On Food and Cooking

temperatures, below 250ºF/125ºC, the moist
meat surface dries very slowly. As moisture
evaporates, it actually cools the surface, so
despite the oven temperature, the surface
temperature of the meat may be as low as
160ºF/70ºC. This means relatively little
surface browning and long cooking times, but
also very gentle heating of the interior,
minimal moisture loss, a relatively uniform
doneness within the meat, and a large window
of time in which the meat is properly done. In
addition, a slow inner temperature rise to
140ºF/60ºC — over the course of several
hours in a large roast — allows the meat’s
own protein-breaking enzymes to do some
tenderizing (p. 144). Ovens equipped with
fans to force the hot air over the meat (“forced
convection”) improve surface browning at low
roasting temperatures. Low-temperature
roasting is suited to both tender cuts, whose
moistness it preserves, and tough cuts that
benefit from long cooking to dissolve