Crispy Balsamic Brussels Sprouts + Roasting 101

There are a few key rules to roasting that will help you get the crispiness you are looking for in your brussels, fries, and all kinds of things! In my opinion roasting is one of the easiest cooking techniques to learn how to master if you follow the below rules. First, let’s go over what roasting is!

What is Roasting?

Roasting is a dry heat cooking method that uses dry air to transfer heat and cook the food. This is most commonly done in an oven with well-marbled meats, poultry, fish, potatoes, and vegetables. It uses indirect heat, meaning no contact from the heat source (the air). As the outer layers of the food are heated by the air, the food’s natural juices turn to steam and steam inside.

Tips for Roasting:

• Know what kinds of food are best for roasting. These are naturally tender meats and poultry, larger items like roast beef or turkeys, and produce with higher moisture content, such as brussels sprouts or potatoes.
• You need to use fat when roasting to get good color and not dry out your items of food. Never throw in potatoes or brussels into an oven without coating in fat like olive oil or ghee, they will dry out. The only items of food you don’t really need to do this for are items that already have fat, such as chicken.
• Ideal temperature for browning while roasting is 350*F or above. I personally cook the most at 400*F.
• Never overcrowd a pan. For example, if you are roasting brussels and there isn’t spice between each brussel, they will steam and be soggy instead of brown. This is because air needs to be able to flow around them to brown.
• Know how hot your oven gets and where the best shelf for browning is. My oven personally runs a little colder than most ovens, so I have to crank up the heat higher. I also like to roast a lot on the bottom shelf because it gets more browning and is hotter on the bottom. But some ovens are too hot on the bottom, so play around with yours and see.
• Make sure the items of food you are roasting are the same size. If you are cooking brussels sprouts for example, and some are quartered and some are whole, they are going to cook at different rates. One will be raw, while the other is burnt.