Recommended cooking times

Allira

We had duck breasts yesterday, they are supposed to be served pink according to Masterchef but I cooked them right through!

My favourite duck is the Chinese crispy half duck that comes in a pack with rice pancakes. Cooked until it falls apart, you eat it in the pancakes with hoisin sauce, cucumber and spring onions. Yum!

Flip: I am not experienced with an air fryer at all but have successfully roasted pork, lamb and beef in mine. Obviously, they are smallish joints but even so it is much faster than a conventional oven. The temperature needs to be lower and I probe the meat several times during cooking with a thermometer.

Sorry MO, we are bleu meat eaters, so dinner is ready in a nano second!!!

If it is of any use, I read that the roasties can be pre-cooked and just re-heated whilst the meat is resting, when they crisp up. I have tried it and it actually works!

In the kitchen I keep an indexed notebook. When I find something needs a time different from the instructions I make a note. Some food packages don't give a setting for an air fryer, as they can vary a lot, so having a note of the successful heat and temperature is a help for next time.

A Jamie Oliver cake. I baked for the time and temperature stated, I should have relied on my own instinct. It was soggy when cut

My oven had a perfect temperature for my Delia Christmas cake, I checked with an oven thermometer after the Jamie experience. Delia cake was perfection

Totally agree — a lot of packaging timings seem way off. I’ve found the same with chicken and beef; if you follow the instructions exactly you often end up with dry meat. Now I always start checking much earlier too. Ovens vary, but some of these recommended times feel overly cautious and end up ruining food!

Ovens vary. I bake Victoria Sanwich on 160 degrees (instead of 170 as recommended by Mary Berry) my oven, learned the hard way.

M0nica

Allira

We had duck breasts yesterday, they are supposed to be served pink according to Masterchef but I cooked them right through!

Exactly waht i would do, and will do when I cook the duck's breastss currently in my freezer.

I have cooked for people who like their steaks blue!

Slightly pink in the middle for steak is ok but poultry - never.

Do you all always rest the meat after roasting? (Wrapped in tinfoil) I only learned a couple of years ago that you were supposed to do this. It continues cooking a little while resting, and is easier to carve, too.Perhaps if you only cooked the meat for 3/4 of the given time, but left it to rest for the remaining time, it would turn out just right.* So why doesn't it say that in the instructions?

* Although we have learnt here that not everyone has the same idea of what is "just right"

We always cook our joints and chicken low and slow. Always lovely and moist.

Allira

We had duck breasts yesterday, they are supposed to be served pink according to Masterchef but I cooked them right through!

Exactly waht i would do, and will do when I cook the duck's breastss currently in my freezer.

My aunt loved Margerite Patten and bought me one of those large format paperback books when I got married, her basic times and and recipes all worked. But today with fan ovens I think many cooking times are shorter and can be cooler.
I do agree about overstating cooking times to avoid being sued for food poisoning. In particular some microwave ready meals sometimes have times that are longer than necessary, though they obviously have to be what the pack terms as "piping hot". Many of them are pre-cooked and all you are really doing is heating them up.

I never read labels, I just go by dear old Margerite Patten - remember her? My guess is the cooking times are overstated so no-one can sue for food poisoning

I think it is largely a matter of knowing your oven, rather than relying on thecooking instructions on a label when you buy meat.

I always have to roast meat for slightly longer than the time stated and when baking cakes sometimes have to give them longer than the time the stated in the recipe.

I agree that the times stated on pasta packets are usually far too short.

I'll try that AskAlice

I don't tend to use the rack except for something like duck so the fat drains off. Perhaps I should.

I have just got a new oven, a fan oven like my last one, but cooking times seem to be much faster, so I wonder if our ovens temps are not always accurate.
Where possible I use my air fryer now as it is quicker and more economical. I wouldn’t risk a joint of meat in it though.

I don’t cook meat, but my 2 foodie sons do, and they use a meat thermometer and don’t time it. The same as professional chefs.

Allira I've got a black enamel pan like that. I use it to do most of my roasts, and just take the lid off for the last 20 minutes to crisp and brown the meat on the outside. Works perfectly.

I also find that, with beef and lamb, a couple of tablespoons of water or stock in the bottom below the rack keep the meat moist and give a good base for gravy.

I agree that the cooking times for meat are often far too long, I often start at a high temperature and then immediately reduce it to below what is reommended. I also use a meat probe for roasts now, or an instant read thermometer for smaller pieces of meat.
I find the cooking times for pasta are often too short - I don't like pasta soggy, but I do like it to be cooked through. Like JackyB I find that baking does often take longer than suggested.

This roasting pan browns it too somehow. It's self-basting.
It's similar to this, but M&S don't seem to do it any more.

Other outlets available!
www.hartsofstur.com/judge-stainless-steel-self-basting-induction-roaster-tc120.html?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=319985001&gbraid=0AAAAAD_WuCvOzvVCyyOlNrGbXHFE9RCIs&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIotqYnPPEkAMV6ZBQBh3QBDvuEAQYAiABEgKhkfD_BwE

Yes I do open roast.
I do not normally do roasts in a covered pan.
If I am being totally truthful I don’t do many roast dinners any more as I cook mainly for myself but Sainsbury’s had the chicken reduced so I cooked for my family who mostly cook for themselves.
Since my H died I have a rather complicated household !!!

UTTB do you open roast?

I have a stainless steel roasting pan with a lid, bought in M&S many years ago. The chicken stays moist.

We had duck breasts yesterday, they are supposed to be served pink according to Masterchef but I cooked them right through!

I meant to add that I have an instant read meat thermometer which I use when roasting meat and fowl.

What was the weight?

The simplest recommended time for a chicken from room temperature is about 20 minutes per 500 grams plus about 20 minutes at 180C.

I usually start it at 200C for ten minutes then turn it down.

Yes, I have a meat thermometer too, very useful, Salti

Yes. The chicken I cooked today was 1.935 kg, package said roast at 200° for 20 mins then 160° for a further 1hr 25mins.
I cooked it at 180° for 1 hrs 10 mins and it was just right.
I never follow package instructions.