Norpro Stainless Steel Vertical Roaster, With Infuser

They did a comparison of many types and styles of roaters on America's Test Kitchens, and came down to two decisions: The best way to roast a chicken is vertically, and this product beat out much more expensive roasters as their favorite.

They suggested the following, which works perfectly even without using the infuser: Place roaster in a roasting pan to catch the drippings. Make some slits in the skin, then oil, season and bake bird at 325 until it reaches a temp of 140 deg in the breast meat. Take it out for a few minutes, raise the temp to 500 deg, and add a cup and a half of water to the drippings in the bottom of the pan. This keeps them from burning and smoking in the hotter oven. Next, cook for maybe 20 min more until you hit an internal temp or 160. This gets the outside super crispy. You then glaze that sucker with your favorite glaze, bake just another five minutes, then take it out and let it cool a bit. You can then use a separator to defat the watered down drippings and use it to make a quick gravy if you desire while the bird stands for a few minutes before slicing. It really does make the most evenly crispy roasted chicken I've ever seen without using a rotisserie.

We raise organic chickens here and had a non-stick tree before. It rusted after just a few times in the dishwasher that had a much smaller base. This base is nice and deep with a large diameter. Some of our chickens get to be about 10-12 pounds and they still stand up just fine. The grease drains out of the chicken as it bakes, so be sure to place the entire thing in the center of a baking tray (I line mine with foil for easier cleanup.) Just spray the entire tree and cone with Pam before adding the seasonig and chicken, and the entire thing comes out squeaky clean from the dishwasher. It is wonderful. We've had it for over a year and a half, using it as much as 3-4 times a month, and it still looks new!

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I think the drip tray wasn't pressed right. The two uprights that hook into the drip tray would not fit. Try as I might, they would not fit. My oven was on, the infuser was filled with rosemary and lemon juice the chicken was unwrapped and seasoned and I could not assemble the darn thing!

I decided to go ahead and MAKE it work. So, after grabbing my needle nose pliers, screwdriver, screw and a HAMMER, an hour later, I finally got it where it would work.

I cooked a four-pounder for almost two hours at 350 degrees. The chicken was crisp on the outside, moist on the inside and delicious!

One observation is that the drip tray was up to the brim with drippings after cooking a four pound chicken. I had placed the roaster in a pan which caught the juices when they spilled as I lifted it out of the oven. It makes me think that the drip tray was designed without the infuser in mind. The infuser takes up cubic capacity in the drip tray.

If you like skinless chicken, the skin just pulls off in large sheets, or you can use an electric knife to slice the breast with the skin on.

All in all, I think this will be a valuable cooking tool (now that I have it assembled), and I look forward to experimenting with different seasonings in the infuser, I also want to try it on the BBQ grill when the weather gets better. I just got really mad when the darn thing would not fit together out of the box, hence the lower rating.

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I roasted two chickens side by side in an outdoor gas grill, one on my Norpro and one on an older vertical rig. The Norpro bird cooked faster, was more juicy and looked beautiful. I since purchased a second Norpro and retired the older rig. Thanks.

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This vertical roaster works beautifully! The liquids in the center cone infuse the whole chicken with flavor and moisture, while the entire outside of the bird is exposed to the heat, resulting in perfectly crispy skin all the way around. In my experience, the chicken cooks more evenly as well (no more overdone breasts with underdone thighs), and somewhat more quickly than traditional roasting methods.

If you like crispy skin, you will love this product since all of the skin is exposed. No more soggy skin where the bird rests against the pan. The meat still stays nice and juicy.

Note: the Amazon review of this product ("If your last experiment with a vertical roaster...") does not appear to refer to this roaster. This roaster can not be used as a typical roasting pan (or rather, not very well), nor could you roast more than one bird. The photograph is correct.

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