Misen’s Roasting Pan Is a Revelation
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Growing up, my mom used her roasting panmaybeonce a year, usually for brisket — and then not at all at some point when she realized brisket is better made in a largeDutch oven. Now it lives in the basement. In my own adult life, over more than a decade of a steady accumulation of kitchen items, a roasting pan has never been something I’ve coveted. I don’t just say that because I live in Brooklyn and the idea of storing one is laughable (though it is). I say that because it seems to me there’s nothing it can do that can’t be better accomplished by a different piece of cookware.
That is until last year when I got my hands on Misen’s Roasting Pan. It’s one of those items that, once you’ve used it, seems so obvious, you wonder why there aren’t a ton of versions out there.
It’s somewhat of a combination between a roasting pan and asheet pan— mainly because it’s significantly less bulky than the traditional form. Still, it has higher sides than a standard sheet pan, which means it can comfortably hold big and juicy pieces of meat. I’ve used the 18-inch size (just big enough that I nestle my half-sheets right inside for storage) to cook a leg of lamb. This Thanksgiving, it held my butchered turkey in the fridge as it dry-brined for two days. It caught leaking juices and subsequently felt way less precarious to take out and place into the oven than a sheet pan. I cooked the turkey directly on it and the bird turned out perfectly. I use this largest size and the middle size (equivalent to a quarter-sheet) regularly for roasting chicken and baking meatballs, too. (Misen makes an even smaller nine-inch, too — the only one I don’t own.)
While the roasting pans can handle these hefty meats, they don’t feel cumbersome to pull out for lighter jobs, too, like roasting or braising vegetables, or making bacon in the oven. And while I personally use acasserole dishfor baked pastas, the Misen would work.
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It’s made from stainless steel — again, like a traditional roasting pan. “It cleans up so easily and always looks new after,” says Strategist senior editorWinnie Yang, who pulls hers out multiple times a week. “I know some people like the patina you get on aluminum sheet pans, but they also get kind of a sticky residue sometimes, and that never happens with the Misen.”
It distributes heat evenly (case in point: that Thanksgiving turkey turning out so perfectly, from dark meat to light meat). Stainless steel is a bit heavier than aluminum, so keep that in mind if weight is an issue. Luckily, the handles help with this. Yes, this makes the Misen technically harder to store than a sheet pan (it addssomebulk, after all), but it couldn’t be easier to lift and maneuver around.
You can use the Misen as a stovetop griddle, too. I’ve tried this once, to make smashed lamb wraps, and it worked totally well. The only negative is that my back and front burners are notably different diameters, so it required a fair amount of maneuvering each one around to ensure they got evenly brown. Cast-iron griddles (which are more common) get hotter overall, which spreads the temperature a bit more — but if you’re someone who consistently makes pancakes, burgers, and the like for more than a few people, this use of the Misen would certainly come in handy. And griddle or not, I believe it’s a worthwhile piece — indeed one of my very favorites I’ve added to my kitchen over the last few years.
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