All,

Recently we moved house, and took it as an excuse to ditch a bunch of old and dying roasting pans.

We kept some glass trays (suitable for cooking in) though, and have ended up using them for just about all our oven cooking. On the top I still use either the steel covered copper bottomed things or cast iron cookware, but in the over it's mainly the glass.

Everything seems to turn out just fine - am I missing something? Committing a heinous sin I've somehow forgotten? Do I need to run back to buying some proper metal roasting trays?

asked Apr 16, 2012 at 0:02

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5 Answers 5

Dude you said you have cast iron. Cast iron rules. And it performs very well in the oven. No contest against glass and you can make pan sauce on the stove-top after the roasting is finished. My favorite pan to make roast chicken with is my 12" Lodge cast iron skillet. Glass is probably better at roasting than cheap cookie style sheets, because it keeps the heat distribution fairly smooth. But glass will not hold up well to heavy roasting use and will eventually ruin your dinner when it cracks or shatters. All Clad makes a great roasting pan with wire rack. But for most roasting a simple cast iron skillet works well and is indestructible.

answered Apr 17, 2012 at 6:42

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  • I've used my covered deep skillet to do pot roast, it works pretty well. Never tried anything else in a normal skillet, I'll have to give it a go.

    Apr 17, 2012 at 16:22

I don't roast any more but when I did, I only used glass trays. I always brushed oil on the glass before placing any food, in order to aid cleaning.

answered Apr 18, 2012 at 7:39

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The only problem I've found with roasting in glass is that it's hard to get roasting pans completely clean, and glass shows everything. I routinely take potatoes that have been roasting in a traditional metal roaster with some meat, and put them into a glass pie pan at a higher temperature while the meat rests and I make the gravy in the metal roasting pan. Works a treat. But the glass pie pans are no longer eligible to make pies in because they look like they've had stuff roasted in them over the years :-)

answered Apr 16, 2012 at 0:46

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  • Oddly I've found the opposite. The roasting tins always end up filthy, but the glass scrubs clean pretty easily.

    Apr 16, 2012 at 0:49

Line the inside of the glass with aluminum foil, if you choose you can also "tent" the foil (loosely) around you meat and you have a perfectly fine vessel for roasting, and none of the clean up problems. You might lower the temperature a few degrees (50 degrees F) and make sure to test the internal temperature of your roast to check for doneness.

answered Apr 16, 2012 at 1:41

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  • Nah, I'd rather scrub than have little bits of foil stuck to the bottom of the meat.

    Apr 17, 2012 at 16:23

  • A little olive oil in the bottom of the foil pack and I have never had that problem. (btw, I would agree w/Daryl that using your cast iron is a good choice as an alternate.)

    Apr 17, 2012 at 18:25

Both are good. With care the cast iron is forever. Glass cleans up well and can be replaced quite cheaply. Why not keep both of them and see which one gathers dust?

answered Sep 3, 2016 at 17:06

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