On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 312

browning the meat on the stovetop in a hot
pan),andthenturningthethermostatdownto
cookthemeatthroughmoregently.
The Effects of Shielding and Basting At
moderateandhotoventemperatures,theoven
walls,ceiling,andfloorradiateheatenergyin
significant amounts. This means that if an
object lies between the food and one of the
oven surfaces, the food will receive less heat
from that direction and will cook more
slowly. This shielding effect can be both a
nuisance and a useful tool. The pan
underneath a roast slows the heating of the
roast bottom, and the cook should turn the
roast periodically to make sure that top and
bottom receive equal amounts of heat. But a
sheet of aluminum foil deliberately placed
over the meat will deflect a substantial
portion of heat energy and thus slow the
cooking of the whole roast. So will basting
with a water-containing liquid, which cools


themeatsurfaceasitevaporates.
The Challenge of Whole Birds Chickens,
turkeys, and other meat birds are difficult to
roast whole, because their two kinds of meat
arebestcookeddifferently.Thetenderbreast
meatgetsdryandtoughifheatedmuchabove
155ºF/68ºC.Thelegmeatisfullofconnective
tissue, and is chewy if cooked to less than

165ºF/73ºC.Sousuallythecookmustchoose:
eitherthelegmeatissufficientlycookedand
the breast meat dry, or the breast meat
succulentandthelegmeatgristly.
Cookstrytoovercomethisdilemmain
manyways.Theyturnthebirdinvarious
routinestoexposethethighjointtomore
heat.Theycoverthebreastwithfoil,orwith
wetcheesecloth,orstripsofporkfat
(“barding”),orbasteit,alltoslowits
cooking.Theycoverthebreastwithanice
packandletthebirdsitatroomtemperature
foranhour,sothatthelegsstartthecooking