Roast

To roast is to cook food uncovered in the oven, in dry heat, usually with a little fat, until the outside browns and the inside cooks through.

Meat, poultry and vegetables are roasted; cakes and bread are baked. The oven is the same, and the line between the words is mostly habit, although roasting usually means a hotter oven and food sitting on an open tray or tin rather than in a mould.

For vegetables, the main rule is space. Spread them in a single layer on a large tray with room between the pieces, toss them in oil and salt, and give them a hot oven. Crowded trays trap steam, and the vegetables soften without browning. Cut everything to a similar size, or put slower things such as potatoes in first.

For joints of meat, recipes often start hot for colour and then lower the heat, or the reverse. Let a roast rest before carving.

In the UK a "roast" is also the Sunday meal built around one. The word is the same in American English.