Cooking - Covered or Uncovered?

[HelpMeID]

What is the best way to cook in the oven - covered or uncovered and what is the difference?

[Andy M.]

Welcome to Discuss Cooking.

The answer to your question depends on what you're cooking.

If you're roasting a chicken or other piece of meat, you roast uncovered-roasting is a dry heat cooking method.

If you're making a pot roast or stew, you cook covered as you are braising-a moist heat method.

If you could provide some specifics, we can come up with more detailed answers.

[Claire]

If you're cooking in liquid and want to retain most of it, you cover, be it in the oven or stove top. Sometimes, though, you want to brown and crisp, in which case you do not cover, you want the liquids to evaporate. In the latter cooking methods, you will add liquid later if you want a sauce. In the former, the liquid will be there when you pull the item (roast, chicken, whatever) out of the oven.

[auntdot]

Welcome HelpMe, glad to have you here.

Hope to see a lot more of you.

Basically Andy and Claire are right on, as they always are.

But like all rules there are exceptions. Sometimes you want to cook a dish covered for a while and then uncover to brown.

We will do that with certain casseroles, including potatoes au gratin, or, at times, scalloped potatoes, or the baked potatoes you cut up toss in oil and herbs/seasonings and bake.

Most of the time you will cook uncovered or covered. But there are always exceptions to any rule.

The best idea is to follow the recipe.

Good luck and great to have you here.