After organizing my files and photos, I have come to a realization that I don’t have a roasting rack. I’ve been telling everyone that they don’t need one and instead to just use a veggie stack. And from what I’ve gather from some previous posts is that I’ve tried many different types of vegetables in this stack. I’ve made stacks using, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, celery, eggplant, celery root, parsnips, carrots, pineapples, lemons, and I can’t even remember the rest of the strangeness. Oh, cedar planks. I tried to erase that one from my memory.
As Thanksgiving approaches, I’m giving you a headstart by saying: get yourself a roasting rack. In plain and simple terms, the roasting rack will give you a nice, crispy, brown skin all around the bird. Really, that’s all it does. The bad…I haven’t fully tested this out but the bird seems a little on the dry side.
When you use a veggie rack stack, the parts that are touching the veggies do not have the crispy skin. I’ve tried to remedy this by turning the bird over but doesn’t work well for the looks. And what really happens is that the side now touching the veggies is soft. I can say that using the veggie rack stack makes everything taste better.
I’ve used what I believe are harder vegetables thinking the bird would be crispy but it came back with the same results.
In summary, if you want a bird for presentation, go with the roasting rack. If your friends and family are more about the taste, definitely go with the veggie rack stack.
With that being said, I guess I’m poor. I can only remember using a roasting rack once or twice in my life. I’m pretty sure that was because I was cooking in another home that had one. At this point, I think I’ll still continue to use the veggie rack stack method…at least until some gifts me a roasting rack. But to follow up with my earlier mention about what to use. Remember that whatever you put in your rack stack will be absorbed into the bird.
What to Use
After the years of experimentation, I have resorted to only now use the following in my stack:
- Carrots
- Celery
- Onions
- 1 bay leaf. Yes, just 1.
- 1 tablespoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 cup of white wine
- 1 bulb of garlic, peeled
I hope this helps you for your holiday!
