Westinghouse Roaster question / Thanksgiving

[panthera]

I've

Never used a roaster which came close to the even great of these Westinghouse units.
As to cooking things one doesn't eat oneself, as enormously charrming as cooking for friends and family is, no-one would eat if someone (me) wasn't flexible.
It's a holiday, not a war zone. Hopefully.

 

[rp2813]

New roasters such as Hamilton Beach seem to offer less capacity than vintage ones.  Maybe the use of modern insulating material makes the exterior less bulky, as the whole thing looks smaller than its vintage cousins, and as a result I'm skeptical about cavity volume.

 

Since making my last post above, it has been confirmed that I'll be doing a turkey next week.  We've discussed potatoes above, but what about the bird?  Are there different procedures, roasting times or temperature settings than those followed with a conventional oven?  What about energy consumption compared to a conventional oven?

 

[lordkenmore]

It's a holiday, not a war zone. Hopefully.

One can always hope for this!

 

[rp2813]

Instructions Translation Needed

I found some instructions on line for turkey in a roaster oven and then checked the original instruction and recipe book that came with my vintage GE.  I'm not clear on what they recommended with regard to roasting various types of meats and poultry.  Here's the verbiage:

 

Place all roasts in a preheated roaster.  Roasting may be done 1) Directly on the bottom of the roaster in the cooking well (aka insert) without a rack, 2) On the bottom in a pan, 3) On the bottom rack in a pan.

 

In the roasting chart their "recommended utensils" vary:  Open pan, open shallow pan, roaster cooking well, and bottom of cooking well.  For turkey, the "open pan" is recommended.

 

What does this mean?  Everything I've seen on line advises the sensible use of the rack for ease in lowering and raising the bird, and makes no mention of a pan, shallow or otherwise.  I was planning to place the bird on the rack and into the cooking well/insert, which strikes me as the equivalent of "open pan," but since the instructions make specific mention of "roaster cooking well" for other things besides a turkey, I presume the "open pan" means something different, like maybe a pan in the bottom of the insert, and the rack & turkey in the pan.  IMO, this just gives me another pan to wash.  Why not ditch the pan and just use the insert?

 

Any ideas on what the people from GE Kitchens may have meant?

 

P.S.

 

It's my understanding that the vents in the cover are used as follows:

Preheat:  Closed

Bake:  1/2 Open

Roast:  Full Open

Steam/Boil:  Closed

 

Is this correct?

 

[circlew]

Hey Ralph, our church has 2 Westinghouse roasters from the 50's, and a Hamilton Beach that is about 5 years old. The insert pans are interchangable; the width and length of the roaster is the same, but the HB is shorter. The HB also has a permanently connected cord, while the Westinghouse models have cords that detach.

I do know that Hamilton Beach Proctor-Silex has recently restyled some of their roasters, at least the ones with the stainless steel exterior. They now look like most of the other brands - more oval shaped. The White ones shown appear to be the standard style.

 

[norgeway]

Ihave 2

Vintage Kenmore roasters, one GE and a Westinghouse, I'm partial to the Westinghouse, but all of them are ok...The Kenmores have insulated lids which are good.

 

[panthera]

Ralph,

I'm guessing here, extrapolating from Westinghouse.

You can use the bottom well or a full size insert (we usually put water in between when we want to keep things at a lower temperature).

You can use separate racks, pans, pots, casseroles - try thinking of this as an oven which is not too high or deep but rather long.

Maybe that helps?

We roast in the insert, by the way, with a rack.

 

[rp2813]

Thanks Keven.  I'm going to use the rack in the insert and no additional pan.

 

[tomturbomatic]

LordKenmore, A friend told me this evening that they are going to the vegetarian society's Thanksgiving dinner so at least in larger areas, there are groups putting on vegetarian meals.

 

[lordkenmore]

groups putting on vegetarian meals

I wouldn't be totally surprised if Seattle (in my general area) doesn't have something like that...

I don't even bother looking into options for Thanksgiving past being alone. At least once I've heard suggestions of church (or whatever) groups that do Thanksgiving dinners. But I figure as a strong introvert, I'm probably happier alone than some anonymous group setting.

 

[foraloysius]

I'm not a vegetarian, but don't like to eat meat every day. Here are some interesting Thanksgiving recipes.

http://greatist.com/health/vegetarian-main-dishes-for-thanksgiving

 

[panthera]

I have yet to find a vegetarian 'turkey'

Which wasn't awful.

Vegan hotdogs are great. Some 'hamburgers' taste so good that meat-eating friends like them, too.

But turkey? The two most well known brands are about as awful as awful can be. They put the dry in turkey.

Fortunately for me, I don't care what other people eat as long as they leave me alone. The really aggressive meat eaters I treat to a small statement: Yeah, and what do bulls eat? That always throws them for a loop - not cows, but those big mucho-macho bulls.

 

[rp2813]

I think I'm obsessing over this roaster thing. 

 

Last night I had a brief dream sequence in which I woke up Thanksgiving morning and found my mom (gone for over eight years now) already in the kitchen and prepping the turkey and roasting pan to go in the conventional oven -- to the point of being too late to turn back.

 

Input from analysts among us is welcome.

 

[lordkenmore]

I think I tried vegetarian turkey once (Tofurky) and was less than impressed.

A part of me finds vegetarian "meat" to be an odd idea. If one is a vegetarian/vegan, it seems a bit odd that one would want to eat something that emulates--or tries to--something one has consciously removed from one's diet? (Of course, I also realize...this products do appear to serve a need. They wouldn't continue existing otherwise. And there have been times when even I will buy such products.)

In any case...for Thanksgiving, I'd likely avoid Tofurky on my table. I didn't like it, and I see no reason to emulate a turkey, anyway. One can do so many interesting dishes why have Tofurky?

Note, though, I say "likely avoid." I could imagine doing Tofurky for an amusing Thanksgiving theme if I had guests that were twisted like me...

 

[rp2813]

I'm a Convert!

The GE roaster did a superb job on our 15# stuffed turkey!  It was golden brown and very moist. 

 

I used a recipe that called for preheating to the highest setting (500) and putting the bird in for 30 minutes to brown, then reducing to 325 for the remainder.  It was done in 3.5 hours, no basting required.

 

I'll absolutely be using my GE for turkey again.   It's no contest vs. a conventional oven.  It may not be the prettiest bird every roasted, but it sure was delicious!

 

[polkanut]

Ralph,

Is your GE an 18 quart size?  Forgive me if this has been asked before.

 

[rp2813]

Good question Tim.  I've been wondering the same thing, but don't know how to determine capacity.  Something tells me you don't just dump in 18 or 22 quarts of water.  Perhaps taking measurements and doing some rusty math?  I don't recall seeing anything in the owner's manual.

 

OTOH, I'm seeing a possible correlation with weight of turkey and cubic volume.  The 15# bird took up a lot of room.  I can't imagine a 22-pounder fitting, so maybe mine's an 18-quart size.

 

[panthera]

I suspect these 'sizes'

bear as much relationship to reality as those gold chains with the numbers on them guys used to wear back in the 70's. A twelve pound turkey fits easily into our Westinghouse roaster. A 26 pound turkey fits perfectly sometimes and sometimes I have to make a gasket out of rolled up aluminium foil to raise the roof two or three centimetres. Always comes out perfectly cooked.

Roasted.

Baked.

Whatever.

If it fits, it's the right size. If it doesn't fit, it's too small.

 

 

[rp2813]

18

What would we do without the world wide web?

 

I knew that volume is determined by length (17") x width (11.5") x height (5.5"), but have never trusted myself with this sort of thing, so I went on line.   Turns out per that formula, the insert volume is 1,075.25 ci.  

 

Navigating to another site for conversions, I punched in the data and lo and behold, 1,075 ci = 18 quarts.

 

If I ever find myself roasting a bird that's too large to fit in the GE, I'll just put it in a roasting bag and use the conventional oven.  Otherwise, like Keven said, if it'll fit, it's going in the roaster.

 

 

 

[sudsmaster]

Minority report: We had one of those electric roasters - I think it was GE brand - that was a cast-off from our landlord in SF in the 60's. It lasted a month or two, and then I think my Mom jettisoned it. I suppose it may have had defective wiring, and didn't heat up properly. Never did find out.

 

Yesterday I got great results in my outdoor covered gas BBQ/Rotisserie with a 13 lb bird. Preheat to 500F, put in a drip pan, add a couple cups water, allow heat to recover, then put spitted bird in, and use only the rear rotisserie burner. Oven temp drops way down to below 150 but the bird gets cooked from the side anyway. Took about 3.5 hours but the result was tender and juicy, with a nice golden hue.

 

Oh, and before roasting and after spitting, dry off bird, add a couple of table spoons Mrs. Dash herb seasoning to cavity, brush bird with olive oil.

 

 

 

[brib68]

Mashed potatoes can be made ahead and rewarmed in a crockpot/slow cooker with excellent results and low stress. Also helpful as it is a dish that can be "assigned" for someone to bring!