slice them, I would use a well-oiled baking sheet. Using a rack on top of the baking sheet makes total sense, much like grilling them.

I'll try it next time.

I always roast duck - in a roasting pan - on a rack, to save the skin from sticking to the bottom of the pan. That crispy skin is too precious to waste.

[k43]

One way to get a "rack effect" is to make a platform out of the wingtips, neck and roasting-type veggies (celery, onion), with maybe an extra back you got from the butcher.

Also, wet-roasting melts the subcutaneous fat out of a duck (and is even better for a goose). Simply pour off the liquid (to skim off the fat and make gravy) and roast the burd at high heat for the last 30 minutes to crisp the skin, turning a few times.

[Mikeb19]

At the resto when roasting items such as whole potatoes, eggplants, whole birds/roasts, etc..., we either use a rack, roast on a bed of salt, or on a bed of mirepoix...

[Shalmanese]

One way to get a "rack effect" is to make a platform out of the wingtips, neck and roasting-type veggies (celery, onion), with maybe an extra back you got from the butcher.

Also, wet-roasting melts the subcutaneous fat out of a duck (and is even better for a goose).  Simply pour off the liquid (to skim off the fat and make gravy) and roast the burd at high heat for the last 30 minutes to crisp the skin, turning a few times.

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But the whole point of a rack is that you get radiant, dry heat from the bottom as well as the top. Using a bed of vegtables, you would get a gentle, moist heat which produces something different.